Before torture returned to the Land of the Free, my #1 issue was opposition to the death penalty, and it still weighs heavily on me.
Good news, though. Bucking the longer trend of a broadening of the death penalty in the United States and amplifying very recent, if smaller, moratorium movement, New Jersey has now banned it. So that’s good news. Enjoy what you can.
I was mightily annoyed last night that the one of three people I saw interviewed “on the street” (forget which outlet) who defended the death penalty did so quoting by Jesus’ bidding “do onto others” — a rather cruel reading of the text. (The other two, opposing it, show that the Innocence Project‘s core message has gotten out.)