Victims on Both Sides

An article that appeared yesterday in New Jersey's Asbury Park Press is headlined "State's Death Penalty Debate Puts Families on Both Sides." It quotes victims' family members who support the death penalty and victims' family members who oppose it, including MVFHR's Vicki Schieber, who has been active in the effort to repeal New Jersey's death penalty statute.

While it might seem as though we at MVFHR only consider a news story on this subject useful if it focuses entirely on victims who oppose the death penalty, in fact we consider it a victory when news coverage simply acknowledges that victims have a range of opinions and beliefs (like the New York Times article shortly before Timothy McVeigh's execution that was headlined, "Victims Not of One Voice on the Death Penalty"). Victims do have a range of feelings and beliefs about the death penalty, and our job is to challenge the common assumption that all victims automatically favor it. When lawmakers and other leaders become aware of this diversity of opinion, they recognize that even if they have other reasons for supporting the death penalty, they cannot claim to be doing so "in the name of victims [as one monolithic group]." And if they are opposed to the death penalty, they can recognize that a vote against the death penalty is not automatically a vote against victims.

New Jersey Senator Raymond Lesniak wrote in an online forum:

"... the possibility of killing an innocent person is not the only reason to do away with the death penalty.Think of the families of the victims. While we did hear testimony before the Judiciary Committee in favor of the death penalty from a wife and a mother who had their loved ones murdered, we also heard from dozens of others who were against the death penalty. Most stated that the lengthy appeal process brought extra and unnecessary suffering into their lives."