Here are some comments about the death penalty art show from someone who was there on opening night. The show runs through Feb 18 at Houston’s Gallery M² (325 West 19th Street). There is a gallery talk on Friday, Feb 16 at 7 PM

Friends,

“I just left the art gallery in the Houston Heights and could barely speak after viewing the death row exhibit called “Justice for All?” It takes a lot to take my breath away, but this sure did. Seeing the large painting of David Castillo, who I remember well, was unnerving. And in the middle of the gallery is a death row cell. Oh my gosh–many people have closets bigger than this cell that they are confined in 23-24 hours a day. Much, much thanks to the Texas Moratorium Network who put this together! I hope they will be able to take it to many other cities.

Please, please do not miss this exhibit. It tore my heart out but it is really something everyone should see.”

Gloria Rubac

Tonight, Saturday, Feb 10 at 7 PM, is the opening night reception for the death penalty art show, “Justice for All?: Artists Reflect on the Death Penalty”.

Gallery M²
325 West 19th Street
Houston, Texas 77008

If you were in front of a TV today at around 8:45 AM, you might have seen TMN’s Scott Cobb commenting on a proposal by Texas Lt Governor David Dewhurst to make people who repeat the offense of child sexual assault eligible for the death penalty. Scott appeared on the program along with Rusty Hubbarth of Justice for All.

Another live interview is scheduled for around 10:45 AM today.

The main reason for not expanding the death penalty to apply to repeat child rapists is that it will make child victims less safe from sexual predators. If the punishment is the same for raping a child as it is for raping and killing a child, then it creates a perverse incentive for sexual predators to kill the child in order to eliminate what is often the only witness to the crime. If we pass a law making the death penalty apply in these cases, even when there is no homicide involved, then we create the possibility that a child will be killed by the predator instead of surviving the attack.

The death penalty for repeat child rapists also may decrease the likelihood that these heinous crimes will go unreported. The vast majority of these type crimes involve predators who are known by their victims. A child could be pressured not to report an assault by a family member if the other members of the family know that the person may be subject to the death penalty.

Another reason is that juries are less likely to convict people if they think that the punishment is too harsh.

A final reason is that the death penalty for rape of a child may be unconstitutional as a violation of the 8th Amendment’s prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment. In 1977, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Coker v. Georgia that the death penalty for people who commit rape of an adult is unconstitutional, because the punishment is disproportionate to the crime. The Court has not ruled on whether they would also consider the death penalty for a person who rapes a child as disproportionate, but it is highly likely that it would. There has not been an execution in the United States for non-homicide crime since 1964. Only five states allow the death penalty for child rapists and only one person has been convicted of such a crime and sentenced to death. There seems to be a national consensus that the death penalty is not appropriate unless the crime results in a killing. The Supreme Court banned executions of juvenile offenders and people with mental retardation, because they concluded that a national consensus existed against such executions. At the time of both of those Supreme Court rulings only 18 of the 38 death penalty states had banned executions of either juvenile offenders and people with mental retardation. Today, only five of the 38 death penalty states allow the death penalty for child rapists, so 45 states do not allow it. That seems like a national consensus against such a severe punishment in these cases.

A better approach in these cases, one that will protect children from being killed by their predators, is to allow judges and juries to sentence people to long terms in prison, including life in prison. We should leave it up to juries to decide on the appropriate punishment from a range of such punishments. Currently the range for first time offenders is 5-99 years or life in prison and the punishment for a second offense is an automatic life sentence. That seems like a just system and one that is incredibly tough already.

Justice for All?: Artists Reflect on the Death Penalty
Gallery M²
325 West 19th Street
Houston, Texas

Feb 10-18, 2007
www.deathpenaltyartshow.org

Stan Kaplan Levittown NY USA
Jim Krantz Chicago IL USA
Robert Kunec Halle/Saale Germany
Jenn Lindberg Austin TX USA
Ahren Lutz Portland OR USA
Kate MacDonald Vancouver BC Canada
Farley C. Matchett Polunsky Unit Tx USA
Michelle Mayer Austin TX USA
Misty Morris Aiken SC USA
Khristian Oliver Polunsky Unit TX USA
Scott L. Panetti Polunsky Unit TX USA
Louis Castro Perez Polunsky Unit TX USA
Bogdan Perzynski Austin TX USA
Shanon Playford Portland OR USA
Roger Preston Las Vegas NV USA
Arnold Prieto Polunsky Unit TX USA
Travis Runnels Polunsky TX USA
Stephanie Saint Sanchez Houston TX USA
Shannon Stoney Houston TX USA
Carlos Trevino Polunsky Unit Tx USA
Carlton A. Turner Polunsky Unit TX USA
Claude van Lingen Austin Tx USA
Collin W Williams Montevallo AL USA
Melinda Wing Phoenix AZ USA
Ben Woitena Houston TX USA
Peter Wortel Haren The Netherlands

Yesterday, Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen declared a 90-day moratorium on executions while the state studies its method of lethal injection. Executions also are halted in Missouri, California and North Carolina because of lethal injection concerns.

In Texas, the big issue is whether Texas has executed innocent people, but in Tennessee the issue that sparked the moratorium is whether the protocol used for lethal injections causes the inmate to suffer.

More from the press release from TCASK:

TCASK Applauds Ethical Choice by Governor

Tennessee Joins Florida, California, and North Carolina in Studying Lethal Injection Procedures

Nashville: The Tennessee Coalition to Abolish State Killing applauded Governor Phil Bredesen’s decision to halt executions while Tennessee’s method of lethal injection is studied today. Executions have been botched recently in California, Florida, and Ohio resulting in obvious pain to the condemned. Tennessee’s protocol, which includes no medical personnel and the use of questionable chemicals, one of which is strictly banned for use in euthanizing animals, presented many of the same risks.

“The Governor has taken a courageous and moral step today,” said Reverend Stacy Rector, Executive Director of TCASK. “If Tennessee is going to carry out executions, we owe it to ourselves to ensure that they are carried out in a humane manner. Tennessee’s lethal injection procedure was a botched execution waiting to happen.”

The lethal injection procedure utilized by Tennessee involves a three drug cocktail similar to that used in most other states. The first drug, thiopental, is meant to anesthetize the inmate. The second drug, pavulon, paralyzes the nervous system, and a dose of potassium chloride causes cardiac arrest. However, thiopental is an extremely unstable anesthetic, and potassium chloride has been described by some experts as causing the maximum amount of pain to the cardiovascular system. Because the second drug, pavulon, paralyzes the inmate, it is highly possible that a condemned person would feel all the effects of the potassium chloride, while being unable to speak or move. Pavulon has been banned for veterinary procedures.

“If a drug is not good enough for an animal, it should not be used on a person,” Reverend Rector said.

The issue centers around whether or not the inmate experiences any of the effects of the lethal drugs, but Tennessee’s execution protocol involves absolutely no medical personnel. The maintenance and application of the thiopental is handled by non-medical personnel and no one monitors the inmates to ensure complete anesthesia.

“Procedures involving human life should not be trusted to people with no medical training,” said Reverend Rector. “The people of Tennessee deserve a capital punishment system that they can trust. Whether you are talking about the accuracy of convictions, the fairness of the application, the financial cost to tax-payers, or the execution procedure itself, our current system completely fails to meet this test.”

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