Personally, I consider execution somewhat barbaric.

From a punative standpoint, I think facing a lifetime in a cage is a far worse punishment than being put to death.

What I find really troubling is how people view executions.  When hanging was in vogue it seemed like it was some sort of holiday.  People would travel for miles with their familiies to watch an execution.

When Timothy McVey's execution was scheduled, the Fox network put in a colossal bid to televise the event.  They were refused, but imagine it.  A fucking televised execution.  The truly sickening part is they probably would have had millions of viewers.

 

Last edited by Conspiracy Theory (2/14/2015 6:27 pm)

Why Wolf's moratorium on the death penalty will fail (letter)By John M. Morganelli
Read the full letter here:
http://www.ydr.com/letters/ci_27565381/why-wolfs-moratorium-death-penalty-will-fail-letterGov. Wolf did not impose a "moratorium" on Pennsylvania's death penalty. He has no such authority and he knows that. The governor was properly advised by Judge Timothy K. Lewis, former U.S. Court of Appeals Judge, that there exists no authority in the office of Pennsylvania governor to declare a moratorium or suspend the death penalty. What the governor did was to grant a "reprieve" to one death row inmate who was scheduled for an imminent execution. The granting of a "reprieve" is one of the governor's powers with respect to clemency in Article IV, Section 9(a) of the Pennsylvania Constitution. The other two are the power to "commute" a death sentence to life and to grant a "pardon." The latter two, however, cannot be exercised by the governor unless recommended by the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons. With respect to commuting a death sentence to life, the recommendation must be unanimous.Under Pennsylvania law, the issuance of execution warrants by the executive branch is a mandatory duty. That precedent was established in Morganelli v. Casey, a case I brought in 1994 against then Gov. Robert Casey. Today, the governor is given 90 days to sign a death warrant after receiving the case from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. If the governor does not sign the execution warrant, the execution date must be set by the Department of Corrections and the execution proceeds without the governor's signature. Accordingly, Judge Lewis advised the governor that executions must proceed and that the use of the "reprieve" power was the only constitutional basis for creating a "defacto" moratorium. The governor has stated that he will grant "reprieves" for subsequent scheduled executions for each death row inmate at least until the release of an impending study being done by a task force established by the legislature.

Goose wrote:

Given lager's post that PA has only executed 3 people since the seventies, it begs the question, why did the governor issue this moratorium?

Just renewing his credentials as a liberal, IMHO.

Window dressing.
 

Goose wrote:

Tarnation wrote:

Goose wrote:

Given lager's post that PA has only executed 3 people since the seventies, it begs the question, why did the governor issue this moratorium?

Just renewing his credentials as a liberal, IMHO.

Window dressing.
 

Was the death penalty a campaign issue? 
I don't follow PA politics as closely as I once did. This just seems to have come out of nowhere

I don't remember it being an issue in the election, if it was it was very minor.  The big issues in the last election were an extraction tax on gas drillers, education and Corbett's general incompetence as governor.

Nobody has been executed in PA in a long time, this was just window dressing