Chicago Tribune calls for death penalty abolition

The Chicago Tribune today has this lengthy editorial entitled simply "Abolish the death penalty."  Here is the essence:

It has, as well, long been the position of this editorial page that the government should have the legal right to impose capital punishment--the death penalty. 

An editorial in 1869 stated: "Imprisonment as a penalty for capital crime has lost all its preventative value."  A Tribune editorial in 1952 called the death penalty "the most powerful deterrent to other criminals." In 1976 this page said, "The danger of executing an innocent person is often cited, but we think unjustifiably."

That last sentence sounds chilling today, in light of evidence in recent years of scores of cases in which government has wrongfully convicted defendants and sentenced them to death.  The evidence of recent years argues that it is necessary to curb the government's power.  It is time to abolish the death penalty.

Ohio Death Penalty Information comments on this editorial and also notes that Capital Defense Weekly has lots of other weekend capital coverage.