Capital punishment has been a fiercely debated issue in Nebraska since the drafting of the state's constitution. If you are interested in the history of Nebraska or criminal justice, I encourage you to watch the Nebraska Educational Telecommunications show ...Until He is Dead online. It includes an interview with descendants of the one man killed by the state of Nebraska who was later exonerated.

A total of 37 men have been executed by the state of Nebraska. Fifteen years after statehood, Nebraska conducted its first state execution by hanging, NETNebraska.org. Hanging continued to be the method of execution until 1913 when the state legislature took up the debate. They considered eliminating the death penalty. Instead, they kept it and changed the method to electrocution.

After using the electric chair 15 times, Nebraska ended up being the last state in the union with electrocution as its sole method for capital punishment. When stopping that practice in 2008, the seven-justice majority of the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled on the evidence of pain during electrocutions. "It is the hallmark of a civilized society that we punish cruelty without practicing it," CNN.com. Although never used, lethal injection has been the only option for capital punishment in Nebraska since 2009.

                                           Time Line of Capital Punishment in Nebraska

• First execution by Nebraska territorial court, Cyrus Tator, August 28, 1863.
• Nebraska became a state, March 1, 1867.
  
• First legal execution in Nebraska, Samuel D. Richards, April 26, 1879.
• Death of the only executed prisoner in Nebraska later exonerated, Jackson Marion, March 25, 1887.
• A man was hanged twice after the rope broke on the first attempt, Albert Haunstine, May 20, 1891.
  
• Last legal public hanging, George Morgan, October 8, 1897
• Method of capital punishment changed from hanging to the electric chair, March, 1913.
• First execution by electrocution (two men in one day), December 20, 1920
• Most notorious criminal executed in Nebraska, Charles Starkweather, June 25, 1959.
• U.S. Supreme Court blocked capital punishment, June 29, 1972.
• Nebraska Supreme Court issued rulings on four death penalty cases in one day to clarify the use of capital punishment, February 2, 1977.
• The last state execution to date, Robert Williams, December 2, 1997.
• Nebraska Supreme Court ruled electric chair violates ban on "cruel and unusual punishment," February 8, 2008.
• Lethal injection replaced electric chair as means of state execution, September 1, 2009.

 
         "There is a real easy way to avoid ever getting the death penalty. Don't kill anyone else."
                                                                                   --Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning

Early death sentences were carried out by the counties. Since 1903, death sentences have been carried out at the state penitentiary. Of the 70 inmates who have sat on Death Row in Nebraska, 23 have been put to death. One, Charles Starkweather, murdered 10 people on a killing spree in 1958. It was the kind of case in which it is easy for proponents to argue the merits of capital punishment.

                                                              "The state should not kill."
                                                                                   --Nebraska State Senator Ernie Chambers

In one case, this state took an innocent man's life. William Jackson "Jack" Marion was convicted of shooting to death a friend named John Cameron in 1887. The dead body was paraded into the court. The conviction came after three trials and little evidence. The Clerk of the Gage County Court recorded his sentence: "He shall be taken by the sheriff to the place of execution and be hanged by the neck until dead, dead, dead" NETNebraska.org. 

The Omaha Bee recorded Marion's final words on the gallows, "I have made no confession and have none to make. God help everybody. That is all I have to say" NETNebraska.org.  About four years later, someone who did not believe John Cameron was the dead man found him in Kansas and brought him back to Nebraska. It was a century later, in 1987, that Governor Bob Kerry signed a pardon for Jack Marion.

The history of the death penalty in Nebraska presents extreme examples of a state struggling to create a system of justice. How does it sit with your views on crime and punishment?


Resources:

Kelly, Bill, "Until He is Dead: A History of Nebraska's Death Penalty," NETNebraska.org, premiered 2-8-2013.
Kelly Omaha, "History of the Death Penalty in Nebraska," Dipity.com, 1-20-2013.
Mears, Bill, "Nebraska court bans the electric chair," Cnn.com, 2-8-2008.
Nebraska Department of Correctional Services, "Capital Punishment: Rules & Regulations," Corrections.state.ne.us, (accessed 2-20-2013).
Young, JoAnne, "Nebraska Electric chair becoming historical artifact," Journalstar.com, 6-26-2008.

My husband and I have ordered seed from the Stock Seed Farms in Murdock, Nebraska, many times over the years. We even drove there once to pick up seed and admire fields of prairie grasses such as Big Bluestem and Little Bluestem. Like most Nebraskans, we were shocked to hear that owners Wayne and Sharmon Stock had been murdered in their home in 2006.  There were more surprises during the investigation of those murders that shook law enforcement and citizens in Nebraska.

Nebraska Educational Telecommunications (NET) has produced a one-hour documentary on the case investigation and the evidence initially used to hold two innocent men in jail. It shows the involvement of ex-CSI chief David Kofoed, who has since been sentenced to prison. Kofoed maintains his innocence.

