I tell you people time and again not to misunderestimate me. I am the national bellweather for things criminal justice related. A few weeks ago, I made the call for abolition of the death penalty in these harsh economic times. It seems that some of you in high places were listening: In the last week or so alone, Montana, New Mexico and Colorado have had at least one chamber of their Congress’ pass measures abolishing the death penalty, a TN commission is scheduled to release a report on the state of the death penalty soon and CT has a public hearing on an abolition bill scheduled for next Monday.

A common theme in all these bills, as highlighted by this NYT story, is the economy and the cost of maintaining the death penalty. Continue reading →