BosGuy

Generally, I reserve my blog for more lighthearted topics and areas of interest but from time to time, I’ve been known for the occasional political rant.  After reading this weekend’s NY Times editorial, The Slow Demise of Capital Punishment, I knew I wanted to comment.  The OpEd points out some interestinng stats.  Did you know?

– In 2013 Maryland became the 6th state in 6 years to end capital punishment bringing the total of states to abolish the death penalty to 18 plus the District of Columbia.

– The death penalty is dormant in the federal system and the military.

– 30 states have had no executions in the last 5 years.

The NYT editorial wrote, “As it becomes less frequent, the death penalty also becomes more limited to an extremely small slice of the country, and therefore all the more arbitrary in its application.” This “arbitrary application” becomes all the more apparent when you realize that all 80 death sentences in 2013 came from 2% of counties, and of all 39 executions (more than half occurred in TX and FL) and took place in 1% of all counties.

I echo the editor’s thought and hope our country soon comes to realize that capital punishment is a 20th century experiment that has failed and needs to be made unconstitutional.