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Kenya's leader commutes all death sentences

By Douglas A. Berman

This new AP article, headlined "Kenyan leader reduces all death sentences to life," details an intriguing international death penalty development: Kenya's president says all prisoners on death row will immediately have their sentences commuted to life imprisonment. President Mwai Kibaki said in a statement Monday he made the decision because no death sentence has been carried out in the past 22 years, leading to more than 4,000 prisoners on death row.  The president says he has directed government officials to study whether the death penalty has any impact on fighting crime. Snarky aside (which I fear will prompt off-topic comments):  Do we need to worry that the "birthers" and Lou Dobbs might suggest this news provides reason to believe that President Obama was really born in Kenya?continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on August 03, 2009 (boomark / email).