Books: Judging The Death Penalty
After the sniper shootings around Washington in 2002, then-U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft made the decision to have the culprits tried first in Virginia for two simple reasons: Virginia is second only to Texas in its number of executions, and at the time it allowed for the execution of minors. Many in the American press debated whether it would be right to sentence John Lee Malvo, then 17, to the death penalty; some said his youth made him more susceptible to being coerced or even brainwashed. In the end, a jury did not recommend a death sentence for the teenager.Since then, the practice of allowing the execution of minors was deemed unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court (Roper v. Simmons on March 1), and the debate over the morality of state-sponsored executions continues in the press and public consciousness today. The death penalty is on trial, as evidenced in two recent books.
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Posted by beth at 11:53 AM
