[582] in peace2
events & Death Penalty Bill Defeated in MA
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Aimee L Smith)
Wed Mar 14 15:01:53 2001
Message-Id: <200103142001.PAA30256@germanium.mit.edu>
To: peace-list@MIT.EDU, greens-announce@MIT.EDU
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Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2001 15:01:42 -0500
From: Aimee L Smith <alsmith@MIT.EDU>
Check these events (sorry I am late, but still a bunch left!)
>RACE:THE FUTURE!
>series that is sponsored by the Committee on Campus Race
>Relations (Counseling and Support Services is a co-sponsor). We are
>bringing Loni Ding, an extraordinary Asian American documentary filmmaker,
>to campus and, prior to her arrival, we're
>premiering the first two films from her upcoming PBS series, "ANCESTORS IN
>THE AMERICAS". This series is the first comprehensive series looking at
>the history of Asians in the New World (North, Central and South America).
>March 13th:
>Part I: "Coolies, Sailors, and Settlers", will play twice at 7pm and
>8:30pm in 6-120.
>
>March 14th:
>Part 2: "Chinese in the Frontier West", will also play twice at 7pm and
>8:30pm in 6-120
>
>March 17th
>Part I will play at 4pm and Part 2 will play at 6pm in Talbot Lounge
>
>March 20th
>Loni Ding will arrive on campus. Over the course of the next two she'll
>visit classes. She'll also have
>lunch or dinner with students, faculty, and staff from various venues. (If
>you are interested in meeting with her in any of these other venues, feel
>free to give me[ "Ayida S. Mthembu" <mthembu@MIT.EDU>] a call at 3-4861.)
>
>March 22nd- 10-250 at 7pm. There will be a general presentation entitled,
>"WHO IS AN AMERICAN AND WHO DECIDES: AN EVENING WITH LONI DING".
>She is going to play some clips from the two films and then there will be
>an interview session with me and Dean Kunya DesJardins (also from
>Counseling and Support Services). This will be
>followed by a question and answer session and a reception.
also, State-wide Good news!!
Death penalty bill soundly defeated
By Erin C. McVeigh, Globe Correspondent, 3/13/2001
The Massachusetts House yesterday defeated a bill to reinstate the death
penalty by a margin that surprised most advocates and opponents.
The 92-to-60 vote, after just three hours of debate, differed greatly
from previous years, when lawmakers engaged in lengthy emotional battles over
the issue. In 1997, the bill was defeated by one vote after a lawmaker
switched his position at the last moment.
''That's a pretty big margin,'' said Governor Paul Cellucci after
yesterday's vote. ''Certainly, the speaker [Thomas M. Finneran] has made
this a priority not to pass the death penalty.''
Cellucci, who opposed the death penalty as a legislator, has been a vocal
advocate of capital punishment as governor. But with support for the
death penalty slipping among the public, as doubts emerge about the guilt of
some of those sentenced to die, he took a far less active role this year.
Yesterday, after the House action, he refrained from harshly attacking
opponents or chiding them for being soft on crime.
Cellucci even declined to testify three weeks ago when the Criminal
Justice Committee held public hearings on the legislation. He also did
not send Lieutenant Governor Jane Swift.
The wider margin occurred in part because new legislators replaced death
penalty supporters. Also, some legislators, such as Democratic
Representatives Robert Correia of Fall River and Colleen M. Garry of
Dracut, switched sides.
''I was surprised the margin was that wide,'' said Correia. ''No one
expected it to be a close call, but a 32-vote margin on the vote showed
there were a substantial number of members like myself.''
The defeat by the House yesterday means the measure cannot be brought up
again until 2003.
Correia cited his diminished confidence in the criminal justice system as
a factor in his decision to abandon the death penalty. Massachusetts is one
of 12 states without a death penalty statute.
''We should spend the money on programs to make the streets safer and
look to prevent murders rather than take out revenge after the fact,''
said Garry, adding that the testimonies she heard as a member of the Criminal
Justice Committee influenced her switch.
''I am not happy about it, but it is not a surprise to me,'' said House
minority leader Francis L. Marini, a Republican from Hanson. ''We knew
exactly what the size of the vote was going to be.'' He added that as
long as he is in the Legislature, the debate will continue to resurface.
Finneran said the large margin reflected nationwide trends. In Illinois,
which has had a capital punishment statute since 1977, more inmates have
been released from death row because of doubts about their guilt than
have been executed. DNA evidence and confessions from other people prompted
many of the releases. Last year, Governor George Ryan halted all executions
indefinitely.
Marini attributed the margin to a ''number of forces,'' including that
newer House members tend to be more liberal and that media attention has
focused on people on death row who have later been shown to be innocent.
Finneran said the vote showed an ''extraordinary movement away from the
death penalty,'' even in the midst of tragedies such as the killing of
seven office workers in Wakefield.
This story ran on page 4 of the Boston Globe on 3/13/2001.
