Ariel Castro, center, enters the courtroom for his arraignment Wednesday, June 12, 2013, in Cleveland. Castro, accused of holding three women captive in his Cleveland home for about a decade, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to hundreds of charges, including rape and kidnapping
The National Post
Public support for capital punishment remains strong, solidly 60% in both the U.S. and Canada, which abolished it in 1976, and came within two dozen House of Commons votes of reinstating it in 1987.
But there are signs this modern period of American justice might not last. In March, Maryland became the most recent of five states in six years to abolish capital punishment.
What these votes have revealed is a country formally divided, state against state, on a life and death issue.
Virginia, Ohio and national leader Texas are lined up against New York, New Mexico and Michigan, with California unsure where to stand, as it curiously registers death sentences but does not carry them out. Only nine states used it in 2012. It was 13 the year before. The national tally is 32 with, 18 without, and closing.
“I think what’s taking place is a gradual movement away from the death penalty that now has, by almost any measure, made it into an institution used by a minority of the population in a minority of the counties,” said James Liebman, professor of law at Columbia Law School in New York.
Ah, but it seems that the penalty for being a young, black person walking home from the store is death.
ReplyDeleteYou know better, so why do you keep spouting that nonsense?
DeleteHey hey! Laci misrepresenting the facts to his personal advantage!
DeleteOne more stereotypical response and I'll have a Bingo!
Was that what Martin was doing the moment he got shot? Walking home?
DeleteSo you wouldn't be ok with one of the girls killing this man while captive? I'm sure this monster walked home many times, but that was not his crime.
Is the death penalty a possible punishment for kidnapping and imprisoning someone? If no, why show us a picture of someone accused of those crimes?
ReplyDeleteBut what we see here is not a trend toward compassion. It's a trend of rejecting the idea of responsibility. The poor, misunderstood thug doesn't deserve to die for committing murder. After all, it's society's fault.
Much of America still rejects that idiotic notion.
Good question. I took the picture from the article. Maybe this guy's crimes are capital offenses. I'm not sure why they put that picture there.
DeleteAbout your absurd theory of compassion and the rejection of "the idea of responsibility," that's just about what I'd expect from a rabid supporter of the SYG laws. In your zealotry you've lost sight of the fact that ALL human life is valuable and important. Pre-meditated murder on the part of the government is something that should be abhorrent to you, with your libertarian leanings.
You've shown repeated inability to understand our motivations and beliefs, so why should we think that you are able to suddenly grasp them well enough to tell us what we should and shouldn't believe according to a philosophy you abhor?
DeleteThe life of a man who held women prisoner for ten years of abuse is worth nothing. It's too bad that Ohio doesn't have the death penalty for that. My "libertarian" leanings lead me to believe that individual rights must be protected. This man violated the rights of the three women. Protecting rights includes punishing those who violate them.
DeleteSo far as I'm concerned, death for this man would be too easy. A decade of torture would be proportionate.