- Machinery of Mercy by Jonathan Alter, Newsweek
- Is Death Penalty Moral? by Thomas Roeser, Chicago Sun-Times
- The "Closure" Myth by Michelle Goldberg, Salon
The three articles above all deal with Governor Ryan's last-minute commutations of 167 Death Row inmates in Illinois. The last of these is a Salon Premium Exclusive, meaning you have to be a subscriber to read it. You should be but, in case you're not, I'll summarize: A lot of the families of murder victims look to the execution of the murderer for some sort of release and healing, and often find that it either doesn't satisfy or that it makes things worse. Furthermore, the kind of appeals/review process that is necessary for the Death Penalty can put these people on an emotional roller coaster. And if the evident flaws in that process are fixed, it may be worse for those family members. End of summary.
No, I still don't know how I feel about the state putting people to death, but I do think it's interesting that the debate is evolving. When we discussed it back in college, the "pro" argument was almost wholly that it was a deterrent. Later, it moved away from that and towards the position that the family and friends of the deceased deserved the satisfaction of seeing the killer executed. Now, a lot of those families are led to believe that a certain party is guilty, and they work up an understandable anger at that individual, only to see him later exonerated by DNA evidence. Unlike some of my friends, I don't believe the Death Penalty is indefensible but I acknowledge that the defense seems to keep shifting.
And as usual, we recommend Paul Krugman's new column.