I'm tired of hearing about "pro-life" democrats or "tough on crime" democrats who don't actually do anything to advance their supposed beliefs. I understand in some cases they take whatever position will get them elected and so in fact they really aren't interested in the issue or might really believe the traditional left wing positons. But the fact is some of them must really believe it.
For those who are "pro death penalty" democrats; this Supreme Court ruling should rile you up and get you to thinking not only about the role of the courts, but also how we as a nation can better deal with some of the heinous crimes in our nation.
Cspan has video of the Supreme Court arguments in Kennedy v Louisiana
I think it is clear that the threat of the death penalty can deter murders and heinous crimes in some people. I believe if we extend that threat to other crimes we can improve our society.
The problems with the impositon of the death penalty today are:
1. the economic and racial injustice in the system makes the use of the penalty unfair and wrong today. It's clear to me, innocent people have been sentenced and most likely executed. That is unacceptable.
...but even when we verify the identity and guilt:
2. there are too many delays and appeals between the sentence and the actual execution. This limits the effectiveness of the procedure.
3. It is too selectively applied, as "regular murders" aren't generally available.
For these reasons, I am currently against the death penalty. We need to strengthen our laws and fight crime tougher. If we totally revamp our system, the death penalty can be a valuable tool in making life better and even possible for some innocent people.
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Racial issues
White murderers are twice as likely to be executed in the US as are black murderers and are executed, on average, 12 months more quickly than are black death row inmates.
It is often stated that it is the race of the victim which decides who is prosecuted in death penalty cases. Although blacks and whites make up about an equal number of murder victims, capital cases are 6 times more likely to involve white victim murders than black victim murders. This, so the logic goes, is proof that the US only cares about white victims.
Hardly. Only capital murders, not all murders, are subject to a capital indictment. Generally, a capital murder is limited to murders plus secondary aggravating factors, such as murders involving burglary, carjacking, rape, and additional murders, such as police murders, serial and multiple murders. White victims are, overwhelmingly, the victims under those circumstances, in ratios nearly identical to the cases found on death row.
Any other racial combinations of defendants and/or their victims in death penalty cases, is a reflection of the crimes committed and not any racial bias within the system, as confirmed by studies from the Rand Corporation (1991), Smith College (1994), U of Maryland (2002), New Jersey Supreme Court (2003) and by a view of criminal justice statistics, within a framework of the secondary aggravating factors necessary for capital indictments.
Class issues
No one disputes that wealthier defendants can hire better lawyers and, therefore, should have a legal advantage over their poorer counterparts. The US has executed about 0.15% of all murderers since new death penalty statutes were enacted in 1973. Is there evidence that wealthier capital murderers are less likely to be executed than their poorer ilk, based upon the proportion of capital murders committed by different those different economic groups? Not to my knowledge.
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