There isn't a compelling reason in modern-day Wisconsin to have a death penalty. It hasn't served as a deterrent in states that have it. We don't need it here.
State Sen. Alan Lasee, R-De Pere, has authored a bill for a non-binding vote on the November ballot about bringing back the death penalty. But it's a referendum looking for a problem.
Note - as I pointed out before Rep. Dean Kaufert was also in on it.
Right now, Wisconsin is one of about a dozen states with the District of Columbia that lack the death penalty. The penalty is an idea that doesn't live up to its promise. It isn't a powerful enough deterrent to crime.
There is an appeal, admittedly, to survivors who know someone who was murdered and would want the death penalty for the criminal. But we need the rule
of rationality and not the rule of emotion to guide our justice system. Revenge is a poor basis for creating good law.
Facts show that states with the death penalty have a credibility problem. They sentence the wrong people to death. Likewise, death penalty states sometimes place too much trust in DNA for evidence. DNA evidence isn't always conclusive. The several reversals of wrongful convictions have shown this.
States with a death row also can exhibit a strong rush to justice. Gary Nelson of Georgia was wrongly sentenced to death in 1978 for a murder of a child he didn't commit. He wasn't freed as an innocent man until 1991. The hype around the 1978 sentencing overshadowed the need for the rational rule of law.
Even the phrase for the issue is incorrect. The concept should be called the "discrimination penalty." A person who is low-income or a minority has a higher chance as a criminal to get sentenced to death row. At its core, the death penalty is the antithesis of the Civil Rights movement. It gives a voice to racial discrimination that would be illegal in any other context.
The bottom line should be proof enough, truthfully, to avoid wanting a death penalty. The legal costs of prisoners fighting to stay alive exceed the cost of "three hots and a cot" to imprison the person over the same length of years. Smart states should ban the death penalty on excessive costs of appeals alone.
In sum, our state experience, rational thought, death of innocents, discrimination and high costs aren't welcome here. We haven't had a death penalty since 1853. We don't need one now.
Leave the death penalty off the law books of the state of Wisconsin. This isn't a state that wants a reputation for sentencing innocents to death.
The Final Thought: Wisconsin shouldn't enact a death penalty. A non-binding referendum on the death penalty in November should be defeated.
No comments:
Post a Comment