U.S. group of murder victims' families argues against death penalty（2010/07/02）

U.S. group of murder victims' families argues against death penalty

Taipei, July 2 (CNA) State execution of convicted murderers does not guarantee peace of mind for the families of the victims, an international non-governmental organization said in Taipei Friday.

"Executing someone helps no one... Killing another human being does not undo that act of violence," said Robert Meeropol, vice-chair of the board of directors of the Murder Victims' Families For Human Rights (MVFHR).

Meeropol's parents were executed by the U.S. government in 1953 during the anti-Communism period which was later known as the McCarthy era.

A seven-member delegation from MVFHR, a U.S.-based organization of family members of victims of criminal murder, state execution and extra-judicial assassinations, is visiting Taiwan on the last leg of its Asian tour to advocate abolition of the death penalty.

The visit came nine weeks after Taiwan's execution of four prisoners April 30, ending a five-year moratorium on the death penalty and drawing criticism from various contries and international organizations such as the Amnesty International.

"Our hearts were heavy when we learned the news on April 30, " said MVFHR Executive Director Renny Cushing, whose mother witnessed her husband being shot in front of their house in Hampton, New Hampshire 22 years ago.

Cushing said he was opposed to the death penalty before his father's death and did not change his position after because he would have lost his values along with his father.

"I don't want to live in a world where the government kills people. And we shouldn't kill people in the name of the victims," he said.

While in Taiwan, the MVFHR is joining forces with the Taiwan Alliance to End the Death Penalty (TAEDP) to share their experiences and explain their reasons for opposing the death penalty.

"We're not here to tell the families of victims whether or not to oppose the death penalty, " said Lin Hsin-yi, executive director of the TAEDP. "We're not in any position to speak for them, but we want to stress that a system should be in place to take care of these families."

MVFHR's Aba Gayle, whose 19-year-old daughter Catherine Blount was murdered in 1980, said she had lived through "eight years of darkness" and a period when all she wanted was revenge.

One night in 1992, Gayle said, she was driven by an inner voice to write a letter to Douglas Mickey, the convicted perpetrator, in which she said that although she had forgiven him, it did not mean he was innocent or blameless.

Gayle said that after she mailed the letter, she found inner peace because she "did not need anyone to be executed to be healed."

"I learned there's another way to live," she said.

The MVFHR delegation has asked to meet with Pai Ping-ping, a Taiwanese entertainer whose daughter was tortured and murdered in 1997 and who has since become an advocate of the death penalty.

"We hope that she can find peace within herself and get the most out of her daughter's death, " said Toshi Tazawa, a U.S. -based Japanese photographer who has visited Taiwan to photograph juvenile death row inmates and is also an MVFHR board member. (By Chris Wang) enditem /pc