Are we slowly awakening to the fact that the death penalty is wrong?
by digby
Here’s some good news from the Economist: it appears the US may not be trying for the “who can execute the most people” award anymore:
I’ve never understood why any civilized country would have a death penalty. It’s just illogical to me that anyone thinks it makes sense to punish someone for the heinous crime of killing another human being — by killing a human being. I just can’t see how the “message” that sends makes any sense at all.
It would appear that the public is getting weary of the killing for a number of different reasons. We’ve learned that there are quite a few innocent people on death row for one thing. According to the article juries feel much more comfortable giving a life sentence without the possibility of parole (which has its own problems but it’s still better than a death sentence …) There have also been harrowing tales of suffering during executions as well as the inability of some states to even obtain the necessary drugs for lethal injection. And perhaps there’s a greater awareness these days of just how capricious a our system of justice is. We need massive improvements in that all around, but the least we can do is stop subjecting people to death sentences knowing that all sentences are fairly arbitrary and hit hardest on people of color. As usual.
The linked article is very much worth a read this week-end if you care about criminal justice issues. This one is a very hard nut to crack but it could happen. We’re executing fewer and fewer people. I look forward to the day it will be zero.
Update: I just want to point out one thing: the big upsurge in support for the death penalty in the early 90s was partially a result of some very bad social science about “super-predators” and some very opportunistic Democrats jumping on the bandwagon for purely partisan reasons: they were chasing that ever-loving rural, conservative, white male vote. That’s always such a winner for everyone.
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