The first person to ever be executed in Kansas was a Native American man of unspecified age named John Coon, Jr., who was executed in January of 1853. He was sentenced to death, and was executed by gunshot after being convicted of murder. The most recent execution in Kansas was on June 22, 1965, when James Latham, a 23 year old white male, was hanged for robbery and murder (Espy, 2002). Although the first execution in Kansas was that of a Native American, the great majority of executions were of white males. Both men were convicted of murder, but Latham was additionally convicted of robbery. The method of execution varied - Coon was killed by gunshot while Latham was hanged - but both of these methods are outdated compared to today's lethal injection.
The Bureau of Justice records statistics on the amounts of paroled and probation. Their findings show that in 2006 the United States had 485,882 citizens reported into parole and 1,846,224 into probation. From them, 469,768 and 1,780,590 exited, respectively (Glaze, LEG, & Bonczar, 2006). When broken down and looked more specifically on the state of Kansas, there were only 5,785 entries and 5,565 exits to and from parole and 19,835 entries into probation and 19,327 exits. When accounting for the 12 states of the midwest, Kansas effectively represents 11% of all parole, but 4.09% of all people in probation (Glaze, LEG, & Bonczar, 2006). Their numbers are a bit average for states in the midwest, but their number of people on parole/probation per 100,000 adults is far exceeding the average. Due to the low population in Kansas, when you compare it to another group like Ohio which has five times as many people in probation, the state of Kansas is above 1/4 as many people in standing.
The Kansas Department of Corrections offers a program that allows victims to speak one-on-one in meetings with offenders. Their program has two employees that work with the victims. Victims wishing to speak with the offenders must request to be put on the waiting list, and then wait for as long as one year before they can meet the offenders. In the process, victims and offenders are looked into in order to ensure that victims understand the process and are ready to meet the offenders, and the offenders are analyzed to see if they can have reasonable meetings with victims. The process is extensive, and nothing is guaranteed - since 2002, only 7 meetings have taken place. Still, the program has been effective. It provides a meaningful experience for both victims and offenders, and there have been talks of expanding it through volunteers working for the Department of Corrections (Janney, 2009). (Photograph originally found at http://www.flickr.com/photos/parsec1/719012048/)
Espy, M. (2002). Executions in the U.S. 1608-2002: The ESPY File. Retrieved November 17, 2009, from Death Penalty Information Center website: http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/ESPYstate.pdf
Glaze, LEG, & Bonczar, TPB. (2006). Adults on parole. Bureau of justice statistics. Retrieved November 17, 2009, from https://webcampus.nevada.edu/webct/urw/lc33129041.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct
Glaze, LEG, & Bonczar, TPB. (2006). Adults on probation. Bureau of justice statistics. Retrieved November 17, 2009, from https://webcampus.nevada.edu/webct/urw/lc33129041.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct
Janney, Cristina. (2009). Victims of violence meet with offenders in program. Retrieved November 17, 2009, from Newton Kansan website: http://www.thekansan.com/news/x1312012843/Victims-of-violence-meet-with-offenders-in-program
"State by State..", DPIC. (2009). State by state database: death penalty. Retrieved November 16, 2009, from Death Penalty Information Center: http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/state_by_state
No comments:
Post a Comment