75 Tampa Bay area religious leaders call for end to death penalty in wake of Harvard report

[rug]

By Dan Sullivan
Times Staff Writer Published: October 18, 2016

TAMPA — The names of those who signed the letter read like a who’s who of the local religious community, with Catholics, Jews and various Protestant denominations represented.

There was James Favorite, the pastor of Beulah Baptist International Church. There was Betsy Torop of Congregation Beth Shalom in Brandon. There was Bishop Robert Lynch of the Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg.

The three were among 75 Tampa Bay clergy members who urged Hillsborough and Pinellas prosecutors on Monday to put an end to the death penalty.

Addressed to Hillsborough State Attorney Mark Ober and Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Bernie McCabe, the letter referenced a report from Harvard’s Fair Punishment Project, which found the two counties are among 16 in the nation that sentenced five or more people to death between 2010 and 2015. Researchers accused prosecutors in both counties of being overzealous in pursuit of capital punishment, and noted racial disparities and cases in which defendants had severe mental illness or intellectual disabilities.

http://www.tbo.com/news/crime/75-tampa-bay-area-religious-leaders-call-for-end-to-death-penalty-in-wake-of-harvard-report-20161018/

http://www.mvfr.org/harvard_law_school_s_fair_punishment_project_report_on_death_penalty

[Eleanors38]

1. Florida Men and Women.

[Brettongarcia]

2. A recent map notes about 10% felons in Florida tho

Through the South, the NY Times article noted, its enough to effect voting. Since felons can't vote.

So it's a double-edged sword. These backwoods speed freaks and violent southern KKK racists...do legitimately run afoul of the law more often than others.

But one day, global warming melts the ice caps. And most of FLA disappears under the sea.

Felons:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/10/06/us/unequal-effect-of-laws-that-block-felons-from-voting.html?_r=0

[Eleanors38]

3. Recent elections indicate Obama carried a state of "backwoods speed freaks and violent...

...southern KKK racists."

I note your highly rarefied definition of felons leans in an acceptable ethnic direction on DU. Not leaving anyone out, are you?