Miami Herald Logo

The politics of crime | Miami Herald

×
  • E-edition
  • Home
    • Site Information
    • Contact Us
    • About Us
    • Herald Store
    • RSS Feeds
    • Special Sections
    • Advertise
    • Advertise with Us
    • Media Kit
    • Mobile
    • Mobile Apps & eReaders
    • Newsletters
    • Social
    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Google+
    • Instagram
    • YouTube

    • Sections
    • News
    • South Florida
    • Miami-Dade
    • Broward
    • Florida Keys
    • Florida
    • Politics
    • Weird News
    • Weather
    • National & World
    • Colombia
    • National
    • World
    • Americas
    • Cuba
    • Guantánamo
    • Haiti
    • Venezuela
    • Local Issues
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Health Care
    • In Depth
    • Issues & Ideas
    • Traffic
    • Sections
    • Sports
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Pro & College
    • Miami Dolphins
    • Miami Heat
    • Miami Marlins
    • Florida Panthers
    • College Sports
    • University of Miami
    • Florida International
    • University of Florida
    • Florida State University
    • More Sports
    • High School Sports
    • Auto Racing
    • Fighting
    • Golf
    • Horse Racing
    • Outdoors
    • Soccer
    • Tennis
    • Youth Sports
    • Other Sports
    • Politics
    • Elections
    • The Florida Influencer Series
    • Sections
    • Business
    • Business Monday
    • Banking
    • International Business
    • National Business
    • Personal Finance
    • Real Estate News
    • Small Business
    • Technology
    • Tourism & Cruises
    • Workplace
    • Business Plan Challenge
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Cindy Krischer Goodman
    • The Starting Gate
    • Work/Life Balancing Act
    • Movers
    • Sections
    • Living
    • Advice
    • Fashion
    • Food & Drink
    • Health & Fitness
    • Home & Garden
    • Pets
    • Recipes
    • Travel
    • Wine
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Dave Barry
    • Ana Veciana-Suarez
    • Flashback Miami
    • More Living
    • LGBTQ South Florida
    • Palette Magazine
    • Indulge Magazine
    • South Florida Album
    • Broward Album
    • Sections
    • Entertainment
    • Books
    • Comics
    • Games & Puzzles
    • Horoscopes
    • Movies
    • Music & Nightlife
    • People
    • Performing Arts
    • Restaurants
    • TV
    • Visual Arts
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Jose Lambiet
    • Lesley Abravanel
    • More Entertainment
    • Events Calendar
    • Miami.com
    • Contests & Promotions
    • Sections
    • All Opinion
    • Editorials
    • Op-Ed
    • Editorial Cartoons
    • Jim Morin
    • Letters to the Editor
    • From Our Inbox
    • Speak Up
    • Submit a Letter
    • Meet the Editorial Board
    • Influencers Opinion
    • Blogs & Columnists
    • Blog Directory
    • Columnist Directory
    • Andres Oppenheimer
    • Carl Hiaasen
    • Leonard Pitts Jr.
    • Fabiola Santiago
    • Obituaries
    • Obituaries in the News
    • Place an Obituary

    • Place an ad
    • All Classifieds
    • Announcements
    • Apartments
    • Auctions/Sales
    • Automotive
    • Commercial Real Estate
    • Employment
    • Garage Sales
    • Legals
    • Merchandise
    • Obituaries
    • Pets
    • Public Notices
    • Real Estate
    • Services
  • Public Notices
  • Cars
  • Jobs
  • Moonlighting
  • Real Estate
  • Mobile & Apps

  • el Nuevo Herald
  • Miami.com
  • Indulge

From Our Inbox

The politics of crime

BY STEPHEN STROMBERG

    ORDER REPRINT →

January 03, 2015 02:00 PM

Ever since Michael Dukakis lost miserably to George H.W. Bush in the 1988 presidential election, Democrats have approached the death penalty issue with caution. Too much caution.

