Capital Punishment on the Decline

Another sign that our society no longer has the will to see justice done, and no longer places the proper value on human life.

According to the Omaha World-Herald, capital punishment is on the decline:

LINCOLN - Capital punishment is legal in 38 states. But the death penalty has been used less and less in the past decade, as states execute fewer criminals and fewer are sentenced to die.

Since the mid-1990s, the death penalty has undergone more scrutiny in courtrooms, legislatures, governors' offices and, to a degree, in the court of public opinion.

Jurors and judges have handed down dramatically fewer death sentences; 102 people were sentenced to die last year, compared with 317 in 1996.

Is it any wonder that the deterrent effect of the death penalty is dubious?

Nationally, it takes an average of 11 years before an inmate is executed, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

The average was higher in Nebraska, where it took about 15.5 years to execute the three inmates who died in the electric chair in the 1990s.

Moore, who killed two Omaha cabdrivers in 1979, has been on death row 27 years.

If you hardly ever impose a punishment, and when you do there's an 11-year gap between the crime and the punishment? While some reports do indicate there is still a deterrent effect, it's a wonder it would have any effect at all.

Regardless of whether it deters crime or not, it remains a matter of justice. Anything less than the forfeiture of the murderer's life says the life of the victim was worth less than the perpetrator.