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Biden Fails a Death Penalty Abolitionist’s Most Important Test

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The mystery of Joe Biden’s views about capital punishment has finally been solved. His decision to grant clemency to 37 of the 40 people on federal death row shows the depth of his opposition to the death penalty. And his decision to leave three of America’s most notorious killers to be executed by a future administration shows the limits of his abolitionist commitment. The three men excluded from Biden’s mass clemency—Dylann Roof, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, and Robert Bowers—would no doubt pose a severe test of anyone’s resolve to end the death penalty. Biden failed that test.
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KY moves one step closer toward reinstating death penalty

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On Friday, Kentucky moved one step closer toward reinstating the death penalty.

Recently the State Supreme Court put a halt on executions until the protocol surrounding the entire execution was made public.

In the days and then hours leading up to an execution there are procedures followed by the Department of Corrections and for years those procedures have been confidential. But the Supreme Court said it should all be public and Friday it was the public’s one chance to voice opinion on those rules.

No one there agreed with the death penalty but hoped to make it more humane. They even revisited old arguments settled by the U.S. Supreme Court that involved drugs used to execute Kentucky inmates and challenged what witnesses are allowed to see; requiring better witness access from beginning to end and better accommodations for families and the condemned.

The attorney, who challenged the state's protocol and won, was also there with more questions so that Kentucky's protocol will follow other states. They are laws and protocol that all may not agree upon but will be carried out in the light of day.

Next the Department of Corrections will review the comments then publish Kentucky's protocol for administering the death penalty. If the general assembly approves it and the governor signs it, then Kentucky's death penalty will be reinstated.

Source: WHAS11.com, January 29, 2010
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