The governor of Illinois signed a law on Wednesday abolishing capital punishment, an issue that has roiled the state since revelations of wrongful convictions led to a decade-long moratorium on executions.

When the law signed by Democratic Governor Pat Quinn takes effect on July 1, Illinois will become the fourth state in the past two years after New York, New Jersey and New Mexico to dispense with the death penalty.

The ultimate punishment will still be an option in 34 states and for federal inmates. Most Western democracies no longer carry out executions.

[citing the NYT] Manning will be forced to be nude every night from now on for the indefinite future -- not only when he sleeps, but also when he stands outside his cell for morning inspection along with the other brig detainees...

....

Let's review Manning's detention over the last nine straight months: 23-hour/day solitary confinement; barred even from exercising in his cell; one hour total outside his cell per day where he's allowed to walk around in circles in a room alone while shackled, and is returned to his cell the minute he stops walking; forced to respond to guards' inquiries literally every 5 minutes, all day, everyday; and awakened at night each time he is curled up in the corner of his bed or otherwise outside the guards' full view. Is there anyone who doubts that these measures -- and especially this prolonged forced nudity -- are punitive and designed to further erode his mental health, physical health and will? As The Guardian reported last year, forced nudity is almost certainly a breach of the Geneva Conventions; the Conventions do not technically apply to Manning, as he is not a prisoner of war, but they certainly establish the minimal protections to which all detainees -- let alone citizens convicted of nothing -- are entitled.

34 States?? That's embarrassing. Murder (yes I consider it murder) as punishment has no place in a country's laws.

What makes it so much worse than lifelong deprivation of liberty?

As someone who works in the criminal justice system, I must point out that our system is not perfect. Innocent people get found guilty and guilty people get found innocent all the time.

Therefore, I believe that when you don't have a system that is 100% perfect, you should not have a penalty that is 100% irreversible.

What makes it so much worse than lifelong deprivation of liberty?

My thought is that if there is any doubt as to who the killer(s) is the it should be Life [...]

Even jury's convict people with no murder weapon, no dna, no fibers, no nothing but sometimes confessions and extremely circumstantial evidence.

My thought is that if there is any doubt as to who the killer(s) is the it should be Life.

The blog DaringFireball.net has an illuminating quote from none other than good old John Adams today:

"It is more important that innocence be protected than it is that guilt be punished, for guilt and crimes are so frequent in this world that they cannot all be punished. But if innocence itself is brought to the bar and condemned, perhaps to die, then the citizen will say, 'whether I do good or whether I do evil is immaterial, for innocence itself is no protection,' and if such an idea as that were to take hold in the mind of the citizen that would be the end of security whatsoever."