Sr. Helen Prejean, chair of PFADP’s Kairos Campaign, confers with Rabbi David Saperstein, director and counsel of the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism, at PFADP’s Kairos Conference 2010 in Atlanta. (Photo by Scott Langley © PFADP)
Resident of North Carolina? If so, plz GO here
If in North Carolina, you may also want to go to the last post see November archives (Nov 30) to become aware of the NEW campaign led by People of Faith Against the Death Penalty and helped by Sister Helen Prejean who plans to speak in Raleigh this Friday, Dec. 2nd.
See more on Sister Helen's expected work in Colorado under Dec. 1st here: http://people.smu.edu/rhalperi/updates.html
ReplyDeletePlz go to Death Penalty News & Updates by Rick Halperin (see column on right) for DECEMBER 3, 2011:
ReplyDeleteFind the following:
NORTH CAROLINA:
Foes of NC death penalty law press case on paroles
When critics of the Racial Justice Act made their case at the General Assembly this week, they used an attention-grabbing scenario to argue that the law is fatally flawed: the prospect of North Carolina's worst murderers roaming the streets, free on parole...etc.
...Debates in the legislature often come down to 2 sides making contradictory claims, but in this case it's especially difficult to judge who's right because the argument is over an untested legal theory. Nearly all the state's death row inmates have appealed their sentences under the Racial Justice Act, but none has been decided by a court yet. Still, legal experts say the parole scenario, while possible, is one of the less likely outcomes.
"The question is, is the legislature limited to sentencing the person to whatever he would have been eligible for, short of death, at the time he was convicted," said James Coleman, a professor at Duke University School of Law. "And the answer, I think, is no. The legislature isn't limited by what the law was when the jury had the option of a death sentence or an alternative."
The state is prohibited only from retroactively imposing sentences that are harsher than the original range of options, said Michael Rich, a professor at Elon University School of Law. In this case, the comparison wouldn't be between life without parole and life with the possibility of parole, but between life without parole and death, he said...
AP Press
and also look for...
Religious leaders target repeal of N.C. death penalty law
(source: Charlotte Observer)