New Mexico governor abolishes capital punishment - washingtonpost.com, March 19, 2009.
The new law replaces lethal injection with a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. The repeal takes effect on July 1, and applies only to crimes committed after that date.Richardson said that 130 death-row exonerations in the last decade (including 4 in New Mexico) showed that we can't be 100% sure that "only the truly guilty" are sentenced to death.
"Regardless of my personal opinion about the death penalty, I do not have confidence in the criminal justice system as it currently operates to be the final arbiter when it comes to who lives and who dies for their crime," Richardson said.
The legislation was applauded by the ACLU and human rights groups and opposed by a sheriffs and prosecutors.
1 comment:
Death penalty through whatever means is not the solution to crimes. Sentencing a person with death would not make other people stop whatever illegal things they are doing. It would only fuel them from doing further.
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