Donald Trump & The Death Penalty!

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By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

As I sit in my Kailyard I wonder often about the future.

The debate the world over, that springs from the death penalty is something we have had reason to reflect upon over here in the UK as the final few days of the Trump administration has seen federal executions reach new heights.

For us, in the UK we have long found the idea of putting somebody to death as a form of justice something we find distasteful. It does not accord with our sense of fairness and justice.
As a member of Amnesty International, I oppose the death penalty, so I am far from unbiased.

The speed and the glee with which Donald J Trump has pursued this policy in his final days has been yet another bitter pill for the world to swallow; even for those who are in favor of it. Of course, we are now looking towards the final days of his regime and the change may be coming in the form of a man under whom, as Vice President, I believe, was not responsible for any federal executions.

He was, however, the reputed author of the highly controversial Clinton Crime Bill that saw a massive increase in the incarceration of people – many of whom were ethnic minorities.

It is with such a personal legacy, a profound inheritance from the previous incumbent and the challenges ahead that President-elect Joe Biden must wrangle over the next four years.

The possibility of any state or the US Government deciding to outlaw or take off the table, executions or death row itself is unlikely. There is, I think, a massive swell of support for its use on the basis that the deterrent works. And yet there are such numbers awaiting death for crimes they committed that there is little evidence that it works.

That the latest inmate sent for a lethal injection, though she was responsible for a heinous crime, had caused headlines outside the US is mainly because of her gender. A woman being executed is big headlines. Mistaken misogyny or some strange form of chivalry aside, this has shaken us up.

Biden and Kamal Harris have a big job, not least to alter the perception we have of the US. I am far from naïve to think that what is important to me shall become important to them, but we all want to believe that aside from the damage that has been done, being undone, there needs to be a new pathway. That new direction needs careful laying.

Showing boldness and resolution is craved. As he takes the office, the world awaits in what direction they shall chart for your country. We all hope that is shall be a good un… a real good un…

It can hardly be worse than the last four, can it?

A view from the new Kailyard or, how you look over there, from over here…

(kailyard n. a genre of sentimental Scottish literature turned into effective invective comment from one Donald worth reading…)

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