Richard Pompelio (pic­tured) estab­lished the New Jersey Crime Victims Law Center (VLC) in 1992 after his 17-year-old son Tony was mur­dered. VLC pro­vides pro bono legal assis­tance to vic­tims of vio­lent crime. He recent­ly wrote in the New Jersey Lawyer’s The Law & More col­umn about the dis­ser­vice that the death penal­ty rep­re­sents to vic­tims and their families:

In my 15 years as a vic­tims rights lawyer, I have rep­re­sent­ed many mur­der vic­tim fam­i­lies in death penal­ty cas­es, and the addi­tion­al anguish caused by the jus­tice process is overwhelming.When I first see a client, I silent­ly pray the pros­e­cu­tor will decide against pur­su­ing the death penal­ty, but not because I am against that form of pun­ish­ment. My prayers are for the vic­tims and the hope they will be spared the pain, iso­la­tion and despair the death penal­ty process inevitably will bring.
…
What vic­tims need most from those work­ing in the jus­tice sys­tem is to have the right to fair­ness, com­pas­sion, respect and dig­ni­ty rec­og­nized and respect­ed. They do not need— nor do they want — the vengeance of death.
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Families are placed in this adver­sar­i­al sys­tem where jus­tice becomes equat­ed with win­ning and los­ing. And in death penal­ty cas­es, vic­tims don’t win.
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The death penal­ty in New Jersey is so bro­ken it can­not be fixed. Opponents of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment advo­cate life in prison with­out parole as an alter­na­tive. Bipartisan leg­is­la­tion has been intro­duced to enact this change (A‑3569/​S‑1212). I ful­ly sup­port it as do most vic­tims and vic­tim advo­cates. Let pros­e­cu­tors, defense lawyers and judges focus their ener­gies and tal­ents on issues oth­er than the death penal­ty to improve the jus­tice sys­tem. Convince some of the legal tal­ent from the defense death penal­ty bar to argue for the civ­il rights of crime vic­tims and their fam­i­lies. In call­ing for the abo­li­tion of cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment in favor of life in prison with­out parole, Ocean County Prosecutor Thomas Kelaher recent­ly told act­ing Gov. Codey that a death penal­ty nev­er used has become ​“a cru­el hoax on the fam­i­lies of the vic­tims and the cit­i­zens of this state.”
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Legislators must under­stand that sup­port­ing the demise of the cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment law does not mean they’re soft on crime. It’s time for lawyers, judges, leg­is­la­tors and now our new gov­er­nor to col­lec­tive­ly put their hearts and minds togeth­er to restruc­ture the crim­i­nal jus­tice sys­tem to achieve a more pos­i­tive pur­pose.

(New Jersey Lawyer, Dec. 26, 2005). Read the entire arti­cle. See also New Voices and Victims.
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