Ollstein writes: "In a speech on the Senate floor on Thursday, Sen. Bernie
Sanders told his colleagues, 'The time is now for the U.S. to end capital
punishment.'"
Senator Bernie Sanders speaks at Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, Oregon.
(photo: Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald)
Sanders Goes Where Clinton Won't: Calling for the Abolition of the Death
Penalty
By Alice Ollstein, ThinkProgress
30 October 15
In a speech on the Senate floor on Thursday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) told
his colleagues, "The time is now for the U.S. to end capital punishment."
"I know we are shocked and disgusted by some of the horrific murders we see
in this country that seem to take place every week," he said. "But it seems
to me that at a time of rampant violence and murder, it is important that
the state itself, the government here in America, say loud and clearly that
we will not be part of that process."
Sanders, who is currently running for president, acknowledged he is in a
"minority position" on the issue - with nearly two-thirds of Americans
saying they still support the practice. Yet Sanders also called attention to
the move globally to eliminate the death penalty, saying that he would
rather follow the example of European democracies than countries like China,
Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia that most commonly put their own citizens to
death. The U.S. ranks fifth in the world in executions behind those nations,
despite the fact that 19 states and the District of Columbia have already
abolished the practice.
In fact, the vast majority of death row sentences come from a tiny handful
of U.S. counties, and people of color and the poor are disproportionately
represented on that list.
"The state, in a democratic, civilized society, should not itself be
involved in the murder of other Americans," Sanders said Thursday, noting
that he has "no problem" with sentencing violent criminals to life in prison
without parole in lieu of capital punishment. "We should lock them up and
throw away the key," he said.
The speech comes just one day after Sanders' main rival for the White House,
Hillary Clinton, said at an event in New Hampshire that she does not support
ending the death penalty. Though she acknowledged the punishment has been
"too frequently applied, and too often in a discriminatory way," she said
she believes it is still warranted in "certain egregious cases."
Former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, who is running against Sanders and
Clinton for the Democratic nomination, signed a law banning the death
penalty in his state in 2013, and says he would work to abolish it
nationally if elected.
Earlier this fall, when Pope Francis addressed the U.S. Congress, he called
on lawmakers to put an end to capital punishment, saying no one can claim to
be pro-life if he or she supports the practice. Sanders, an open fan of Pope
Francis' teachings said Thursday that the country "must go beyond the
doctrine of revenge - 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.'"
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Senator Bernie Sanders speaks at Cross Insurance Arena in Portland, Oregon.
(photo: Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald)
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2015/10/29/3717518/sanders-death-penalty/h
ttp://thinkprogress.org/politics/2015/10/29/3717518/sanders-death-penalty/
Sanders Goes Where Clinton Won't: Calling for the Abolition of the Death
Penalty
By Alice Ollstein, ThinkProgress
30 October 15
n a speech on the Senate floor on Thursday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) told
his colleagues, "The time is now for the U.S. to end capital punishment."
"I know we are shocked and disgusted by some of the horrific murders we see
in this country that seem to take place every week," he said. "But it seems
to me that at a time of rampant violence and murder, it is important that
the state itself, the government here in America, say loud and clearly that
we will not be part of that process."
Sanders, who is currently running for president, acknowledged he is in a
"minority position" on the issue - with nearly two-thirds of Americans
saying they still support the practice. Yet Sanders also called attention to
the move globally to eliminate the death penalty, saying that he would
rather follow the example of European democracies than countries like China,
Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia that most commonly put their own citizens to
death. The U.S. ranks fifth in the world in executions behind those nations,
despite the fact that 19 states and the District of Columbia have already
abolished the practice.
In fact, the vast majority of death row sentences come from a tiny handful
of U.S. counties, and people of color and the poor are disproportionately
represented on that list.
"The state, in a democratic, civilized society, should not itself be
involved in the murder of other Americans," Sanders said Thursday, noting
that he has "no problem" with sentencing violent criminals to life in prison
without parole in lieu of capital punishment. "We should lock them up and
throw away the key," he said.
The speech comes just one day after Sanders' main rival for the White House,
Hillary Clinton, said at an event in New Hampshire that she does not support
ending the death penalty. Though she acknowledged the punishment has been
"too frequently applied, and too often in a discriminatory way," she said
she believes it is still warranted in "certain egregious cases."
Former Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley, who is running against Sanders and
Clinton for the Democratic nomination, signed a law banning the death
penalty in his state in 2013, and says he would work to abolish it
nationally if elected.
Earlier this fall, when Pope Francis addressed the U.S. Congress, he called
on lawmakers to put an end to capital punishment, saying no one can claim to
be pro-life if he or she supports the practice. Sanders, an open fan of Pope
Francis' teachings said Thursday that the country "must go beyond the
doctrine of revenge - 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.'"
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