1. Background
Preventing and punishing criminal conduct are among the primary obligations of government at all levels. But it is also the obligation of government to ensure that no one is unjustly accused, convicted or punished. In Deuteronomy 16:20, the Torah commands us, Tzedek, tzedek, tirdof, “Justice, justice you shall pursue”, and the Jewish sages explained that the word tzedek (justice) is repeated to teach us that we must be just in our pursuit of justice, that our means must be as just as our ends.
Biblical law mandates the death penalty for 36 offenses. These include a broad range of crimes from murder to kidnapping, adultery to incest, certain forms of rape, idolatrous worship and public incitement to apostasy, from disrespecting parents to desecrating the Sabbath.
The Reform Movement, however, has followed rabbinic interpretations that effectively abolished the death penalty centuries ago. Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:5 stresses the importance of presenting completely accurate testimony in capital cases, for any mistakes or falsehoods could result in the shedding of innocent blood. If any perjury were to cause an execution, "the blood of the accused and his unborn offspring stain the perjurer forever." The passage goes on to liken wrongful executions to Cain killing Abel, concluding that - it is for this reason that God created only one human in the beginning, a token that he who destroys one life, it is as though he had destroyed all humankind; whereas he who preserves one life, it is as though he preserved all humanity."
Cruel and Unusual Punishment:
“ Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted ” (U.S. Constitution: Eighth Amendment).
The United States Supreme Court’s decision in 1972’s Furman v. Georgiaheld that the death penalty violated the 8th Amendment’s prohibition of “cruel and unusual punishment.”
The Court also found that capital punishment violated the principle of equal protection, since executions were carried out mainly against the poor, African-Americans, and the uneducated. However, with the promise of a new generation of capital punishment statutes promising equal justice and less cruel methods of execution, such as lethal injection, capital punishment was reinstated in 1976 in Gregg v. Georgia.
* All background information provided by the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
2. Status and Legislative Summary
In 2006, the State Senate voted to reinstate the death penalty (S4918), while the State Assembly voted against it (A851). The Assembly held extensive hearings on this topic in 2004 and 2005, at which two members of the RJV Steering Committee provided testimony against the death penalty. Please click hereto read both a transcript of one member’s testimony and an op-ed by another member. As the Assembly and the Senate did not agree on the legality of the death penalty, no new legislation was written and the death penalty continues to be illegal in New York. We are pleased with the results, and will work in the future to assure that the death penalty continues to not be legal.
Reform Jewish Voice has been very active in the coalition of organizations that opposed Governor Pataki's attempt to revive the Death Penalty in New York. Through the testimony of Rabbi Marc Gruber at the New York City hearings and that of Barbara Zaron in Albany, along with hundreds of Reform synagogue members who have written to and called their Assembly members on the subject, RJV made it clear that the Reform Movement opposes capital punishment and hopes that our legislators will continue to make state-sponsored killing a thing of the past.
In the spring of 2007, the NYS Court of Appeals will rule on the case People of the State of New York, Respondent v. John Taylor, Defendant-Appellant. John Taylor is the only individual on death row in New York, and this case focuses specifically on the legality of how the case was argued and how a previous judge directed a jury, as well as whether or not the death penalty will remain unconstitutional in New York. In October 2006, RJV signed on as an amici with other religious organizations against the death penalty, and in support of the defendant-appellant in this case.
New York State has an interesting history in concern to the death penalty. From the mid-1970s through the mid-1990s, there were many failed attempts to reinstate the death penalty, which were all vetoed by then Governors Carey and Cuomo. Upon Governor Pataki’s election in 1994, he promised to reinstate the death penalty. His campaign promise was fulfilled, as New York's death penalty was reinstated in 1995, but was declared unconstitutional in 2004 by the NYS Court of Appeals. From 1995 to 2004, when the death penalty was legal, no executions took place. The last execution in New York occurred in 1965.
In July 2004, the Reform Jewish Movement joined an amicus curiae brief in the Roper v. Simmons case which was then heading to the U.S. Supreme Court. RJV joined over thirty religious organizations in a brief stating that juvenile capital punishment is unjust. The Court ruled that it is unconstitutional to impose capital punishment for crimes committed by those under the age of 18.
3. Position of the Reform Jewish Movement
Since 1959, the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR) and the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ) have formally opposed the death penalty.
The CCAR has resolvedthat capital punishment "does not act as an effective deterrent to crime."
The URJ notes that: "We believe that there is no crime for which the taking of human life by society is justified, and that it is the obligation of society to evolve other methods in dealing with crime. We appeal to our congregants and to our co-religionists and to all who cherish God's mercy and love to join in efforts to eliminate this practice [of capital punishment] which lies as a stain upon civilization and our religious conscience."
In December 1999, at the 65th biennial convention, the URJ passed a resolution entitled Race and the United States Criminal Justice System, which among other things, committed the Reform Jewish Movement to continue its efforts in opposition to the death penalty and to determine whether the "disparate treatment of those sentenced to death is attributable to the race or ethnicity of the defendants or the victims and act to eliminate the disparities, where they exist."
In regards to matters of legal representation, the URJ calls for reforming the existing system to "ensure that all those accused of capital offenses are afforded competent counsel and that they have adequate funding to ensure that their defenses are fully investigated."
4. Related Links
