Tuesday, January 17, 2006

How's That Work?

I don't quite understand how this works. Clarence Ray Allen was executed this morning by the State of California. For the last couple of weeks, though, there's been a bit of an outcry about how it's cruel and unusual punishment because he's sick and legally blind. Now, I think the death penalty is wrong and shouldn't be available as a sentence for any crime anywhere, but I don't understand how it is crueler or more unusual for someone like Allen who had become sick and legally blind during his time on Death Row, than it would be for someone who were essentially healthy with 20/20 vision. I'm sorry that the State government is able to put someone to death in my name, but as long as he had the capacity to receive a legal sentence, I don't see how declines in his health over his time in prison could rescue him from that sentence.

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