The NAACP is urging the Maryland legislature to abolish the death penalty.
The organization’s action comes on the heels of efforts to stop the execution of Troy Davis last year. But, the tone of that move represents a marked shift in which death penalty critics are increasingly framing the issue within the context of cost rather than as a moral imperative or as a way to highlight racial disparities. The hope is that states like Maryland, pressed for money during hard economic times, will take a second look at the practice and do away with it.
At a recent news conference, NAACP President Ben Jealous said that Maryland’s death penalty is causing the state to spend needless dollars on capital executions, while that money could be directed toward solving homicides, improving victim services, and “getting killers off the streets.”
“The state of Maryland continues to waste money on the death penalty, continues to put citizens’ lives at risk by not investing enough in homicide victims services, so that a few politicians can feel tough on crime,” said Jealous.
While the NAACP has taken up the charge to abrogate capital punishment for years, social media appears to be transforming how the organization is spreading the word.
Jealous said that last year’s Twitter campaign to free Davis, which drew in hundreds of thousands of participants around the globe, evidenced the growing interest and support in advancing the cause.
“… literally tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of young people made the Troy Davis Case the most tweeted about issue in the world after Beyoncé’s pregnancy … second only to Beyonce’s pregnancy this was the issue that young people most tweeted about in the world last year,” said Jealous.
Source: politic365.com, Kenneth Mallory, January 12, 2012
