Page 6 U Daily Nebraskan 1 Tuesday, September 14,1999
The Daily Nebraskan News Poll
We’ve got the questions for your answers
LAST WEEK’S QUESTION:
Was renovating Memorial Stadium
worth the $36 million price tag?
60 % YES*
30 % NO
*osit of 185 voters
THIS WEEK’S QUESTION:
When out on the weekends...
how many drinks (beer or liquor) do you have?
cast your vote at www.DalMlet.com
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Homicide study edges
closer to a beginning
DEATH from page 1
University of Florida, applauded the
committee and the Legislature for tak
ing up the issue.
“Nebraska is at the very forefront
(ofthe nation) in its concern about pro
portionality,” Radelet said.
Looking back
Proportionality lies at the heart of
the debate.
Opponents of the death penalty
claim that in Nebraska, as in other
states, members of minorities are dis
proportionately likely to be sentenced to
death, and opponents point to the num
bet^of minorities on Nebraska’s death
row as proof.
According to J. Kirk Brown with
the Attorney General’s office, there are
currently 10 people on Nebraska’s
death row, two of whom are minorities.
Only three people have been exe
cuted in Nebraska since the death
penalty was reinstituted by the U.S.
Supreme Court in 1973; two of them
were black.
Curtis contends that the numbers
don’t tell the whole story.
“(A disproportionate number of)
minorities on death row is not evidence
of unfair treatment,” he said.
“You also have to investigate how
many crimes they commit, how they are
charged and how the trial proceeds. The
real issue is, given two individuals who
have committed similar crimes, is one
more likely than another to receive a
death sentence?”
The issue of proportionality deals
not only with race, but also gender, reli
gious preference, economic status and
the relationship between criminal and
victim. •
Sorfte legislators suspect the death
penalty is being applied inconsistently
apart from any of these factors.
“I think that the study will show that
the death penalty is disproportionately
applied even among members of the
same race,” said state Sen. Kermit
Brashear, who is chairman of the
Legislature’s judiciary committee.
Although private groups have stud
ied the death penalty in Nebraska, the
state has never compiled a comprehen
«
I think that the study will show that the death
penalty is disproportionately applied even
among members of the same race.”
Kermit Brashear
olofn ormnlnr
sive file of homicide cases. This lack of
central records has hampered
Nebraska’s Supreme Court for years.
The state statutes’ proportionality
clause says the court “shall compare
each case with previous ones involving
the same or similar circumstances. No
sentence imposed shall be greater” than
those in similar cases.
“This bill (LB76) was created
specifically in response to a series of
Supreme Court cases over the years
asking for this data (on homicides in
Nebraska),” Brashear said.
Another major problem exists in the
type of information available to com
mission members, Curtis said. The key
factors in determining whether the
death penalty is warranted are mitigat
ing and aggravating factors.
What these are in given cases is
determined by the judge.
But this occurs only in those murder
cases that actually go to trial. If a guilty
plea is entered or a plea baigain reached
there is no official record.
This leaves the committee with little
to look at, Curtis said.
Researchers would have to inter
view the original judge and attorneys, as
well as sift through mountains of tran
scripts, court records and attorneys’
notes.
Nearly everyone at the hearings
agreed that such primary research was
necessary.
Small numbers
Further confusing the issue is the
sheer lack of cases to compare and
number of variables to consider.
Around 1,200 homicides have
occurred in Nebraska since 1973; of
these, Curtis and others at the hearings
estimated that about 300 are compara
ble cases where the death penalty could
have been sought and wasn’t.
Only a few dozen death sentences
have been handed down.
“Even if the results of the study
point toward a disproportionality. they
probably won’t be statistically conclu
sive,” Curtis said.
In his testimony to the committee,
state Sen. Gerald Matzke of Sidney
agreed.
“My fear is that every single murder
case is different, unique, and I do not
know how it is humanly possible to
approach the issue of proportionality by
judging a multitude of very serious
cases,” Matzke said.
Brashear believes otherwise.
“I think that the results of the study
will be conclusive,” he said. “Either the
death penalty is being applied propor
tionately, or it is not.”
