Death Penalty a Live Issue

The Parr Center recently finished a year of programs centered around capital punishment. A timely series indeed. Recently the Supreme Court upheld Kentucky's right to use its current lethal injection protocol for executions, thereby ending a de facto national moratorium and clearing the way for states to resume executing death row inmates. 

Arguably, though, the Court's decision to review the case in the first place is just the latest sign that the public opinion in the U.S. is shifting with respect to capital punishment in general, and lethal injection in particular. This is perhaps not so surprising given that 135 countries have abolished the use of capital punishment in law or in practice. If public opinion in the U.S. is shifting, it would seem it is only growing closer to the international norm. It is all the more surprising then to see hints that in Japan something of the reverse is happening -- public support for the death penalty is growing in Japan, says Son-U Jong of Korea's Chosun Ilbo.