It appears that Biden has a phucket list. I have mixed feelings about whether he should pardon people like Liz Cheney who didn't commit any crimes. Would it do any good? Would people see it as an admission of guilt if they accepted a pardon? Kash Patel siccing the justice department after less high profile people could do a lot more harm to them. People like Cheney and Adam Kinsinger will be able to access legal help which wouldn't be available to some others.
I understand Pope Francis appealed to the president to commute all sentences.
Biden let three death sentences stand, presumably because he thought the political outcry would be deafening if the three subjects in question had their sentences commuted. Thus, from Francis's point of view, Biden's action probably wasn't perfect - but it was very good.
I think it's likely the president was guided in part by his Catholic-formed conscience. There are two aspects to this: the rather theoretical and abstract notion that all human life is sacred; and the concrete reality that, in his first term, President Trump ramped up federal executions, almost certainly for political benefit. I'd like to think Biden finds that morally repugnant, as I do.
Nevertheless, we are already seeing stories coming out about those whose sentences were commuted, and the genuinely heinous crimes they committed. In the cases I've seen written about so far, it's not difficult to understand why juries or judges imposed the death penalty. Of course, that assumes that these men (all the stories I've seen so far have been about men) were justly convicted - an assumption that we really can't accept at face value, given the history of the death penalty in the United States.
I also wonder whether the public as a whole understands the distinction that this is a commutation to a life sentence, not a full pardon. Thinking about that for a moment may help to dampen some of the outrage that we already see building.
Jim, yes, a sentence to life in prison is better than being executed. But the commutations were to life without possibility of parole. The parts of the public who are outraged need to sit and think about that for awhile. These people aren't going to be out running around. States such as Texas have gone to a pretty dark place with the number of executions, in some cases refusing to consider new evidence that the person may not be guilty. Together with their treatment of people seeking asylum, they have moved pretty far from being pro-life in any meaningful sense. I have relatives who live there. I hope they will be okay, and not sucked into Maga-world. Capital punishment is not only an offense against life, it also traumatizes those tasked with carrying it out or witnessing it. I doubt if it really brings any peace to family members of victims of crimes. It used to be the case that priests could not offer Anointing of the Sick to people about to be executed, because they were not sick. But they were certainly in immediate danger of death, it used to be called Extreme Unction. I don't know if the directives have changed.
I am reading that it is still the case that they don't do Anointing of the Sick for someone facing execution, but can offer the sacraments of Penance and Viaticum.
I seems to me that anointing should be able to be offered to anyone experiencing great distress of mind or spirit, including mental illness or addiction.
I'm sure MAGA world will have a conniption fit over it, but too bad!
ReplyDeleteYou're right! See the comments section following the WSJ article Biden Commutes Sentences of 37 Death Row Inmates
I won't quibble about the three sentences he didn't commute. This was a good thing.
It appears that Biden has a phucket list.
ReplyDeleteI have mixed feelings about whether he should pardon people like Liz Cheney who didn't commit any crimes. Would it do any good? Would people see it as an admission of guilt if they accepted a pardon?
Kash Patel siccing the justice department after less high profile people could do a lot more harm to them. People like Cheney and Adam Kinsinger will be able to access legal help which wouldn't be available to some others.
Well, finally, at last. But the job is far from finished. Now release Leonard Peltier and Mumia Abu-Jamal, two men who stood up for their peoples.
ReplyDeleteI hope those two people are pardoned, Stanley.
DeleteI understand Pope Francis appealed to the president to commute all sentences.
ReplyDeleteBiden let three death sentences stand, presumably because he thought the political outcry would be deafening if the three subjects in question had their sentences commuted. Thus, from Francis's point of view, Biden's action probably wasn't perfect - but it was very good.
I think it's likely the president was guided in part by his Catholic-formed conscience. There are two aspects to this: the rather theoretical and abstract notion that all human life is sacred; and the concrete reality that, in his first term, President Trump ramped up federal executions, almost certainly for political benefit. I'd like to think Biden finds that morally repugnant, as I do.
Nevertheless, we are already seeing stories coming out about those whose sentences were commuted, and the genuinely heinous crimes they committed. In the cases I've seen written about so far, it's not difficult to understand why juries or judges imposed the death penalty. Of course, that assumes that these men (all the stories I've seen so far have been about men) were justly convicted - an assumption that we really can't accept at face value, given the history of the death penalty in the United States.
I also wonder whether the public as a whole understands the distinction that this is a commutation to a life sentence, not a full pardon. Thinking about that for a moment may help to dampen some of the outrage that we already see building.
Jim, yes, a sentence to life in prison is better than being executed. But the commutations were to life without possibility of parole. The parts of the public who are outraged need to sit and think about that for awhile. These people aren't going to be out running around.
DeleteStates such as Texas have gone to a pretty dark place with the number of executions, in some cases refusing to consider new evidence that the person may not be guilty. Together with their treatment of people seeking asylum, they have moved pretty far from being pro-life in any meaningful sense. I have relatives who live there. I hope they will be okay, and not sucked into Maga-world.
Capital punishment is not only an offense against life, it also traumatizes those tasked with carrying it out or witnessing it. I doubt if it really brings any peace to family members of victims of crimes.
It used to be the case that priests could not offer Anointing of the Sick to people about to be executed, because they were not sick. But they were certainly in immediate danger of death, it used to be called Extreme Unction. I don't know if the directives have changed.
I am reading that it is still the case that they don't do Anointing of the Sick for someone facing execution, but can offer the sacraments of Penance and Viaticum.
DeleteI think anointing can be offered for anyone who is greatly distressed in mind or spirit, as well as body. I think.
DeleteI seems to me that anointing should be able to be offered to anyone experiencing great distress of mind or spirit, including mental illness or addiction.
Delete