Political Issues Project

May 31st 2015

The Death Penalty

Summary:

In the article The Death Penalty Ends in Nebraska, the death of Omaha police officer Kerrie Orozco is explained to the readers because not too long ago it would have been held up as the sort of crime that the death penalty was meant for.   Only days after Kerrie Orozco's death, lawmakers in Nebraska voted to ban capital punishment forever.  The state's unicameral Legislature has a majority of Republican's, but in the final vote, overriding a veto from the day before by Gov. Pete Ricketts a Republican was passed in a 30-19 vote.  That override made Nebraska the first predominantly Republican state to ban the death penalty in over 40 years, and the 19th state overall.  The article then evaluates the vote and why people voted the way they did.  The article explains how Nebraska's vote was passed by a mix of Republicans, Democrats, and independents, many who were newly elected to their positions in office.  It states that many people of all political ideologies have recognized that capital punishment is a heinous and unjustifiable practice and if that can happen where the majority party is Republican, it can happen anywhere else.

Analysis:

This article, just recently written on May 28, 2015, was released from The New York Times explaining Nebraska's decisions made on May 27 in the final vote to ban the death penalty for good.  Throughout the article the readers will get to here about a case which back before now would have been an acceptable crime worthy enough to deserve the death penalty.  Statistics are given about the death penalty and how it has reached a new low of supporters at 56% in a survey that was done by the Pew Research center released in April.  No one has been executed in Nebraska since 1997 but there are currently 10 men on the state's death row.  As well as in a poll conducted by A.C.L.U. only 30 percent off people would support capital punishment.  Some of the lawmakers voted for the ban said that it was the lengthy, costly capital appeals process that convinced them to go against the executions.  There were also others who had moral objection, or concerns about if the state could procure the lethal-injection drugs that were necessary. The article also informs readers that this is the 3rd time Nebraska lawmakers have tried to end capital punishment; a 1979 ban and a 1999 moratorium were both vetoed.  This article showed that Nebraska has had mixed views on the death penalty practice for a while now, since they tried to ban it back in 1979.  I, myself, have mixed feelings on the subject whether the death penalty should be kept or banned.  I think that the death penalty has done a lot of good for convicted criminals but then again it has troublesome since wrongly convicted criminals have been put to death through the use of executions.  The death penalty is a sensitive subject to many individuals and comes with both positive and negative connotations. 

 

Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/28/opinion/the-death-penalty-ends-in-nebraska.html?_r=0
Photo: http://stevedeace.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/7-27-13deathpenalty.jpg
Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucLguOZhonQ