That's the title of an editorial in the Louisville Courier-Journal following the release of the ABA Kentucky Assessment of the state's administration of capital punishment. It appeared in the Sunday edition.
The findings of a blue-ribbon panel that studied the death penalty in Kentucky are disturbing but welcome. Short of abolishing capital punishment, which would be the best course for the commonwealth, a moratorium on executions would be a welcome alternative.
The team of law professors, retired judges and attorneys who studied capital punishment laws and procedures for the past two years found that they do not “sufficiently protect the innocent, convict the guilty and ensure the fair and efficient enforcement of criminal law.”
Nobody should be surprised about this. For decades, the evidence has been strong, in some cases tragic, that executions have been carried out based on either inadequate or even downright false information. The pattern was so disturbing that in 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down state and federal laws that, the majority said, were “arbitrary and capricious.” Laws were re-written to respond to that ruling and by 1977, executions were resumed in many states.
There are all sorts of reasons, both legal and moral, why capital punishment should be eliminated. The United States is the last Western country where the state puts its people to death. And in this country, the instances of where the punishment has been applied in a way that discriminates, particularly against African Americans, are so numerous that it needs to go.
Earlier coverage of the ABA Assessment begins at the link. The Kentucky Assessment on the Death Penalty is available in Adobe .pdf format at the ABA Moratorium Implementation Project's website.
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