Troy Davis

I'm not really much of a death penalty abolitionist, insofar as I don't see it as necessarily wrong to execute people in all circumstances. One circumstance in which it's a really bad idea to execute someone, though, is when he's being set up to take the fall for a crime he didn't commit. This certainly appears to be the problem with the looming execution of Troy Davis who, it seems, isn't allowed to present evidence of his innocence -- including the fact that three of the four witnesses against him (and there was no physical evidence) have recanted their testimony -- because of something called the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 which, I guess, rebuilt the Democratic Party's credibility on the crime issue at the cost of the lives of an unknown number of innocent people.

UPDATE: To clarify, "Not much of a death penalty abolitionist" means I am, in fact, a death penalty abolitionist. I think of the "real" abolitionists as making sanctity of life appeals, which I wouldn't do, but I'd certainly vote against the death penalty in a referendum.