NEWS

Panel: Delaware's death penalty is unjust

Jessica Masulli Reyes
The News Journal

African-American community leaders spoke out against the death penalty in Dover Thursday, saying it is the most egregious injustice occurring in Delaware's criminal justice system.

Rev. Rita Paige, left, Paige said she worries the not guilty verdict will be a step backward for the city. “Now that they can see that they can do what they want, use excessive force and get away with it, I believe we are going to see more of it."

Their calls to repeal the death penalty came during a town hall meeting to address the disproportionate number of African-Americans in the criminal justice system and on death row.

There were 5,667 people incarcerated in Delaware as of December 2014. About 56 percent were black, even though only 22 percent of the state's population is black, according to data from the Department of Correction.

Death row is no different: nine of the 15 people now being held are black.

"In African-American communities, we investigate too much, we incarcerate too much, we kill to many," said Rev. Donald Morton at the Whatcoat United Methodist Church. "Today is the day that we are gathering to say 'let's repeal Delaware's death penalty.' Let's do something about an egregious law that is affecting people that look like me."

Legislation to repeal Delaware's death penalty passed the Senate, but was blocked by the House Judiciary Committee in a 6-5 vote in May.

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Rep. Sean Lynn, D-Dover, was the bill's main sponsor in the House. He told the approximately 50 people at Thursday's town hall that he plans to file a motion to suspend House rules to bypass the committee. This would allow the measure to be heard by House lawmakers.

"What makes the repeal effort a civil rights effort is that decades of evidence show that, here in Delaware, capital punishment depends more on the color of someone's skin than the crime he committed," Lynn said. "Black defendants who kill white victims are seven times as likely to receive the death penalty as are black defendants who kill black victims. That is unacceptable."

Death penalty repeal advocate state Rep. Sean Lynn speaks during a forum aimed at the repeal of the death penalty in Delaware at Whatcoat United Methodist Church in Dover Thursday.

Others on the town hall panel agreed with Lynn.

"It is the black people that are on death row; it is the black people who are afraid to go outside in a hoodie because they are afraid of being killed," said Delaware State University senior Mary Batten. "It is the black men that are being sentenced."

Batten said the Black Lives Matter movement doesn't devalue the lives of people of other races, but instead points out that too many black people are being hurt or killed at the hands of the police. She pointed to the recent video of a South Carolina officer slamming a black high school student to the ground.

"It makes the communities of color less likely to respect the police," she said.

Rev. Jack Sullivan, director of Murder Victims' Families for Reconciliation, said his sister was murdered in Cleveland, Ohio nearly two decades ago. Had her murderer been found, his family would have not wanted the suspect put to death.

"We believe in restorative justice because human dignity dictates that we give everyone a chance," he said.

Rev. Michael Rogers called on those at the town hall to be more vocal about issues of discrimination, racial profiling, police use of force and the death penalty.

"The things going on with our young people today, the way they are targeted by law enforcement ... it is time that the black church and the community come together and begin to focus our attention on these types of matters," he said. "We have to be more vocal now. We have to stand up and speak up and say 'this is wrong.'"

Thursday's town hall meeting was hosted by the Complexities of Color Coalition, Delaware's NAACP, the Delaware Repeal Project and the Southern Coalition for Social Justice.

Another panel discussion will take place Nov. 17 at the Tabernacle Full Gospel Baptist Church in Wilmington.

Contact Jessica Masulli Reyes at 302-324-2777, jmreyes@delawareonline.com or Twitter @jessicamasulli.

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