After U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft autho­rized a fed­er­al death penal­ty pros­e­cu­tion against two Massachusetts men accused of a gang mur­der, the local Suffolk County District Attorney, Daniel F. Conley, object­ed to using cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment to end urban vio­lence, stat­ing, ​“I do not believe the death penal­ty is a deter­rent or appro­pri­ate pun­ish­ment for inner-city homi­cide. The death penal­ty runs counter to the strate­gies for pre­vent­ing and pros­e­cut­ing urban crime — which include sen­si­tiv­i­ty to the neigh­bor­hoods we serve — that have proven suc­cess­ful in Boston over the last decade.” Conley plans to per­son­al­ly appeal to Attorney General Ashcroft to drop the death penal­ty pros­e­cu­tion against the defen­dants. Carrie Gethers, the vic­tim’s grand­moth­er, has also announced that she does not sup­port the fed­er­al gov­ern­men­t’s deci­sion to seek the death penal­ty. She stat­ed, ​“It won’t do any­body any good… I don’t see any use for that any­more. I’m not a mur­der­er. Not me. I won’t say yes to that. He’s gone. It hurts, but this won’t bring him back.” (Boston Globe, September 19, 2003). See New Voices and Federal Death Penalty.

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