redblueamerica.com

The Supreme Court today takes up the question of lethal injection as an execution procedure. The L.A. Times says it's a good time to end the death penalty altogether:

Many death sentences are never carried out, appeals drag on for years (in California, the average time between sentence and execution is 17.2 years) and whether a murderer is put to death depends less on the gravity of his crime than on whether he committed it in a particular state or was represented by a decent lawyer.

The vast majority of people on death row no doubt deserve to be there. But the parade of DNA-fueled exonerations in recent years makes it seem likely that an innocent person will one day be executed -- if it hasn't already. That probable cost hardly seems worth any benefts derived from killing people who will already forever be separated from civilied society anyway.

Justice isn't just about punishment for crimes; it's also about protecting the innocent. And it is best served by creating the possibility that innocence will be found behind bars -- instead of in a grave.