Some very good news on a Friday afternoon
by digby
Enough gloom and doom. It's important to note once in a while that despite our little "set-back" with economic justice in this country and the ongoing "issues" with our military empire, some things are changing for the better. We know that gay rights are being acknowledged everywhere these day, even among conservatives. The right to use a fairly harmless herb for medical purposes and pleasure seems to be gaining ground as well. (In a country that fetishizes alcohol, why this is even a question is something future historians will ponder.)
And this, to me, is just huge:
The House of Delegates voted 82-56 to repeal Maryland’s death penalty on Friday, making the state the sixth in as many years to abolish executions and delivering a major legislative victory to Gov. Martin O’Malley.
The bill, which passed the Senate last week, now heads to the governor for his signature. O’Malley (D) has lobbied lawmakers for years to end capital punishment, and he put the full weight of his office behind it this session.
The House vote followed more than two hours of impassioned debate, in which repeal supporters argued that any risk of executing an innocent person is unacceptable and that the death penalty has been applied unfairly in the past.
“Human beings cannot devise a system of justice that is perfect,” said Del. Anne Healey (D-Prince George’s). “We are all flawed. ... What I can’t live with is, if we make a mistake, it costs somebody else his life.”
That it was done by a presidential aspirant makes it even more significant. It's interesting that this is winning on the basis of that argument by Anne healey. Obviously, it helps that we have technology that has proved that our system is convicting innocent people. But her argument is also a moral one: that executing an innocent person is unconscionable. You'd be surprised how many people think that's just natural collateral damage, nothing we can do about it and anyway, we don't do it. Her position is very American, what with our requirement that the government prove guilt. It's good to see it again.
I happen to think it's wrong to execute guilty people as well. Since I only believe in killing as a matter of self-defense, it's very hard for me to see how killing someone who is shackled and in custody, as all people on death row are, can be morally justified. But this other argument is also very salient and it's always been the one that swayed people in my life. There's a certain instinctual moral belief in revenge and it takes some persuading to get people to move from that position. But anyone with even the slightest bit of humanity cannot think it's ok to kill innocent people.
So, good for Maryland and good for America for slowly moving away from our institutional violence. It's going to take a lot to do this --- and we have the horror of our prison system that must be dealt with as well. But at least we've stopped with the 3-strikes and mandatory minimum and are turning the other direction. This correction is long overdue.
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