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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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2/3 of Britons Would Bring Back Capital Punishment

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Most respondents who support the death penalty believe it would serve as a deterrent for potential murderers.

The views of people in Britain on capital punishment have not changed over the past year, a new Angus Reid Public Opinion poll has found.

In the online survey of a representative national sample of 2,009 British adults, 65 % of respondents support reinstating the death penalty for murder in Great Britain, virtually unchanged since 2011.

The highest level of support for the return of capital punishment comes from men (68%) and Britons over the age of 55 (69%).

Most supporters of the death penalty believe it would serve as a deterrent for potential murderers (66%), it would fit the crime because a convicted murderer has taken a life (62%), and would save taxpayers money and the costs associated with having murderers in prison (58%).

Opponents of capital punishment are primarily concerned with the possibility of a person being wrongly convicted and then executed (80%).

A majority of respondents (62%) believe the death penalty is sometimes appropriate, while 1-in5 (20%) think it is never appropriate. When given a choice between 2 possible punishments for a convicted murderer, 1/2 of respondents (51%) select the death penalty, while 35 % pick life imprisonment.

3-in-4 Britons (75%) would agree with MPs debating in the House of Commons whether the death penalty should be reinstated in the country.

Source: Angus Reid Public Opinion, Sept. 27, 2012
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Biden Fails a Death Penalty Abolitionist’s Most Important Test

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Iran | Executions in Rasht, Mahabad, Karaj, Nahavand, Roudbar

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