The Virginian-Pilot  Dec. 24

Editorial

Keep U.S. on path to end death penalty

The United States seems a long way from joining the rest of the world's modern democracies in eliminating capital punishment. But a recent Justice Department report has some observers suggesting we could be inching in that direction.

 Death chambers across the nation took 98 lives in 1999 and 85 in 2000 and are expected to take 66 this year. Virginia, which ranked 3rd with 8 in 2000, behind Texas' 40 and Oklahoma's 11, has put only 2 men to death in 2001 -- with no further executions scheduled before Jan. 1.

 A similar trend is found in capital convictions: 303 nationwide in 1998, 280 in 1999 and 214 in 2000. There are two pieces of good news here:

 First, with substantial evidence of mishandled capital cases having come to light in recent years, states appear to be making a greater effort to assure that those facing capital charges get fair trials. And, said one expert, "As more and more flaws . . . are being exposed, there is . . . less willingness to request or impose the death penalty in many cases."

 Second, the decline is attributed in part to a lower homicide rate. As a result, in the view of another expert, "the clamor is not quite as loud."

 For so long, the death penalty was seen as a criminal-justice fixture in this country. Polls showed majorities in the range of 80 % favoring executions. But analysis has uncovered varying degrees of support for capital punishment. For example, the numbers drop when people are asked whether they would favor the death penalty if the alternative of life imprisonment without parole was offered, as it is here in Virginia.

 Others will concede a general concern about executing criminals, but when confronting a truly monstrous act like that of Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, they see no other penalty as fitting the crime.

 Let us hope that reduced crime rates and other favorable factors keep the United States moving along the path toward joining our democratic friends. We're already overdue.