A new report from Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights collects the stories of families who have had a loved one murdered who was in law enforcement. The families discuss the pressure they faced to demand the death penalty as punishment, their efforts to prevent more violence, and their evolving views on the death penalty. Kathy Dillon, whose father was murdered in 1974 while on duty as a New York State Trooper, said, “[I]n the case of my father’s murder, the death penalty was in place in New York State, but it didn’t protect him that day.” Neely Goen, whose father was a Kansas State Trooper who was killed in 1978, wrote about the toll the death penalty system takes on victims’ families: “We already have been through enough. We deserve better than a system that forces us to go through long trials and endless appeals. The death penalty focuses an incredible amount of attention on the killers, which makes victims’ families relive the painful details of a murder over and over.”
(“Family Members of Murdered Law Enforcement,” Murder Victims’ Families for Human Rights, December, 2013; DPIC posted, Dec. 18, 2013). See Victims and New Voices.
