IN 2009 STATE LEGISLATIVE SESSIONS, CATHOLIC GROUPS PLAYED KEY ROLES IN DRIVES TO END DEATH PENALTY A review of the Spring 2009 legislative sessions in state capitols across the nation shows that campaigns to abolish death penalty laws won the strong backing of Catholic-oriented groups. Highlights included the March 18 enactment of a law to repeal the death penalty in New Mexico, and near-misses on similar attempts in Connecticut, Maryland, Kansas, Colorado and Montana. (For a state-by-state compilation of 2009 anti-death-penalty initiatives and a look at how Catholic support played a role in them, click on the "CACP's Newsletter" box at left, and scroll down from Items 1 through 8.) New Mexico became the second state to legislatively repeal the death penalty since the U.S. Supreme Court reinstated it in 1976. In December 2007, a similar repeal bill was enacted in New Jersey. Fifteen U.S. states now ban the practice. Repeal had been strongly supported by Santa Fe Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan and the bishops of the state's other two dioceses, as well as by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Catholic Gov. Bill Richardson (D) said that among those who influenced him to sign the bill was "the archbishop and the Catholic Church, because they are very, very influential in a Catholic state like New Mexico. My archbishop, a man who I deeply respect, was very active on this issue." For more information on the New Mexico repeal victory, click on the "CACP's Newsletter" box at left and scroll down to Item No. 2. In Connecticut, despite an appeal from the state's Catholic bishops and other death penalty opponents, Gov. M. Jodi Rell vetoed a bill passed by lawmakers that would have ended the death penalty. The legislation was approved in the House by a decisive 90-56 vote, and in the Senate by a slimmer margin (19-17). For more info, click on the CACP's Newsletter" box at left, and scroll down to Item No. 3. In Maryland, after much debate, the Senate rejected legislation to abolish state executions. But it did pass a compromise bill, later approved by the House and signed by Catholic Gov. Martin O'Malley, that narrows the scope of the state's death penalty law. For more info, click on the "CACP's Newsletter" box at left, and scroll down to Item No. 4. In Kansas, the Senate voted to send a repeal measure back to committee for further deliberation, citing technical difficulties. The move effectively ended chances of the bill's passage this year. However, according to the Kansas Catholic Conference, it is expected to be considered again next year. For more info, click on the "CACP's Newsletter" box at left, and scroll down to Item No.5. In Colorado, a proposal to end the death penalty and use the funds saved by doing so to investigate unsolved murder cases was defeated in the Senate by an 18-17 vote. The bill, which had the strong support of the state's Catholic bishops, had been approved in the House earlier by a vote of 33-32. For more info, click on the "CACP's Newsletter" box at left, and scroll down to Item No.6. In Montana, a House committee rejected a Senate-passed bill to end the death penalty and replace it with life-without-parole sentences. The legislation had the backing of the state's two Catholic bishops, dozens of other religious leaders, and a former chief justice of the state's Supreme Court. For more info, click on the "CACP's Newsletter" box at left, and scroll down to Item No.7. In New Hampshire, Catholic Gov. John Lynch (D) is expected to sign legislation that establishes a 22-member study commission to review the state's death penalty laws and to report its findings and recommendations by December 1, 2010. Earlier this year, the House passed a bill to abolish the death penalty, but it was tabled by the Senate. Lynch had promised to veto the abolition bill if it were passed, but says he welcomes a comprehensive study of the current law. Both the abolition bill and the study bill were strongly backed by the leadership of the Catholic Diocese of Manchester, which covers the entire state. Last December, a court handed down the state's first death sentence in 50 years. In Nebraska, Gov. Dave Heineman signed legislation that changes the state's method of execution from the electric chair to lethal injection. Catholic leaders and other death penalty opponents had worked to block passage of the bill, since failure to enact it would have meant de facto abolition of executions. (In 2008, the State Supreme Court banned electrocution as unconstitutional.) For more info on these developments and news in other states, click on the "CACP's Newsletter" box at left, and scroll down to Item No.8. In Missouri, the archbishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph criticized lawmakers for failing to institute a moratorium on the death penalty or even to set up a commission to examine alleged inadequacies in the system. In Virginia, the state's two bishops commended lawmakers for having upheld Gov. Timothy Kaine's vetoes of bills which, if enacted, would have expanded the scope of the