Oh, brother.

[eirias]

Now my fair state gets its share of infamy: Wisconsin school shooting kills principal

This is bad enough, but there's more to it. Prize quote:

The student, identified as Eric Hainstock, could get life in prison if convicted, District Attorney Patricia Barrett said. Wisconsin does not have the death penalty.

What they meant to say was, Wisconsin does not have the death penalty yet. There's a referendum on the ballot in just over a month to reinstate the death penalty here. I think the numbers were in favor already, but to the extent that there was any doubt, my prediction is this event's sealed the vote of every middle-class parent in the entire goddamn state.

I know! I have this great idea! Because our governments are so trustworthy, so interested in protecting our rights, and so careful to keep the judicial system error-free, let's allow them to execute people!

*headdesk*

Comments

[thekat03.livejournal.com]

question: would reinstating the death penalty now affect whether or not this particular student could get the death penalty? after all, the crime happened before the death penalty is an option.

[eirias.livejournal.com]

No, it wouldn't. I'm just predicting a lot of speeches now making a big deal of how this guy can't be brought to real justice and we need to reform the law to deter other crazies from making the same mistake, blah blah blah.

[kirin]

Would it be relevant even if the same thing happened afterwards? The kid's 15. Does the proposed death penalty even apply to minors?

[eirias.livejournal.com]

He's going to be tried as an adult; I don't know whether there is some distinction that prohibits the death penalty from applying to minors in that circumstance. I had assumed not, but it's possible.

[evil-fizz.livejournal.com]

There's a recent Supreme Court case on point. I'll see if I can dig it up.

[knell.livejournal.com]

Huh? The rest of the civilised world is busy abolishing the death penalty (even some states of the US are wobbling a bit after the incredible executionfest of the last decade or so courtesy of people like former TX governor Bush) and Wisconsin's looking at introducing it?

Bizarre.

[evil-fizz.livejournal.com]

States have been remarkably ambivalent about the death penalty. New York has gone back and forth on the issue more than once.

[ukelele.livejournal.com]

I love how the kid in question complains that the principal wouldn't do anything about his getting bullied, and all the popular (well, "interested in homecoming") kids they quote say he was just wonderful. I mean, I cannot tell you how many adolescent psychology and school-issues books I have read whence you can derive that as a caricature.

Of course, this being me, the bit I really respond to is not your last sentence (even though it should be as this week's habeas corpus thing is a dawning horror to me), but a tinge of envy for the kid. He got to kill his principal. Sigh.