Q&A: Voices for Abolition Grow Louder

BOSTON, Jul 12, 2007 (IPS) - In May 1985, Bill Pelke's beloved grandmother was brutally murdered in her Indiana home by four teenage girls. The court found Paula Cooper to be the leader and she was sentenced to die in the electric chair. Pelke was pleased with the verdict. But as the date of her execution drew near, Pelke realised that her death would not heal the pain he felt about losing his grandmother.

In a complete transformation, Pelke decided to lobby against Paula Cooper's death. Pelke worked tirelessly. His campaign reached Europe, and soon more than two million Italians signed a petition against Paula's death. Pope John Paul II called for mercy on her behalf. Finally, in 1999 Paula was taken off death row and given 60 years in prison.

Pelke did not stop there. A retired steelworker, he has devoted himself full-time to ending the death penalty in the U.S.

Today, he chairs the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, a leading abolitionist group in the U.S. He is also the founder of Journey of Hope, an association for families of murder victims, families of those who have been executed and families of those on death row.

Each year, about 60 Journey of Hope members travel to one state and for two weeks they speak to churches, schools, lawmakers and others about what they have learned: that the death penalty causes more pain and suffering and does nothing to heal the pain of loss.

Adrianne Appel, an IPS correspondent who has reported extensively on the death penalty debate in the U.S., asks Pelke about his campaigning and why U.S. citizens are changing their minds about the death penalty.

IPS: In October, Journey of Hope will travel to Texas for two weeks. Why focus on Texas?

BP: No state needs a Journey of Hope more than Texas. Texas is the state that has executed more people than any other state. [About half of people executed in the U.S. each year are killed in Texas, according to the Death Penalty Information Centre.]

We will travel there and tell our stories, and get out to people and touch people's hearts. When you touch people's hearts you can get them to rethink their position on the death penalty.

What we do is we travel with two storytellers to an event. One is a family member of a murder victim and one is someone with a death penalty connection, either a person who was exonerated, or a family member of someone on death row, or a family member of someone who was executed.

We'll talk about the healing that comes with feeling compassion after a loved one has been killed. We'll talk about how the death penalty creates more murder victim family members.

IPS: What exactly turned you away from Paula Cooper's execution?

BP: Paula cooper was 15 and was the youngest female on death row in the U.S. My grandmother would have been appalled that this girl was put on death row. She would have had compassion for this girl's family. Even though my Christian faith taught forgiveness, I had no compassion. Every time I thought of my grandmother I thought of her dead on the dining room floor.

I begged God to please give me compassion for this girl and her family. My prayer was answered and that brought a tremendous feeling of relief, and I no longer thought of my grandmother as she died but of the beautiful life she had lived.

Seeing someone else die is not going to heal you from the pain of having someone close to you murdered.

IPS: What is happening in the U.S. today with the move toward abolition?

BP: There is a real good possibility that New Jersey will be the first state to abolish the death penalty and this may happen within a year. Other states have come close in recent votes, including Nebraska, New Mexico, Maryland and Montana. There is real movement in those states.

IPS: What is causing the public to turn away from the death penalty?

BP: One thing that impacts people and juries is the possibility of life in prison and life without parole. The person is put away for the rest of their life and society can still be safe from violent people. There also have been highly publicised exonerations. The public is aware that we make mistakes and that if a person is in prison and you've made a mistake that person can be released.

And we spend a lot of money on the death penalty. It costs three to four times more than life in prison.

In New York, the last state to bring in the death penalty, they spent 150 million dollars in putting the death penalty in place. And there have been no executions in New York.

That money could have been better spent.

If we end the death penalty, that money can be put into preventive crime programmes, like basketball after school, to keep young people occupied and busy.

IPS: The religious community in the U.S. is very politically powerful. How much has it been involved lately in the effort to end the death penalty?

BP: Very. Unitarians, Methodists and the Catholic church have taken a real strong stance and are working hard toward abolition. Quakers also. They are more vocal today and are protesting. In December 1998, Pope John Paul II called for abolition, and said the death penalty was cruel and unnecessary. His call for action has finally reached a majority of Catholic churches. Bishops have also been making statements against the death penalty.

IPS: Does international pressure against state killings make a difference or is it viewed as meddling in U.S. affairs?

BP: In Europe it's considered a human rights abuse and human rights have no borders. They offer support for what the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty is trying to do. We feel they have a total right to express their support and we really appreciate it.

I feel the U.S. portrays itself as a great human rights leader in the world and yet we have this terrible human rights abuse within our borders.

IPS: Many people on death row are there for killing a police officer. Why is this considered such a serious crime in the U.S.?

BP: It's a terrible thing and they are there for our safety, so people should be outraged when a police officer is killed. But we should be outraged when anyone is killed. All victims are of equal value.

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