Patriot expansion

An Editorial in today's NY Times points out many of the flaws of the proposed expansion of the use of the death penalty in federal cases (both terrorism-related and unrelated) by reducing the size of juries and allowing federal prosecutors to jury-shop until they find a jury willing to impose the death penalty. The fact that this country still has the death penalty is a black mark on our progress. In almost every other developed country (as well as in the International Criminal Court and the ad-hoc tribunals), the death penalty has been taken off the table. It is an irreversible punishment, and the implementation of it has come under increased scrutiny in the past few years. It also lacks the deterrent effect claimed by supporters. It is time not to expand its use, but to eliminate it altogether. Merely the possibility of sentencing someone to death is a over-reach on the government's monopoly on the use of violence. The Patriot Act should be repealed or amended to shrink the federal government's snooping powers and the death penalty should be eliminated not expanded.