ABSTRACT
In early October 1997, spurred on by a string of grisly murders, including the rape and murder of a 10-year-old boy, the Massachusetts Senate voted in favour of a death penalty bill for the third time in a decade. Attention immediately shifted to the House of Representatives, which in each of the past three gorounds had resisted voting for a death penalty law. In a dramatic gesture, Representative Donna Cuomo, sister of the original murder victim of William Horton – about whom more later – announced that she had abandoned her opposition to the death penalty and would vote in favour of the bill. ‘It was really obvious that the people really want the death penalty … I didn't want to deny the people their voice.’ The death penalty bill passed in the House by one vote. Local journalists called the moment a ‘watershed’ event in Massachusetts political history and declared that ‘the liberal retreat is a rout’. 2
