wfn.org | AFSC Asks Pennsylvania Governor to Stay Execution of Mentally

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

AMERICAN FRIENDS SERVICE COMMITTEE URGES PENNSYLVANIA GOVERNOR TO STAY
THE EXECUTION OF MENTALLY ILL MAN

Philadelphia, PA (Dec 1) - The American Friends Service Committee
(AFSC), an international social justice organization, has requested
Governor Ed Rendell grant a stay of execution for death row inmate
George Banks, who is scheduled to die on December 2.

In a recent letter, AFSC general secretary Mary Ellen McNish urged
Rendell to take Banks' condition of mental illness as an extenuating
factor in his decision.

"If carried out as planned, this will be our state's first execution in
more than five years," McNish notes. McNish also expressed deepest
sympathy to the family and friends of the victims of the crime for which
Banks was convicted.

Additionally, the Service Committee urges citizens who are concerned
about the State sponsored execution of a mentally ill man to call the
Governor's office at 717-787-2500 on Wednesday and Thursday between the
hours of 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., or fax his office at 717-772-8284.

Demonstrations across the state are scheduled on Wednesday in the cities
across the state, including: Bethlehem, Erie, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh
and at the Governor's residence in Harrisburg.

With national headquarters in Philadelphia, The American Friends Service
Committee Criminal Justice program works with groups nationwide to
eliminate the use of prisons, jails, and executions as a "solution" to
crime and violence. In keeping with Quaker beliefs, the AFSC maintains
that every person has value in the eyes of God and that human life is
sacred. Therefore, taking the life of another human being is never
justified.

The Service Committee challenges the morality and effectiveness of the
"get-tough-on-crime" mentality. AFSC is an integral part of the
Religious Organizing Against the Death Penalty Project, which seeks to
build a powerful coalition of faith-based activists and works nationally
with official religious bodies to develop strategies and to promote
anti-death penalty activism within each faith tradition.

The Service Committee played a lead role in filing an amicus brief now
before the U.S. Supreme Court, challenging the constitutionality of
executing minors. Twenty-nine groups, including Muslim, Christian and
Jewish faith traditions, joined with the filing.

Banks was sentenced to death according to jury instructions which have
since been declared unconstitutional, raising questions of fundamental
fairness. These instructions may have prevented the jury from fully
considering mitigating evidence for Banks, including evidence of his
severe mental illness.	Additionally, the five-person Pennsylvania Board
of Pardons, which could grant clemency to Banks, is required to include
a psychologist or a psychiatrist. However, that seat is currently vacant
raising concerns about the current clemency process.

Banks was the son of a bi-racial couple and grew up in an all-white
neighborhood where he was subjected to racial prejudice from both his
white and black peers. Plagued by insecurity, persecution and anger,
Banks felt rejected by all people and viewed himself as "a man without a
race." His mental health and persecution complex worsened until he
became obsessed with paranoid delusions.  A psychiatrist who examined
him called Banks terminally paranoid, saying he had "lost touch with
reality on a great many things."

More information on Religious Organizing Against the Death Penalty can
be found on AFSC's website www.afsc.org.

# # #

The American Friends Service Committee is a Quaker organization that
includes people of various faiths who are committed to social justice,
peace and humanitarian service. Its work is based on the belief in the
worth of every person and faith in the power of love to overcome
violence and injustice.