A note from the northwest corner comes via The Hill:
A bipartisan group of Washington state legislators on Monday said they would introduce new measures to end the state’s death penalty.
Attorney General Bob Ferguson (D) and Republicans and Democrats from both chambers of the state legislature said capital punishment had become too costly, and that there is little evidence that the death penalty deters any crimes. State Sen. Mark Miloscia (R) will introduce legislation in the Republican-led Senate, while state Rep. Tina Orwall (D) will carry the bill in the Democratic-led House.
“As a means of effective punishment, the death penalty is outdated,” state Sen. Maureen Walsh (R) said in a statement released by Ferguson’s office. “Not only is life-without-parole more cost-effective, it also offers the certainty that is an essential element of justice.”
Both Gov. Jay Inslee (D) and former Attorney General Rob McKenna (R), who lost to Inslee in the 2014 race for governor, back the proposal.
(Wilson)
We should be impressed, and perhaps even amazed; it’s not so much that Washingtonians aren’t ready to be done with this relic of our barbarity―indeed, we are―but, rather, that this is the Legislature, and it looks like this time they actually intend to see something through.
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Image note: Washington state capitol building. (Photo: Apaschen)
Wilson, Reid. “Washington state moves to end death penalty”. The Hill. 17 January 2017.
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