Bill To Abolish Louisiana Death Penalty Moves Forward
There is a basic tenant that many of us believe. You shouldn't go around killing other people. However, when one person kills another person should the local, state, or federal government be able to choose whether the killer should be killed as punishment.
That is quite a quandary to consider.
Louisiana's current death penalty has been under scrutiny as most every other state that has a provision for capital punishment. Personally, I find some of the scrutiny directed on the wrong issues. But, I am not a lawmaker and we should all be grateful for that.
A bill that has just recently cleared the Louisiana Senate's Judiciary Committee by a vote of 6 to 1. It is seeking to remove capital punishment as an option for prosecutors in cases of capital murder or aggravated rape. Just so you know about 82% of all capital punishment sentences are reversed in Louisiana. That is the highest reversal rate in the nation.
That means a couple of things. Our prosecutors are so good at sending people to death row that jurors in these cases are deciding the fate of a person without paying attention to all of the facts. It also seems to suggest that our current capital punishment laws aren't written and constructed very well. If we are to assume that both of those statements have a significant amount of truth to them then we really should look at adjusting the current law.
Whether an eye for an eye is the way our society should proceed with the protection of common decency or whether it's not man's place to play God are both valid arguments. The bottom line to me is this if we are going to have a "final", punishment on our books then we need to fine tune that law and how that punishment is exacted upon the accused. Because we won't have a second chance to get it right.