ND ASK Statement on ABA Report

The following statement was released to the press concerning our response to the recent ABA report. We hope you find it useful and understand our emphasis on picking up where the report left off.

Today marked the release of the American Bar Association’s report on the state of Indiana’s death penalty trial and sentencing process and an accompanying recommendation for a moratorium on executions in Indiana. The report serves as an excellent resource to further the discussion of issues surrounding the death penalty here in Indiana and throughout the country. Its contents present us with evidence of a system that is broken and its recommendations suggest how it might be fixed. The thorough and objective nature of the research and creation of the report coupled with the professionalism and dedication of those who served on the panel have resulted in this articulate and expansive base of reference for future action regarding capital punishment in Indiana.

We at Notre Dame Against State Killing (ND ASK) applaud the diligence of the assessment team and the contents of their report and herald their call for a moratorium on executions as both courageous and well-founded; the call confirming the fears and doubts that many of us have held regarding the inequity and unfairness of a judicial system that we hold to the highest of standards. We firmly believe that those who truly examine the logistics and goals of the death penalty system will arrive at the inevitable conclusion that due to the fallible nature of human beings, we cannot possibly support a system whose penalty is irreversible. Within the process of investigation and prosecution, there are mistakes being made when lives hang in the balance. It is inconceivable to continue with such a system given the blatant exposition of these flaws in the ABA report.

While the scope of the report does not presume to question the validity of the death penalty itself, but rather intends to ensure the fair and just execution of the laws, we at ND ASK take the call for a moratorium on legal grounds and add to it questions of the death penalty’s morality, efficacy, and legitimate role in a modern civil society. We thank the American Bar Association and the Indiana assessment team for their crucial work and hope that its expositions of incontrovertible fact are heeded well by Governor Daniels and those in the State Legislature. As the ABA’s poll results of Indiana reveal, 61% of Indiana’s citizens support a moratorium. It is time to halt all executions and begin to honestly and thoroughly examine the death penalty and reach the inevitable conclusion that it is simply an archaic, inefficient, and inhumane means of justice which must be stricken from our society.