Maryland’s leaders had abolished the death penalty yet it took 19 months for Gov. Martin O’Malley, D, to fully expunge the ultimate punishment from the state: He announced Wednesday that he will commute the death sentences of the four inmates still on death row in Maryland, heroically revealing the news the day before a major holiday and only weeks before he leaves office. The four men will spend the rest of their lives in prison instead.

The move was obvious, even for death penalty supporters. With a 2006 court ruling, the legislature’s restriction on the death penalty and the state attorney general’s analysis of the legal landscape, the state didn’t have a functioning death penalty system and probably never would or could have executed these men. O’Malley made that official, providing everyone with certainty and curing the legal headache that this issue has induced over the past year and a half.

Why did it take so long? O’Malley is almost certainly running for president, and he probably wants to avoid Willie Horton-style attack ads, The Post’s Editorial Board has pointed out.

Sign Up and Save

Get six months of free digital access to the Miami Herald

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

#ReadLocal

Yet the politics of crime have changed a lot in the past three decades. With crime rates down, conservatives and liberals both have been more receptive to arguments criticizing the cost and efficacy of harsh sentencing laws, mass incarceration and, to a certain extent, the death penalty. On either measure, the ultimate punishment fails, costing states too much money to administer without satisfactorily limiting the possibility of executing innocent people. Not to mention other moral considerations about state-sanctioned life-taking.

Whatever the reason, states have been condemning and killing fewer people. Fewer convicts were sentenced to die in 2014 than in any of the previous 40 years, according to a count from the Death Penalty Information Center. States executed fewer inmates in 2014 than they had in any of the previous 20 years.

These trends are good. Democrats — and Republicans, for that matter — should feel more comfortable saying so, and pushing the country further.

© 2015, The Washington Post

  Comments  

Videos

Dwyane Wade says 2019 was his ‘most memorable’ All-Star

Interview with Senator Marco Rubio on humanitarian aid for Venezuela

View More Video

Trending Stories

Military planes carrying 180 tons of aid for Venezuelans fly from Miami to Colombia

February 16, 2019 08:00 AM

One dead in shooting near South Beach’s Ocean Drive

February 17, 2019 06:47 AM

Mark Walton, former Canes star now with the Cincinnati Bengals, arrested in Miami

February 16, 2019 11:05 AM

Wade on relationship with Riley: ‘We’ve had way more amazing moments than we’ve had not’

February 17, 2019 02:13 PM

For Haitians, a reprieve from violence and protests on Sunday, but uncertainty remains

February 17, 2019 12:07 AM

Read Next

More women in public office may improve ethics

From Our Inbox

More women in public office may improve ethics

By JOSEPH M. CENTORINO

    ORDER REPRINT →

March 30, 2018 08:55 PM

The problems of sexual harassment or discrimination and government corruption are not unrelated. We know of instances where the demand for sexual favors by persons holding positions of public trust has been used as a form of extortion or even bribery.

KEEP READING

Sign Up and Save

#ReadLocal

Get six months of free digital access to the Miami Herald

SUBSCRIBE WITH GOOGLE

MORE FROM OUR INBOX

From Our Inbox

Trump’s parade

February 08, 2018 01:24 AM

From Our Inbox

Chain migration

December 20, 2017 01:42 AM

From Our Inbox

FPL rates

December 19, 2017 02:15 AM

From Our Inbox

Matt Lauer and...

November 29, 2017 08:13 PM

From Our Inbox

Thank you, Mayor Regalado

November 14, 2017 11:07 PM

From Our Inbox

High-rent rationale

November 14, 2017 01:42 AM
Take Us With You

Real-time updates and all local stories you want right in the palm of your hand.

Icon for mobile apps

Miami Herald App

View Newsletters

Subscriptions
  • Start a Subscription
  • Customer Service
  • eEdition
  • Vacation Hold
  • Pay Your Bill
  • Rewards
Learn More
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Newsletters
  • News in Education
  • Public Insight Network
  • Reader Panel
Advertising
  • Place a Classified
  • Media Kit
  • Commercial Printing
  • Public Notices
Copyright
Commenting Policy
Privacy Policy
Terms of Service


Back to Story