If nothing else, the study should
shed light on the way that murder cases
are handled in Nebraska, Curtis said.
“I hope we can improve the criminal
justice system as it relates to the death
penalty,” he said. “That’s What the com
mission is charged \^ith, making sure
that justice is administered fairly.”
But state Sen. Ernie Chambers of
Omaha wasn’t so optimistic at thq
Omaha hearing.
“All of us know that there are coun
ty attorneys who don’t believe in the
death penalty,’’.Chambers said. “So
long as there is prosecutorial discretion,
we’re going to have 93 different death
penalty laws in Nebraska.”
The commission will meet to give
the study final approval at a public
meeting Oct. 8. The final report is due
to the governor, Legislature and state
Supreme Court by Jan. 1,2001.
Blum appraised by colleagues
BLUM from page 1
under van Rossum, who was in charge
of the transitional programs office at
Southern Illinois.
“I’m kind of proud because she
was one of my first graduate students
that turned professional,” van Rossum
said. “I’ve kind of watched her mature
professionally.”
Upon arriving in Nebraska after
her husband, Michael Blum, landed a
job as a geology associate professor,
Rosemary Blum returned a favor to
van Rossum.
Serving as student ombudsperson
at the time, Blum faxed van Rossum an
application in Southern Illinois for a
spot in UNL’s Multicultural Affairs
office.
Van Rossum now works in the
office, thanks to his former apprentice.
Besides her background experi
ence and her outstanding work ethic,
Blum excels in many other avenues of
life as well, van Rossum said.
“She’s a wonderful mother to her
boys. She gives them every bit of time
that she can, and I think that’s part of
Rosemary - the total person,” he said.
Blum said she liked to include her
children in her life at all times.
For instance, she said, she enjoys
attending her son David’s soccer and
basketball games when she can. Blum
also has a 3-year-old son, Brian.
.Besides attending her son’s games,
she said, one of the things she enjoys
most was traveling.
The only state Blum hasn’t seen
yet is Alaska.
Now in Nebraska, she said, her
goal is to increase die awareness of the
student code of conduct.
“It’s an educational mission,”
Blum said. “We want to make sure
everybody behaves within their rights
as well as their responsibilities.”
Some of Blum’s own responsibili
ties include imposing sanctions on stu
dents, explaining to students their due
process and acting as an adviser to the
Judicial Board and Appeals Board.
Though she can be a stem director,
she said, she also knows how to relate
to the students.
“I’m pretty strict about holding
people accountable,” she said. “I’m
not a big believer in excuses ... but I
think I’m pretty easy-going and
approachable.”
James Griesen, vice chancellor for
student affairs, said Blum’s experience
made her an excellent choice for the
position.
“I’m very impressed with her abil
ity to grasp the demands of the job and
her handling of the business at the
office in a very efficient manner.”
borority stays, renovation plans grow
SORORITY from page 1
The university told the sorority
that a new house would be built for
them at the corner of 16th and R
streets and that they would be paid
replacement costs for the old house.
Through the task force, sorority
members found out that replacement
costs were small compared with what
the price of the new house would be.
About 60 sorority women attend
ed a regents meeting at the end of the
1998 fall semester to voice their con
cerns, Miley said.
At that meeting, UNL Chancellor
James Moeser pledged not to use
eminent domain to acquire the land
where the house is.
It also was decided that if an
agreement satisfying both the univer
sity and the sorority was not reached
by Aug. 1, the house would stay put.
Cindy Cammack, member of the
Alpha Chi Omega building coopera
tion board, said the university notified
sorority members of its decision early
this summer, before the Aug. 1 dead
line.
Cammack was unsure why the
university made that decision, but she
assumed it was financial.
Now, Mi ley said, there are renova
tions to be made in the old house
because it will not be moving.
Tentative plans include the instal
lation of air conditioning, a new com
auter lab and suite-style rooms.
Tracy Prater, a junior who has
lived in the house for two years, said
»he is relieved the sorority does not
aave to relocate.
“(Moving) is a huge step,” Prater
>aid. “We’re glad the university
worked with us.”