Eliminating death row
It is awful to contemplate the potential devastation had the Fort Dix terrorists not been arrested this week before they implemented their plan. But it is good to see that didn't prevent the Senate Judiciary Committee from approving a bill to eliminate the death penalty.
The seemingly endless appeals required for death row inmates are a waste of time and money. As some families of victims told the committee Thursday, the appeals process delays the closure these families so desperately seek. And the chance that an innocent person can be executed cannot be minimized, as illustrated in the dozens of cases when new evidence has arisen that brought a reversal of a death row sentence.
Heinous crime - cop killing, child rape and, yes, terrorism - deserves the harshest penalty. But the present system is too costly and can't guarantee it is mistake-free. Rotting forever in prison, where there are no heroes, is good enough.
The seemingly endless appeals required for death row inmates are a waste of time and money. As some families of victims told the committee Thursday, the appeals process delays the closure these families so desperately seek. And the chance that an innocent person can be executed cannot be minimized, as illustrated in the dozens of cases when new evidence has arisen that brought a reversal of a death row sentence.
Heinous crime - cop killing, child rape and, yes, terrorism - deserves the harshest penalty. But the present system is too costly and can't guarantee it is mistake-free. Rotting forever in prison, where there are no heroes, is good enough.
posted by Larry Benjamin at 3:37 PM
5 Comments:
Someday, we'll all realize that vengeance isn't justice.
You are so right, for many reasons. I worked for a death penalty appellate attorney for several years and the entire process is a quagmire -- a quagmire of taxpayer dollars going into attorney pockets. Also, the definition of insanity should include what so many of these people do to others -- their records are overflowing with tragic circumstance. But let me add -- if someone hurt my children I would be willing to do the time after killing them myself, and I would gladly sit on a jury and absolve any other parent of doing the same.
If the bill passes, most of the people who worked to make the death panalty a quagmire will work to make whatever punishmen is substituted a quagmire as well. Remember, those people want murderers back on the street as soon as possible. There is no justice for murder victims. Even with merciful executions the murderer always comes out ahead. The failure to execute is the failure to pursue justice.
anonymous wrote:
"Remember, those people want murderers back on the street as soon as possible."
Just plain looney.
They might as well abolish it. No one has used it in way too many years. It's seems to be a total waste. It deters nothing from what I see.
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