Posted on 02/20/2023 5:53:07 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Gov. Josh Shapiro Thursday boldly called on legislators to abolish Pennsylvania’s costly, ineffective and immoral death penalty. In urging legislators to act, an unprecedented move, Mr. Shapiro showed some sorely needed leadership from the governor’s office.
Unless Mr. Shapiro engages the legislature, the death-penalty statute will endure. He needs to take the lead in persuading the Democrat-controlled House and Republican-controlled Senate to approve bills that would repeal it. Former Gov. Tom Wolf refused to do that.
In making his statement a month after his inauguration, Mr. Shapiro signaled that getting state government out of the business of killing people will be a priority. He appears willing to spend some political capital on a fundamentally moral issue. That’s encouraging, but to succeed, Mr. Shapiro will have to lobby legislators and address the issue in public, perhaps the biggest test yet of his political skills and acumen.
Mr. Shapiro has a model to guide him: Former Gov. Ralph Northam led the fight to abolish the death penalty in Virginia. In 2021, it became the first Southern state, and the 23rd in the nation, to abolish the death penalty.
Opposing the death penalty still carries some political risks, but they’re not overwhelming. Since 2009, seven states have abolished the death penalty.
In remarks at Mosaic Community Church in Philadelphia, Mr. Shapiro, a former death-penalty supporter, said abolishing it was morally right. He cited the possibility of irrevocable mistakes. Since 1973, at least 185 prisoners on death row, including 10 from Pennsylvania, have been exonerated.
Pennsylvania’s death row, with about 100 prisoners, is one of the nation’s largest. More than half of the prisoners are Black, in a state in which African Americans make up only 12% of the population.
(Excerpt) Read more at post-gazette.com ...
***Prominent REPUBLICANS helped elect Shapiro. Wondering if they’re complaining about hiim now.
***
“9 Pennsylvania GOP leaders back Shapiro over Mastriano in race for governor”
Gee nice to know so manny in Penn are pro criminal
All newspapers are FAKE NEWS and democrat left wing rags.
Let these killers,LIVE QWITH THE JOURNALISTS AND THEIR FAMILIES.
Just put them in the General Population, saves time.
Just execute them. Quit pushing this off into the future, and it doesn’t cost so much. Lawyers should be executed too, for working to keep guilty parties from Justice.
I dont trust our current government with the death penalty. They won’t be able to resist eventually using it on their political enemies.
The “death penalty” is, in my mind, a misnomer.
I view this as society rightly removing violent humans form the planet to protect society from any further harm this individual may inflict upon us, even violence upon other incarcerated offenders.
If execution/extermination of these monsters were carried out swiftly and regularly, it would serve as proper warning that society WILL prompty remove you from the planet and not risk further harm from you. Govern yourself accordingly.
As long as they’re executed in public in front of the courthouses where they were convicted of their crimes on Live TV, I’m with you on that one.
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