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Does the Death Penalty Promote Healing for the Families of Murder Victims?

he Death Penalty process is neither swift nor sure. The time from a murder conviction to execution can be from 8-20 years or more. As errors have been uncovered (140 people sentenced to death in the USA have been exonerated, found wrongly convicted) its imprudent to curtail court appeals. But theres no disputing, the lengthy process prolongs the agony for the loved ones of murder victims. Years and years of trials and retrials changed my mind about the death penalty. I learned the hard way that it is an albatross over the heads of victims families, said Jim OBrien of Maryland. His daughter Deirdre was murdered. Life Without the Possibility of Parole (LWOP) brings swifter justice and closure to the judicial process. The sentence is begun as soon as victims families leave the courtroom. On the other hand, The death penalty creates an entirely new layer of pain, lamented Janice Greishaber, whose daughter Jenna was murdered in New York. In Missouri, family members of Tracy Miller testified that they experienced neither closure nor relief when Anthony LaRette, who killed her, was executed. Their conclusion: People should be able to try to redeem themselves, and the death penalty denies that possibility. Doris Macha, also of Missouri, who suffered the murder of her husband Glen, said: There was no healing until I could visit with the two murderers in prison. If they would have been executed, healing would have been impossible. She helped form a KC chapter of Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation (MVFR), a national group supporting alternatives to the death penalty. A Missouri couple, John and Reva Griffith, seared by the murder of their son Chris, found that waiting for the eye for an eye execution of Donald Reese, who was convicted of his murder, brought them no closure. He declined to meet with them in prison as they had requested. We have found that killing to stop killing is insane, said the Griffiths. We needed reconciliation, not vengeance.

Use money saved by repealing the death penalty (as proposed by HB 1520 & HB 1496) to provide specialized grief counseling, financial assistance, and ongoing support for victims families.
This flier is part of a series prepared by Missourians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty (MADP). For more information contact MADP at 816-931-4177 or visit our website at www.madpmo.org.