Journal / as some of you might know, many states in the united states still practice the death penalty. i don’t want to mince words: i believe the death penalty to be barbaric and unconstitutional

as some of you might know, many states in the united states still practice the death penalty. i don't want to mince words: i believe the death penalty to be barbaric and unconstitutional (our constitution prohibits 'cruel and unusual punishment'…how is putting someone to death not cruel and unusual?).

 

there are countless examples of people being put to death and later found innocent. how do you rectify an execution? how do you go to someone and say, 'oh, we're sorry we put you to death, turns out you weren't guilty after all.'?

 

today in georgia it looks as if troy davis will be executed for a crime he most likely did not commit:

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/206/t/0/blastContent.jsp?email_blast_KEY=1225413

 

here in the united states we execute the developmentally disabled and we execute people even when they haven't been afforded true due process. and it's barbaric. a civilized nation cannot, under any circumstances, murder its own citizens.

 

here's a list of countries who still allow the use of the death penalty.  look at the very end of the list and you'll see 'united states', roughly in-between 'syria' and 'yemen'.

 

the fact that the united states still allows prisoners to be put to death is a deep, abiding, and horrifying shame.

-moby