{"id":1915,"date":"2020-08-30T14:25:44","date_gmt":"2020-08-30T21:25:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=1915"},"modified":"2020-08-30T14:25:44","modified_gmt":"2020-08-30T21:25:44","slug":"biden-is-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-death-penalty-debate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=1915","title":{"rendered":"Biden Is on the Wrong Side of the Death Penalty Debate"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joe Biden’s stance on capital punishment is short and to the point:\u00a0 “Abolish the death penalty at the federal level, and incentivize states to follow the federal government\u2019s example.”\u00a0 See his Policy Statement, summarized here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And it’s true that support for the death penalty has been falling since about the mid-Nineties, at least until a couple of years ago.\u00a0 But Mr. Biden is still missing the point, politically as well as morally.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

As Gallup’s most recent chart (from late last year) shows, Americans still support the death penalty by a significant majority, 56% in favor to 42% opposed:<\/p>\n

\"Line<\/p>\n

The poll also seems to show a slight uptick in support for capital punishment over the last two years.\u00a0 It’s likely to continue that uptick this year, which has seen a shocking, nationwide surge in murder.<\/p>\n

It would therefore be to President Trump’s advantage to press this issue, and do it in specifics.\u00a0 In other words, the President would benefit, not merely from drawing the contrast in general, but by asking Mr. Biden which of the recent federal executions he thinks was unjust, and to put that question by describing exactly what the murderer had done.\u00a0 No generalities and no fuzzing over.\u00a0 Specific details.<\/p>\n

Perhaps he could start with Keith Nelson, executed two days ago.\u00a0 As Kent reported<\/a>:<\/p>\n

In October 1999, Nelson told an acquaintance that he wanted to kidnap, rape, torture, and kill a young girl he had seen in Kansas City, Kansas.\u00a0 Shortly thereafter, Nelson parked his white pickup truck outside the home of 10-year-old Pamela Butler, who was rollerblading nearby.<\/span>\u00a0 As Pamela skated by the truck, Nelson grabbed her around the waist, threw her into the truck, and sped away as Pamela\u2019s sisters looked on in terror.\u00a0 Sometime later that day, Nelson raped Pamela, strangled her to death with a wire, and buried her in a forest…<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Or perhaps the President could ask Mr. Biden about his would-be leniency for Lezmond Mitchell, also executed by the federal government last week.\u00a0 As I noted<\/a> at the time:<\/p>\n

Mitchell, 38, expressed no remorse during the public portion of the execution. Asked by a prison official if he had any last words for victims\u2019 family members and other witnesses behind glass at the death chamber, Mitchell casually responded, \u201cNo, I\u2019m good\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitchell, then 20, and an accomplice were convicted of killing Tiffany Lee and 63-year-old Alyce Slim after the grandmother offered them a lift as they hitchhiked on the Arizona portion of the Navajo Nation in 2001. They stabbed Slim 33 times, slit Tiffany\u2019s throat and stoned her to death. They later mutilated both bodies.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I could go on, unfortunately, but there wouldn’t be much point.\u00a0 Remember, Biden is not recommending that we be cautious in imposing the death penalty, or reserve it only for aggravated cases where no sensate person could doubt the defendant’s guilt.\u00a0 For every practical purpose, we already do that.\u00a0 No, Biden wants complete abolition<\/em>.\u00a0 He takes the view, not only that there is no case, but that there will never be a case, in which the federal death penalty could be just punishment.\u00a0 Washington, Lincoln, FDR, Reagan and\u00a0 —\u00a0 ready now?\u00a0 —\u00a0 Barack Obama knew better, but, hey, they’re so……yesterday.<\/p>\n

Indeed, Biden himself used to know better<\/a>.\u00a0 Fortunately, Bill Barr and Donald Trump still do.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Joe Biden’s stance on capital punishment is short and to the point:\u00a0 “Abolish the death penalty at the federal level, and incentivize states to follow the federal government\u2019s example.”\u00a0 See his Policy Statement, summarized here. And it’s true that support for the death penalty has been falling since about the mid-Nineties, at least until a couple of years ago.\u00a0 But Mr. Biden is still missing the point, politically as well as morally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1915","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-death-penalty","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nBiden Is on the Wrong Side of the Death Penalty Debate - Crime & Consequences<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=1915\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Biden Is on the Wrong Side of the Death Penalty Debate - Crime & Consequences\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Joe Biden’s stance on capital punishment is short and to the point:\u00a0 “Abolish the death penalty at the federal level, and incentivize states to follow the federal government\u2019s example.”\u00a0 See his Policy Statement, summarized here. 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