In my home state of Maryland, a panel has taken a strong stand for life — and voted in favor of completely abolishing the death penalty.

From the Baltimore Sun:

While executions in Maryland are infrequent, the issue is being debated here as state executions are being scrutinized nationwide because of high-profile exonerations of death-row inmates who were wrongly convicted.

The governor has lobbied for a death-penalty repeal in the General Assembly and vowed to sign such a bill if the legislature passes it.

Maryland has had an effective ban on use of its death chamber since December 2006, when the state’s highest court ruled that execution protocols that detail the steps to put a condemned prisoner to death were improperly developed.

In May, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that lethal injection procedures such as those used in Maryland were acceptable, O’Malley reluctantly took the first step toward ending Maryland’s moratorium. He ordered the drafting of new lethal injection procedures, but also asked the commission to study the practice and investigate whether it was justified.

The 23-member commission voted down a proposed amendment to keep the death penalty for people who kill correctional officers or police officers. The panel voiced unanimous or strong support for seven of eight findings it was charged with exploring. Among these:

*Racial and geographic disparities exist in how the death penalty is applied

*Death penalty cases are more costly than non-death penalty cases and take a harder toll on the survivors of murder victims

*There is no persuasive evidence that risk of execution is a deterrent to crime, and the unavailability of DNA evidence in all cases does not eliminate the “real possiblity” of wrongly executing an innocent person

The commission did not find disparities in death penalty cases based on the socioeconomic status of the accused.

Established this year by the state legislature and led by Benjamin R. Civiletti, who served as U.S. attorney general under President Jimmy Carter, the commission includes a police chief, a former death row inmate who was exonerated by DNA evidence, a rabbi, a bishop, three family members of murder victims, several legislators and a county prosecutor who has handled capital cases and made the decision to seek the death penalty in others.

Visit the Sun link for the rest.

H/T Fr. Austin.