Re: Is justice delayed 24 years justice?

> > Irrespective of one's views on capital punishment, is it reasonable to keep a man in legal limbo for 24 years?

As has been noted before, the decision to keep him in legal limbo was his, not the State's.

> > Does anybody think there should be a statute of limitations on these death row cases?

It depends on what you're going for.  The long delay between conviction and execution hampers any deterrance-effect from US-style capital punishment, but conversely that delay helps make the process much more just and accurate.  To my mind, the biggest problem with capital punishment is not that the process is lengthy, so much as that the application is so random.  If we're going to have capital punishment, it seem highly reasonable that there should be a well-defined list of crimes for which it is the default punishment, and exceptions should be rare.  

> Do I think that the murderer of four people, one who has shown no remorse
> for those crimes, should be put to death?  I think such a person should be
> kept away from society for the rest of his days.  

This is why we need a "Coventry".  Capital punishment may not be the answer, but the experiment with incarceration as punishment is clearly not working out.  It's no less inhumane, and far less effective than the "barbaric" punishments it was designed to replace.

-Sloth
Not only does God play dice with the Universe - he sometimes casts them where they can't be seen.  -Stephen Hawking




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