President Donald Trump has put the pedal to the metal in D.C. when it comes to doing everything he can to deter crime.
Part of that effort now includes a push to bring the death penalty back.
Liberals, however, are melting down, wanting to protect murderers rather than law-abiding citizens.
In 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling that had more or less nullified the use of capital punishment within the District of Columbia.
In 1981, the death penalty was formally abolished.
Subsequently, in 1992, the penalty was put on the ballot as a referendum, and it was rejected by voters.
As part of his recent federalization of D.C., Trump has revived the idea of a mandatory death penalty for certain crimes committed in the district. Keep in mind, for federal crimes, the death penalty still could be on the table, but Trump wants it considered for all murders in the city.
It is not so much the death penalty that is the controversy here, but rather the fact that Trump apparently wants to make it a mandatory sentence for murderers, a scenario the Supreme Court rejected in 1972.
Trump, regarding the use of capital punishment in the District, stated, “I don’t know if we’re ready for it in this country. We have no choice.”
Robin M. Maher, the executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center, noted the financial burden of the potential cases involved, stating, “It would be a tremendous investment of taxpayer dollars. Because death penalty cases are many times more expensive than other criminal cases that do not seek a death sentence. Capital cases are much longer, take much longer to complete.”
She later added, “If [Trump] were to seek a death sentence in every possible case, even though violent crime is down in D.C., there would still be enough of those crimes, enough prosecutions, to completely overwhelm the legal system.”
I am all for horrendous murders being answered with the death penalty, but most liberals do not see it that way.
MSNBC’s Chris Jansing just about lost her mind when discussing the prospect, stating, “Well, I think, if you look at the research, there is no indication that that works to stop people from killing people.”
She continued, “But I wonder [about] the politics of this, Stuart, because of his support and there’s some recent polls I think from Pew [Research], Gallup, legit organizations that show that the support in the United States for capital punishment is at a five-year low, it’s still around 50%, but it’s at a five-year low. We are the only western civilized society that has capital punishment. But obviously [Trump] thinks there is big political gain for this.”
The biggest problem for me with the death penalty is the amount of time it takes for such a sentence to be carried out. It loses its effect if it takes place decades after the crime was committed. If we are going to use it, we need to make it so that it has an impact as a swift deterrent, not a form of social outrage.
