New York Rejects Death Penalty

David Kaczynski writes about the death penalty and New York state legislation from a very personal standpoint.

I was always opposed to the death penalty, but it unexpectedly became intensely personal for me in 1995 when my wife, Linda, first suspected that the man known as the Unabomber could be my brother, Ted. I knew Ted was mentally ill, but I never saw him as violent. Yet when newspapers across the country published his manifesto, it was clear to us that Ted was most likely the Unabomber.
I was faced with a dilemma that even in retrospect seems overwhelming. If I turned my brother in, I knew there was the possibility he would face execution. If I did nothing, I knew there was a likelihood that another innocent person would die as a result of his actions....
We in New York have learned that we can live without the death penalty. We hope that the rest of the country learns what we have learned.

Also today, U.S. Lethal Injection Executions Condemned was presented and detailed the findings of The Lancet.

Prisoners executed by lethal injection in the United States may have experienced awareness and unnecessary suffering because they were not properly sedated, according to a research letter in this week's issue of the prestigious British medical journal, The Lancet.
The authors believe the use of lethal injection should cease in order to prevent unnecessary cruelty and call for a public review into anesthesia procedures during executions.
Lethal injection in the U.S. has eclipsed all other execution methods because of public perception that the process is relatively humane and does not violate the U.S. Constitution's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment.

Isn't it time we reconsider all capital punishment and recognize that it is not a deterrent and should be abolished?