death penalty law. For more information on these developments and other state news, click on the "CACP's Newsletter" box at left, and scroll down to Item No.9. EXECUTIONS "A SIGN OF INCIVILITY," TOP VATICAN OFFICIAL SAYS In a May 25 address to the 4th International Congress of Ministers of Justice, an event in Rome sponsored by the Catholic Community of Sant'Egidio, Cardinal Renato R. Martino, president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, appealed to China and the United States to abolish capital punishment, calling the practice "a sign of incivility." "There have been many important steps taken on the path of progress," he said," such as the recent abolition of the death penalty by the American state of New Mexico. However, we know that there are still many countries that use this crime. We should reach the point in which the death penalty is abolished throughout the entire world, because it is a sign of incivility, as one crime cannot be punished with another crime." "The battle against the death penalty is a struggle for civilization, the culture of life, and justice," said Senator Nicola Mancino, vice president of Italy’s High Council for the Judiciary. "We are convinced that the death penalty, far from preventing crime, dehumanizes civilization." For more details, click on the "CACP's Newsletter" box at left, and scroll down to Item No.10. GROUP AIMS TO SPREAD CATHOLIC TEACHINGS ON DEATH PENALTY VIA FACEBOOK, PLAYS, PODCASTS, AND OTHER INNOVATIVE MEDIA A new Catholic initiative against capital punishment - the Catholic Mobilizing Network to End the Use of the Death PenaltyNational Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty - was launched January 25 at a press briefing during the annual conference of the in Harrisburg, Pa. Among those participating in the briefing were John Carr, director of the Department of Justice, Peace and Human Development of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Sister Helen Prejean, CSJ, author of the book Dead Man Walking. Spokespersons for the group say it will collaborate with the USCCB, the NCADP and national and state anti-death-penalty organizations to inform and activate U.S. Catholics, especially young ones, about why capital punishment should be ended. Targets for its message include Catholic dioceses, colleges and universities, and elementary and high schools. The media tools the network plans to employ include plays, walks, vigils, the Internet social site Facebook, podcasts, and educational materials about the death penalty posted in English and Spanish on its website, www.catholicsmobilizing.org. Plans also call for the sponsorship of workshops designed to educate parishioners about church teachings on the issue. For more details, click on the "CACP Newsletter" box at left, and scroll down to Item No.12. BILL TO END FEDERAL DEATH PENALTY REINTRODUCED As he has done in several previous sessions of Congress, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) has reintroduced legislation (Senate Bill 650) called the Federal Death Penalty Abolition Act of 2009. It would forbid the use of the death penalty as a sentence for violations of federal law and would put an immediate halt to executions carried out by the federal government. For more details, click on the "CACP Newsletter" box at left, and scroll down to Item No.13. ANNUAL "FAST & VIGIL" SET FOR JUNE 29-JULY 2 A number of Catholic-oriented groups - including the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the Marianist Justice Collaborative, National Benedictines for Peace, the Dorothy Day Catholic Worker House, and CACP - are among the cosponsors of the 16th annual Fast and Vigil to Abolish the Death Penalty, to be held June 29 through July 2 in front of the U.S. Supreme Court Building in Washington, D.C. Principal organizer of the event is the Abolitionist Action Committee. The event commemorates the Supreme Court's June 29, 1972 Furman v. Georgia decision, which found the death penalty to be applied in an arbitrary and capricious manner. July 2 is the anniversary of the 1976 Gregg v. Georgia decision, which allowed executions to resume. Information about the event is available from the AAC at 800-973-6548 or at the website www.abolition.org/fastandvigil SOTOMAYOR MEMO ON DEATH PENALTY CITED A conservative group has criticized U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor for having signed a 1981 anti-death-penalty memo saying that "capital punishment is associated with evident racism in our society." Sotomayor, a Catholic, was one of three board members of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund to sign the memo, which urged the full board to take a position opposing the restoration of the death penalty in New York State. "The death penalty is final," the memo said. "It eliminates all possibility of the reform of the offender." It added that capital punishment was disproportionately applied to minorities and the poor and was not an effective deterrent to crime. For more details, click on the "CACP Newsletter" box at left, and scroll down to Item No.15.