The New York League of Women Voters has urged state law­mak­ers not to attempt a ​“quick fix” solu­tion to the state’s flawed death penal­ty law. ​“We now have a unique oppor­tu­ni­ty to re-exam­ine the use of the death penal­ty in New York,” said Marcia Merrins, pres­i­dent of the League of Women Voters. In June 2004, the New York Court of Appeals declared the state’s death penal­ty uncon­sti­tu­tion­al. The League of Women’s Voter’s, which plans to host a series of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment forums through­out New York in the com­ing months, believes that the rul­ing offers law­mak­ers an oppor­tu­ni­ty to look beyond the imme­di­ate con­cern of the uncon­sti­tu­tion­al pro­vi­sion and exam­ine oth­er issues that will inevitably emerge despite the pas­sage of patch work leg­is­la­tion. (New York Law Journal, July 15, 2004) See DPIC’s Summary of the New York rul­ing. See New Voices.

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