It's Official

We have become the country we supposedly despised. Nazi Germany, Saddam Hussein's Iraq and several South American countries of the past.

The Peninsula On-line: Qatar's leading English Daily: "Kyl said such appeals were often tied up in the courts for 10 years or more, sometimes for 15 years or more. Opponents, including the the American Bar Association and other legal groups, say the law would strip the ability of federal courts to review most claims in capital cases and would result in innocent people being put to death.

Specter said he was trying to strike a middle ground, eliminating enormous delays in executions while preserving the legal rights of people sentenced to death.

He noted that the bill included a clause giving all those convicted of all criminal charges the right to DNA testing. Habeas corpus-the phrase in Latin for 'you have the body'-has been a centerpiece of Anglo-American jurisprudence since it was first developed over 300 years ago in Britain. It gave defendants the right to have their imprisonment reviewed by a court."

Sounds good, let's leave it that way. Putting one innocent person to death makes you as guilty as Sam Berkowitz. The death penalty is unfairly applied and this is a secret to no one. Depending upon lawyer and locale you can either be acquitted for an obvious crime or found guilty due to ineptitude and prejudice in a circumstantial one.

The death penalty doesn't deter crime, it causes the government to engage in it.