PENA MORTE:USA; MASSACHUSETTS STUDIA POSSIBILITA' INTRODURLA

NEW YORK, - Il Massachusetts, uno dei soli 12 stati degli Usa che non prevedono la pena di morte, ha istituito una commissione di esperti incaricata di valutare l'istituzione della pena capitale.

L'iniziativa e' stata presa dal governatore dello stato, il repubblicano Mitt Romney e fa seguito a tentativi analoghi svolti negli ultimi 12 anni dai suoi predecessori, sempre con esito negativo. La pena di morte e' stata abolita nello stato nel 1984 e l'ultima esecuzione in Massachusetts risale al 1947.

Lo stato ha sentimenti profondamente contrari alla pena capitale e l'unico momento in cui e' arrivato vicino a cambiare opinione e' stata nel 1997, sull'onda dell'indignazione per la violenza sessuale e l'omicidio di un ragazzino di 10 anni: la Camera dello stato si spacco' sul voto.

Attualmente pero' i contrari alla pena di morte negli organismi rappresentativi del Massachusetts sono superiori ai favorevoli. Il governatore Romney, che e' anche un vescovo mormone, ha voluto in ogni caso nominare una commissione che studi la possibilita' di dar vita ad una pena capitale ''a prova di errore giudiziario''. 

  BOSTON  _ Gov. Mitt Romney launched his bid to bring the death penalty   back to Massachusetts on Tuesday, saying he wants to craft a law that will  make it <virtually certain> that only those guilty of the worst crimes would be executed.

He named an 11-member panel of scientists, prosecutors and legal experts to write a bill that relies heavily on science to determine guilt or innocence.

During his campaign for governor last year, Romney said he supports reinstatement of the death penalty for certain crimes, including the murder of a police officer, terrorist acts, the killing of a witness or murders committed with <extreme atrocity.>  The Republican governor faces an uphill fight in the Legislature, where support for the death penalty, which peaked after the 1997 murder of 10-year-old Jeffrey Curley, has declined in recent years. The past four Republican governors have tried unsuccessfully to reinstate the death penalty, which was banned in the state in 1984.

Romney said the burden of proof used to sentence someone to death would likely need to be even tougher than the <guilt beyond a reasonable doubt> level needed to convict someone of a crime.

<We want a standard of proof that is incontrovertible,> Romney said at a news conference. <This is a new kind of death penalty. ... Just as science can free the innocent, it can identify the guilty.>  His panel includes U.S.

Attorney Michael Sullivan and Dr. Henry Lee, a forensic specialist best known for his testimony during the O.J. Simpson trial.

Romney told reporters he did not ask the panel members if they favored or opposed the death penalty.

One of the co-chairman of the panel, Joseph Hoffman, a member of the faculty at Indiana Law School, said the group intends to craft a bill that will guarantee an innocent person is not executed.