Post by SoulTrainOz on Jun 28, 2006 19:14:25 GMT -5
Nearly all advanced democracies around the world have banned the death penalty, a relic from the Dark Ages of torture chambers, beheading blocks and the stake. Human civilization mostly has risen to a more enlightened level.
England no longer kills prisoners - even if they're Irish Catholic
terrorists who massacre women and children. The rest of Europe has joined in halting executions. So have Canada and other places with humane values.
It isn't because these nations coddle murderers. They're quite aware that killers are loathsome sickos who must be locked away to keep other people safe. But those foreign societies have developed a new outlook: They don't want their homelands to be brutal places that sink to the level of the murderers through deadly revenge. Governments are supposed to codify the wisest thinking of the people - not eye-for-an-eye urges.
Today, countries still practicing the death penalty mostly are grim
societies like China or North Korea - or Muslim lands where "blasphemers" are beheaded in public. Sadly, about half of America remains among places with governmental killings. Pro-death conservatives and fundamentalists exert enough pressure to keep capital punishment alive in most states, although many of them rarely use it. Mainline churches unanimously oppose executions, but they lack enough political clout to swing the nation.
Texas is America's execution hub. While George W. Bush was governor, he set a killing record - and mocked one woman who was put to death. Such coarseness repels most foreigners. Many nations now resist extraditing prisoners to America, if there's a chance they may be killed. Usually, U.S. prosecutors must pledge not to seek the death penalty before foreign authorities will return a suspect for trial.
America's stigma was reinforced Monday when conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court ruled once again that states may execute prisoners. Moderate justices cited studies showing that dozens of Americans who have been condemned to death later were exonerated. But far-right Justice Antonin Scalia and his allies prevailed in a narrow 5-4 ruling.
As we've said many times, we're glad that West Virginia stands among states that abolished the barbaric death penalty. It is a sign of decency in the Mountain State. It doesn't signify sympathy for murderers. Instead, it shows that West Virginians want their state government to operate by higher values.
We wish the rest of America would join this move upward.
Source: Editorial, Charleston (W. Va.) Gazette
England no longer kills prisoners - even if they're Irish Catholic
terrorists who massacre women and children. The rest of Europe has joined in halting executions. So have Canada and other places with humane values.
It isn't because these nations coddle murderers. They're quite aware that killers are loathsome sickos who must be locked away to keep other people safe. But those foreign societies have developed a new outlook: They don't want their homelands to be brutal places that sink to the level of the murderers through deadly revenge. Governments are supposed to codify the wisest thinking of the people - not eye-for-an-eye urges.
Today, countries still practicing the death penalty mostly are grim
societies like China or North Korea - or Muslim lands where "blasphemers" are beheaded in public. Sadly, about half of America remains among places with governmental killings. Pro-death conservatives and fundamentalists exert enough pressure to keep capital punishment alive in most states, although many of them rarely use it. Mainline churches unanimously oppose executions, but they lack enough political clout to swing the nation.
Texas is America's execution hub. While George W. Bush was governor, he set a killing record - and mocked one woman who was put to death. Such coarseness repels most foreigners. Many nations now resist extraditing prisoners to America, if there's a chance they may be killed. Usually, U.S. prosecutors must pledge not to seek the death penalty before foreign authorities will return a suspect for trial.
America's stigma was reinforced Monday when conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court ruled once again that states may execute prisoners. Moderate justices cited studies showing that dozens of Americans who have been condemned to death later were exonerated. But far-right Justice Antonin Scalia and his allies prevailed in a narrow 5-4 ruling.
As we've said many times, we're glad that West Virginia stands among states that abolished the barbaric death penalty. It is a sign of decency in the Mountain State. It doesn't signify sympathy for murderers. Instead, it shows that West Virginians want their state government to operate by higher values.
We wish the rest of America would join this move upward.
Source: Editorial, Charleston (W. Va.) Gazette