At a time when Americans are increasingly opposed to the death penalty and states are increasingly ending the practice, some others are returning to firing squads as an execution method. The recent law change by South Carolina was in response to the difficulty the state has had in finding lethal injection drugs. It’s an issue that, in itself, should awaken these lawmakers to the fact that capital punishment is on its way out in America — and needs to go.
Even as liberals and conservatives seem to be more polarized than ever on most issues, they’ve actually been moving closer together regarding capital punishment, according to polls. This appears largely the result of conservatives concluding that government-sponsored executions fly in the face of such stalwart conservative principles as limited government power, “pro-life” activism and fiscal responsibility (since the necessary legal process to get to an execution is ultimately more expensive than permanent imprisonment).
People of all political persuasions can’t ignore the hard facts: Capital punishment has never been shown to serve as a deterrent to violent crime. The ultimate penalty is unfairly applied, with minority defendants more likely to be condemned than white defendants in the same circumstances. And the fact that DNA evidence has proven the innocence of scores of death row inmates makes it likely that innocent people have been executed in the past — and that such unacceptable injustice is likely to happen again.