I have to agree with Judge Rehmeier's statement in the Lincoln Journal Star: "Nothing should undermine the confidence in the system." The evidence tampering for which Kofoed was found guilty threatened the lives of innocent men and jeopardized the hunt for the real killers. It also made it harder for other law enforcement investigators to prove their credibility.

The good news is that the innocent men are now free, the guilty are in prison, and Kofoed is no longer working CSI. If you are interested in crime, justice, or murder mysteries, watch NET's CSI on Trial online or on your television.

• CSI on Trial (schedule and links), Nebraska Educational Telecommunications, 2012
• Extended video excerpts and documents from the investigation (Available mid-November 2012)
• "Ex-CSI chief Kofoed sentenced to prison," Lincoln Journal Star, June 01, 2010
• "Was Nebrask Couple's Murder Revenge or Random?" ABC 20/20, September 3, 2010
  

If you haven't heard about Half the Sky, the book, the documentary, or the the movement, it's time to check it out. Named for the Chinese proverb that says "women hold up half the sky," the book explores the global injustices against women. Pulitzer Prize-winning authors Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn suggest that the world suffers morally and economically by preventing women from holding up their half of the sky.

Girls and women, especially in developing countries, face extreme poverty, oppression, and violence. The authors take you beyond the words to introduce you to the harsh stories of individuals. As difficult as their situations are, these women are working hard to survive and to thrive.

This week, a PBS documentary based on Half the Sky aired October 1 and 2. If you missed it, it will be shown online at the PBS website through October 9 and 10, and it will be available on video. Take a few minutes to view the trailer. You will meet women in 10 countries who are fighting back against brutal situations. It also shows that all of us can have a positive impact on problems around the world.

In addition to the questions asked of the two presidential candidates in their first debates, we may need to ask ourselves what we should demand of these male leaders in terms of fighting injustices against women. We can't suppress half the world's population and begin to achieve our best social, political or financial goals.

• Half the Sky Movement: http://www.halftheskymovement.org/
• PBS: http://www.pbs.org/
  

I can only hope that you are not one of the many people who have lost a family member or friend to murder. Yet, many were hit by the loss of one of the nearly 14,000 U.S. murder victims in 2011. We need to honor their memories on National Day of Remembrance for Murder Victims.

Little makes people more angry at the criminal justice system than the notion that accused criminals seem to have more rights than crime victims. "If the criminal justice systems of the world were private companies, they would all go out of business, because half of their main customers--that is, the victims of crime--are dissatisfied with their services," said Jan Van Dijk, Principal Officer of the United Nations Centre for International Crime Prevention.

According to the National Organization for Victim Assistance, most states in the U.S. do indicate the need and intent to protect Crime Victims' Rights in their statutes or constitutions. Common victims' rights include:

• The right to protection from intimidation and harm.
• The right to be informed concerning the criminal justice process.
• The right to reparations.
• The right to preservation of property and employment.
• The right to due process in criminal court proceedings.
• The right to be treated with dignity and compassion.
• The right to counsel.

If you or someone you know has been the victim of a crime, seek groups and agencies to provide assistance and to protect your rights. In the U.S., the National Crime Victim Law Institute provides a Victim Resource Map to get started.

Remember that crime statistics aren't just numbers. They represent people.

• The National Center for Victims of Crime: http://www.victimsofcrime.org
• Directory of Crime Victim Services: http://ovc.ncjrs.gov/findvictimservices/
• Parents of Murdered Children (1-888-818-7662): http://www.pomc.com/

Like other states, Nebraska is experiencing "exceptional" drought. The September 11, 2012 U.S. Drought Monitor map shows the extent of the emergency.

I don't know how to get more rain to fall on parched ground, but I have found another kind of RAINN Day to promote as a way of combating sexual violence.

"Every 2 minutes, someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted," according to RAINN, The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network. Of those victims, 80% will be under the age of 30, 44% will be under the age of 18 (http://www.rainn.org/statistics). College students are encouraged to host events to raise awareness of sexual violence on RAINN Day, Thursday, September 27, 2012.

Consider conducting an event of your own. Some of last year's RAINN Day events are highlighted in Cosmopolitan.

For instance, at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 40 umbrellas were painted with sexual assault information and placed on the ground in the grove. The Undergraduate Student Government at Boston College wore matching t-shirts printed with "Sexual Assault Awareness Day" and the local hotline number. Elsewhere in the nation, campuses held raffles, symposia, screenings of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and activities such as chalking statistics on campus sidewalks.

Do your own RAINN dance on your campus or in your community. Check out the RAINN website or call these numbers for more information on preventing or responding to sexual violence.

• Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network Website: http://www.rainn.org/
• National Sexual Assault Hotline: 800-656-HOPE (4673)
• National Domestic Violence Hotline: 800-799-SAFE (7233) or 800-787-3224 (TDD)