SteveD - 2-5-2009 at 09:52 AM
This editorial in today's LA Times on the Death Penalty ends on a positive note about Calderon's Judicial Reforms. It will take changes like this to
get long terms improvements in their country
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-ed-mexico5...
From the Los Angeles Times
Editorial
Mexico shouldn't resurrect the death penalty
A stream of kidnappings and murders is prompting calls to reinstate executions. But doing so would cost the country the moral leadership it has shown
on the issue.
February 5, 2009
In Mexico, the unchecked violence of the drug cartels brings daily tidings of kidnappings, murders and corruption throughout the legal system. It is
in this context that Mexicans, fearful and frustrated with the government's inability to prevail, are considering whether to reinstate the death
penalty.
The Mexican Congress is to debate the issue this month, and news outlets report broad public support. That's understandable but wrongheaded, as the
United States' experience with capital punishment has made tragically clear. This page has long opposed the death penalty on moral and political
grounds -- we cannot sanction the exercise of such profound government power, especially given the penalty's uneven and manifestly unfair application.
It is worth remembering too that the penalty's effectiveness as a deterrent is highly suspect. Buffeted by rising crime and violence, a majority of
states rushed to legalize executions once capital punishment was reinstated by the Supreme Court in 1976. It was no solution. According to the FBI,
states with the death penalty consistently have a higher murder rate than those without. In 1990, the difference was an average of only 4%; as of
2007, it was 42%.
Capital punishment was abolished in Mexico in 2005 in a move that seemed mostly symbolic -- there had not been an execution since the 1960s. But the
political repercussions were genuine. Mexico became a leader on the issue and an example for less enlightened countries, including the United States.
Canada abolished the death penalty in 1976, so the U.S. found itself bracketed between forward-thinking allies. Today, it belongs to a sorry club,
along with such beacons of humanity as Iran, Pakistan, China and Sudan. Together, these nations perform more than 90% of executions worldwide,
according to Amnesty International.
Rule of law will come to Mexico. President Felipe Calderon has successfully pushed through measures to modernize the judicial system; once
implemented, these reforms may begin to eliminate judicial and police corruption, which remains frighteningly commonplace. In the recent case of a
teenager's kidnapping and murder, for example, the chief suspects are police officers. And late last year, prosecutors arrested or fired 35 members of
an elite organized-crime unit believed to have aided drug traffickers.
Allies of Calderon's National Action Party say the push to reinstitute the death penaltyis simply political maneuvering on the part of opponents who
are pandering to popular outrage, and we hope that's true. Mexico has claimed the moral leadership in this difficult debate, and it should not
relinquish that position even in the face of its current crisis.
rpleger - 2-5-2009 at 10:09 AM
Good one...
Positive ?
MrBillM - 2-8-2009 at 11:01 AM
By all means, let's be positive.
Hang em High !
Execute the worthless vermin in the most painful way possible.
DENNIS - 2-8-2009 at 11:07 AM
I don't know. So many variables to consider. It wouldn't be a bad idea to incarcerate the vermin [Bills appropriate label] and make them work
themselves to death. That might be acceptable.
Research counts
Dave - 3-2-2009 at 12:44 PM
I wonder how much time the author spent walking the streets of Juarez. 
DT.IN.LB.BAJA - 3-2-2009 at 12:58 PM
Excellent info!!