A very good article by Karen Lee Torre of the Connecticut LawTribune regarding the death penalty.
My only wish is that writers op-ed and otherwise would leave political parties out of any discussions and /or arguments regarding the death penalty. It only reduces an extremely important issue into something less by attaching liberalism or conservatism to one "side" ie opinion or another.
I would like to remind folks that although Connecticut is considered a "blue state" every single poll* taken regarding the issue of the Death Penalty has consistently shown an overwhelming majority of our residents want to keep the death penalty as a prosecutorial option for the worst of Connecticut's capital crime cases, such as the Petit family murders.
I am now an independent, but was a registered democrat for most of my adult life. Many of my friends and acquaintances are democrats, yet almost without fail, they have shared with me that they wish to keep the death penalty as an option for criminal cases where egregious brutality and cruelty are involved. However, almost all voice their frustration with the unworkability of our current Death Penalty "system" citing the need to rid the current system of the ludicrous amount of appeals that cripple the states ability to actually impose it once we have given a defendant a fair trial and a convicted murderer the right to appeal where there is any true question of doubt.
What is ludicrous, and I hear and read it frequently, is the argument that we should simply get rid of the death penalty because of the aforementioned fact that it is currently so unworkable. This is dangerous slippery slope whose logic if applied to all criminal sentencing would be disastrous.
Our legislators need to change the current limitless appeals process and place time limits between a death penalty sentence and it's imposition. Appeals need to meet valid strict, requirements - period. We are already a State that is extremely cautious about our pursuit of this, our most severe sentence. It is clear that as a people, our state wishes to retain the right to pursue and impose this sentence.
* Quinnipiac Polling.
My only wish is that writers op-ed and otherwise would leave political parties out of any discussions and /or arguments regarding the death penalty. It only reduces an extremely important issue into something less by attaching liberalism or conservatism to one "side" ie opinion or another.
I would like to remind folks that although Connecticut is considered a "blue state" every single poll* taken regarding the issue of the Death Penalty has consistently shown an overwhelming majority of our residents want to keep the death penalty as a prosecutorial option for the worst of Connecticut's capital crime cases, such as the Petit family murders.
I am now an independent, but was a registered democrat for most of my adult life. Many of my friends and acquaintances are democrats, yet almost without fail, they have shared with me that they wish to keep the death penalty as an option for criminal cases where egregious brutality and cruelty are involved. However, almost all voice their frustration with the unworkability of our current Death Penalty "system" citing the need to rid the current system of the ludicrous amount of appeals that cripple the states ability to actually impose it once we have given a defendant a fair trial and a convicted murderer the right to appeal where there is any true question of doubt.
What is ludicrous, and I hear and read it frequently, is the argument that we should simply get rid of the death penalty because of the aforementioned fact that it is currently so unworkable. This is dangerous slippery slope whose logic if applied to all criminal sentencing would be disastrous.
Our legislators need to change the current limitless appeals process and place time limits between a death penalty sentence and it's imposition. Appeals need to meet valid strict, requirements - period. We are already a State that is extremely cautious about our pursuit of this, our most severe sentence. It is clear that as a people, our state wishes to retain the right to pursue and impose this sentence.
* Quinnipiac Polling.
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