and that it defied the association's long tradition of shying away from sensitive political issues."It is nothing more than a disguised referendum on capital punishment, an issue on which, in my view, we should not take a position," said Steven C. Krane, president-elect of the association.Supporters of the moratorium defeated attempts to derail it with postponements and a substitute resolution supported by the executive committee.When Gov. George E. Pataki ran in 1994, reinstatement of the death penalty in New York was a central plank in his platform, and in 1995 he signed it into law. Since then, just six people have been sentenced to die in state courts, partly because the law applies more narrowly than most states' death penalties, and partly because some district attorneys have been reluctant to use it.The first execution under the law is not expected for years, after those who have been condemned exhaust their appeals. The state last executed someone in 1963."We believe the death penalty is a good law that serves as a real deterrent, and we believe that it is part of the reason for the historic reduction in violent crime across the state," said Suzanne Morris, a spokeswoman for the governor.There has been a growing concern in the last few years about the application of the death penalty. The advent of DNA evidence and the work of private investigative groups have led to the exoneration of dozens of people on death rows across the country. The Republican governor of Illinois, George Ryan, has suspended executions in that state, after 13 condemned inmates were proved innocent, and the bar associations of Illinois, Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Ohio have called for a moratorium, as has the American Bar Association.Last year, a team led by James S. Liebman, a Columbia University law professor, found that in two-thirds of cases that resulted in a death sentence, appellate courts found errors by trial judges and prosecutors ...
