Pace Press

Issue date: 2/16/05 Section: News

Media Credit: Lauren Giaccone Opponents to death penalty outnumber proponents at state hearing

The final public hearing for ruling on the death penalty in New York state was held last week at the Schimmel Center. It included testimony from Yusef Salaam, who was among the five wrongly sentenced to death.

The nearly eight-hour long forum for public dialogue heard from state and city officials advocated issues from human rights and victim's rights organizations to family of murder victims to religious figures. While opposing sides were presented at the hearing, the overwhelming sentiment was to abolish the death penalty..

Salaam began with a dismayed response to Congress' recent apology for lynchings, specifically against members of the African American community. "The racial and geographical bias factored into the death penalty makes it an especially sensitive issue to the fate of minorities," Salaam said.

Salaam was among a group of boys, who were wrongfully convicted and sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a 24-year old woman in the infamous Central Park jogger case in 1990. In 2002, after spending fourteen years of their youth incarcerated, the Central Park Five were removed from death row and released following a confession from Martias Reyes.

Salaam emphasized the media's role in stimulating antagonistic feeling towards a suspect of any case, "The media plays a very big role on whether a person is innocent or guilty."

Salaam, 28, spoke about his personal experience with the media during his trial. "I saw pictures of the sketches of me while I was in trial and I looked like a madman at times," he stated with a smile.

He gravely added, "The justice system is a very racist system. Many of the people in jail for murder are black or Hispanic but overwhelmingly black. I question the methods through which these individuals were incarcerated."

Corrections Committee Chair, Jeffrion Aubry, served as one of the presiding assemblymen for Friday's hearing. When asked to comment on the significance of Salaam's testimony, Assemblyman Aubry 35th A.D. said, "It was compelling and troubling both in terms of this issue and how the criminal justice system has been implemented."

Continued...

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