The Abolitionist Pages
An Association of Individuals and Organizations Opposed
to the Death Penalty

HomePage

  This Page is maintained by
James Joseph Lynch, Jr.
Attorney At Law

"We, the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." U.S. Constitution, Preamble

"Excessive bail shall not be required, or excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."  8th Amendment.

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the People." 10th Amendment.

Arguments Against the Death Penalty

• Homicides In U.S.& California Supreme Courts

• The Death Penalty is Excessive Force

• Murder Victim's Families for Reconciliation

• Statistics:  Homicides vs. Executions; An exercise in futility

• Bishop Tutu's Views on the Death Penalty

• Cardinal Mahony's Views on the Death Penalty

• Cardinal Mahony on Democracy: Summary

• Cardinal Mahony on Democracy

• Clark County 1000+ Links

• The Hill Case: The Dialectic of Abortion and the Death Penalty.

• n Guilty Men by A. Volokh (1997)

• The Moratorium Campaign

Common Law titles of Nobility (Sovereign immunity?) have been abolished.  U.S. Const., Art. I, §§ 9 & 10.

Our federal system is one of delegated powers. 10th Amendment

At common law, a person could, and currently can, delegate only those powers which the person had.

At common law, a person had, and still has, the right to self-defense with reasonable force, and deadly force only if reasonable. Once the aggressor is reduced to helplessness, the right to use force ceases.

As the government has only delegated power to defend society with reasonable force, and deadly force only if reasonable, it follows that once the person is arrested and incarcerated, the right to use further force, i.e. death penalty, ceases.  Lynch,Emerging Standards of Decency and Sovereignty(1988)

NEW!

Recent Case Summaries from USSC

NEW!

Death Penalty Amici Briefs in USSC

  Articles By James Joseph Lynch, Jr.

Rise, Fall & Resurrection of Diminished Capacity

DEATH IN THE SUPREME COURTS: AN ANTHOLOGY OF CASES AND MATERIALS

EMERGING STANDARDS OF DECENCY & SOVEREIGNTY: The Death Penalty Is Justified, If At All, Only When the State Demonstrates Beyond A Reasonable Doubt That It Cannot Control Defendant’s Conduct By Mere Incarceration.

SENSORY AND CULTURAL DEPRIVATION IN CHILDREN (1996)

John Paul II meets and forgives his would-be assassin, Turkish terrorist Mehmet Ali Agca, in Agca's prison cell in Rome on Dec. 27, 1983.

If he can forgive …. Why can’t I?

Organizations Supporting
A Moratorium on Death Penalty

Coming Events

•  DPF, Sacramento Chapter, 2nd Tuesday Each Month, 6:00 p.m. - 8:00 p.m. Westminster, 13th & N Streets, Sacramento, CA

•  Essay Contest for High School and Junior High School Students. Annually. Email to register.  Deadline March 1 each year.

•  Third Monday of each month: Vigil on North Steps of Capital. 12:00 p.m. to 1:00 p.m.
• January 17, 2006, 10:30 p.m., Execution Vigil  Clarence Ray Allen February 20, 2006, 10:30 p.m.  Execution Vigil Micheal Morales

Death Penalty Focus, California
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