Gov. Josh Shapiro Thursday boldly called on legislators to abolish Pennsylvania’s costly, ineffective and immoral death penalty. In urging legislators to act, an unprecedented move, Shapiro showed some sorely needed leadership from the governor’s office.
Unless Shapiro engages the legislature, the death-penalty statute will endure. He needs to take the lead in persuading the Democrat-controlled House and Republican-controlled Senate to approve bills that would repeal it. Former Gov. Tom Wolf refused to do that.
In making his statement a month after his inauguration, Shapiro signaled that getting state government out of the business of killing people will be a priority. He appears willing to spend some political capital on a fundamentally moral issue. That’s encouraging, but to succeed, Shapiro will have to lobby legislators and address the issue in public, perhaps the biggest test yet of his political skills and acumen.
