I have gone round and round on this subject from the moment I became a politically conscious human being. As many time as I have changed my mind I have changed it back again. When I got to middle age I was firmly ensconced in the pro death penalty camp because I rejected the notion that it was not a deterrent. It is absolutely a deterrent in this particular instance. If you execute a convicted killer then you have eliminated the chance that he will kill again therefore you have deterred him.
The Simpson trial had an effect on my thinking and moved me back towards an anti death penalty stance strictly from an economic standpoint. In this country you can get away with murder if you have enough money to afford a team of lawyers who will do or say anything in order to get you acquitted. Since this type of vigorous defense is unavailable to your average poor murderer I thought it unfair that we should kill the poor while acquitting or softening the sentences of the affluent.
My position changed even more dramatically with the advent of DNA testing. Suddenly people who were convicted without a “reasonable doubt” were being freed by a bunch of college students at the Cardozo School of Law in New York. In 2002 the InnocenceProject announced the 100th exoneration of convicted prisoners by DNA evidence.
The bureaucrats took notice of problems in the death penalty when Illinois Governor George Ryan took the unprecedented step of granting blanket clemency to all the death row inmates in Illinois. The essence of his argument is contained in this quote, “Our capital system is haunted by the demon of error – error in determining guilt, and error in determining whom among the guilty deserves to die. Because of all of these reasons today I am commuting the sentences of all death row inmates.” Granted this was done in the waning days of his administration but never the less it was a bold exhibition of conscience.
So that is where I have been on the subject for the past few years. Anti death penalty, until today when I read the details of the two little second graders murdered in Illinois. Convicted child killers should be put to death.
