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"Why doesn't O'Malley clear death row?"

By Douglas A. Berman

The title of this post is the headline of this potent commentary by Charles Lane at the Washington Post, which wonders why the strong anti-death-penalty rhetoric coming from the Governor of Maryland has yet to turn into strong anti-death penalty action.  The whole piece is a must-read, and here are excerpts: Maryland Governor Martin O?Malley staunchly opposes the death penalty: Given its flaws -- the lack of deterrent impact, the risk of a wrongful execution, high costs -- capital punishment can be neither morally nor practically justified, he argues. The issue moves him to eloquence.  ?Human dignity is the fundamental belief on which the laws of this state and this republic are founded,? O?Malley wrote in a 2007 Post op-ed.  ?And absent a deterrent value, the damage done to the concept of human dignity by our conscious communal use of the death penalty is greater than the benefit of even a justly drawn retribution...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on January 26, 2010 (boomark / email).