Incredible developments in New York

It really is beginning to look like the death penalty is on its way out in the state of New York. You may recall that earlier this year, a New York state court struck down the existing death penalty statute.

Now the Republicans (and a few Democrats) are trying to bring it back, but the public and media backlash against the death penalty has been incredible! Yesterday, at a hearing in New York City, hundreds of people turned out in opposition to the death penalty, and only two witnesses testified in favorite of it.

NCADP's own David Kaczynski had this to say, as quoted in New York Newsday:

"It's political, it's revengeful, and it ultimately doesn't work," said
David Kaczynski, head of the advocacy group New Yorkers Against the Death
Penalty. The brother of notorious "Unabomber" serial killer Ted Kaczynski,
he's been campaigning against the death penalty ever since he turned in
his mentally ill brother to federal authorities in 1996, only to have them
try to impose the death penalty. Ted Kaczynski eventually got a plea deal
that gave him life without the possibility of parole.

Add to that this comment from Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau:

He told the Assembly members that he opposes the death penalty because it doesn't deter crime, it's expensive, its only reason is vengeance, its application "mostly closely resembles the lottery," and its main purpose is to allow public officials to prove how tough they are on crime.

New York, New York, the abolition train is a-coming.