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Port and Observer, April 10, 1985, Page 9
State executions on the increase since 1983
by Robert Lothian
The Supreme Court reinstated the
death penalty in 1976. Since then, 38
states, including Oregon, have ap
proved laws which allow capital pun
ishment
, ,
In addition, polls show that a large
majority o f Americans approve of the
death penalty.
No one has been executed yet under
Oregon's new law, approved by vot
ers in November It allows for death
by lethal injection. The appeals process
can take several years, but a "death
wing" at one o f Oregon’s prisons is
reportedly being built in anticipa
tion.
In other parts o f the country, death
row prisoners are being executed at a
rapidly accelerating rale.
Between September, 1984. and
February, 1985, 15 persons were exe
cuted in the U .S ., an average o f about
one every ten days.
Before September, 1984, only seven
executions occurred in the seven years
since the Supreme Court reinstated
the death penalty.
The rapid increase in the rate o f ex
ecutions has been helped by the
Supreme Court: in 1983 it ruled that
appeals courts can take short cuts
to reject prisoner efforts to postpone
executions.
Supreme Court Justice William
Rehnquist has denounced what he
calls "endlessly drawn out legal pro
ceedings" that he feels work to the
benefit o f criminals and make a
mockery o f the justice system.
Streamlining o f court procedures
has been welcomed by law enforce
ment officials who argue that the
death penalty deters major crimes.
After the execution o f a man con-
victed o f killing a Jacksonville, Flor
ida, police officer earlier this year, a
group o f officers Irom the Jackson
ville Police Dept. cheered as the exe
cuted man’s body left the prison in a
hearse.
An associated press survey at the
end o f January showed that N0 per
cent o f Americans approve o f the
death penalty. But h alf o f those sur
veyed also believe that the death pen
alty is not always applied fairly from
state to state.
The possibility o f unfairness so
concerned the Supreme Court in 1972
that it threw out the death penalty.
The 1972 ruling said that slate death
sentences were unconstitutional be
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nations, and many more executions
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went unreporied, said the report.
Death penalty opponents argue
At the end o f 1983, according to
I that new laws approved by the Court
Amneyy. 1,289 prisoners in the U.S.
have not remedied tlye situation. They » were under sentence o f death, the
also report studies showyig (hat the
highest figure ever recorded. The
Jfcath penalty does not deter crime.
number now exceeds 1,300.
t
One io f the abolitionist groups? <
In Portland, local Amnesty co
Amnesty International, is working to
ordinator Susan Emmons said that
end Ihc death penalty from all coun
aettyisfs working to abolish the death
tries in the world.
penalty in Oregon were rethinking
their strategy in light o f Oregon's
By the end o f 1983, 26 nations had
abolished the death penalty for all o f
new la^ and polls which show over- 1
fenses and another 18 for all but ex
wheknuig support for the death penalty.
ceptional offenses, according to A m
She reported, however, that a group
nesty’s 1984 year-end report.
o f doctors has voted to refuse to give
During 1983, 1,699 people were
the lethal injections should it’s mem
known to have been executed in 39
bers be asked to do so.
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available
Applications are now being accept
ed for two independent living scholar
ships to be awarded under the aus
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Two awards o f $1 ,(XX) each will be
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South Africa
f*
(Continued fro m Page I. Column 3)
" I t ’s a very dangerous thing to
interfere with the domestic life of
another country. I think we are play
ing with fire."
If the legislature approves the bill,
“ docs that mean we ban trade with
England because of the Irish situa
tion?," he asked.
Bui G ro ff, who supports the bill,
said divestment is long overdue. "O u r
com panics supply the technology that
helps maintain that system,” he said.
" W e ’re involved, we’re involved in
supporting the status quo, and I would
like Io see that changed."
G ro ff said both divesting and en
gaging South Africa on a variety o f
levels to end apartheid would send a
positive signal to Afro-Americans.
" W e ’ve had a problem with racism,
with oppression o f people of color.
For that reason I think the situation
in South Africa is uniquely important
to us," he said.
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