Capital punishment in Pennsylvania is a failure, Berks County's district attorney says

Pennsylvania has the fourth-highest number of death row inmates out of 50 states but has one of the lowest execution rates, according to a recent report by the U.S. Department of Justice.

"It is clear that the death penalty in Pennsylvania is a failure," said Berks County District Attorney John T. Adams.

The appeals process drags on and costs taxpayers a lot of money, he said.

"The fact of the matter is we do not put people to death," Adams said. "The same issues are litigated time and time again. I don't foresee a change."

Only three people have been executed in Pennsylvania since 1977 and all of them dropped their appeals and asked to die.

Allan L. Sodomsky, a Reading defense attorney and a former prosecutor, said appeals are costing the state millions of dollars.

Each person sentenced to death is automatically granted a lifetime of appeals and access to taxpayer-funded public defenders who do battle with taxpayer-funded prosecutors under the eye of taxpayer-funded judges, Sodomsky said.

"If you're sentenced to life, you don't have access to any of that," Sodomsky said.

"I've come to the realization that it's just not appropriate for us to be in the business of killing our citizens, even the bad ones," Sodomsky said.

Sodomsky believes that's part of the reason the death penalty is not often carried out in Pennsylvania.

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Source: Reading Eagle, January 10, 2012

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