Editorial: The death penalty is wrong — even for racist mass killers (via latimesopinion)
Biden says he opposes capital punishment, yet his administration is pushing for death in the Boston bomber case, even when the sentence was flawed.If there are crimes that could give even the most stalwart death penalty opponents pause, the Buffalo massacre would surely be among them. Gendron, who has pleaded not guilty, is reported to have traveled more than 200 miles from his home to a supermarket in a predominantly Black part of the city, where he allegedly shot 13 people, 10 of them fatally.
This depraved act of racism and paranoia adds to strains on an American society already racked by mass shootings, political discord, racial tension, economic uncertainty and a historic pandemic. The perpetrators of most massacres of this order generally spare the public soul-searching over the death penalty because they rarely survive their attacks, as is most likely part of their wretched plans. Few tears would probably have been shed for Gendron if police had shot him dead in the midst of the shooting, instead of talking him into surrendering.It no longer works to call one whacked-out gunman an aberration. Not when we accept the nearly daily efforts to make this a more racist nation.
The state of New York appears to understand that. It has a death penalty statute on its books, but theno steps to restore capital punishment. It has commuted all remaining death sentences and dismantled all execution equipment and facilities. Gendron faces life without parole in New York state prison, not execution.federal prosecution for hate crime and murder-with-firearms charges
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