CrimLaw

The big story this weekend is obviously the Illinois governor commuting the sentence of all the deathrow inmates in his State.

Personally, I waiver on the whole death penalty issue. As a Catholic my faith informs me that it is wrong to kill another person no matter how foul. As a lawyer I know that uncorrected errors occur in courts all the time and that people often get convicted because of who they are rather than proof "beyond a reasonable doubt." I think we all know (through years of repetition) that the convicted killer is not going to be killed until 15 to 20 years later, long after the crime has left the public mind (providing little or no impact on the minds of the young men who commit most crimes and thus no prevention).

Nonetheless, my gut tells me that some of these crimes and some of these people are just so bad that there is no other option. Thankfully, I am not a prosecutor and do not have to make the decision whether to charge capital murder because I think I probably would in certain cases.

All that said, I must say that I would have admired the stand on principle made by the governor if it had not been done in such a cowardly way. He obviously believes that the system in his State is fatally flawed and took what action he could to correct that fact. BUT, he waited until he was leaving so that he could short circuit the democratic process by avoiding any consequences which might have been placed upon him by other actors in his State's legislature or judiciary. Shameful.