The new administration and the death penalty

President Obama’s comments on abortion and his record in Illinois suggest a likely course on the death penalty: reduction and better regulation rather than abolition. This seems to be his style – reasoned and moderate reform. When it was found that there had been a number of mistaken convictions in Illinois, he pushed through a bill providing for the videotaping of interrogations leading to confessions in capital crimes, and he is clearly aware that convictions and penalties of all kinds weigh more severely on minorities. However, even though he acknowledges that it does not deter crime, he apparently approves the death penalty for particularly heinous cases, because of the strong feelings involved.

The concept of “shock and awe” came to the attention of the American public at the beginning of the Iraq war in 2003, but it is actually a military doctrine based on the immediate use of overwhelming force that has been part of military thinking since 1996, and has arguably affected police procedures as well. “Don’t pull your punches,” we say, “Hit ‘em hard and fast.” In the lead up to the Iraq war, this doctrine meant abandoning negotiation prematurely. It tends to increase collateral casualties, at least in the short term, and in the streets it means shooting at any sign of armed resistance. The Obama administration, through Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has been working to restore the national commitment to international treaties and the rule of law, but it has not yet renounced Bush’s claim of the right to a preemptive nuclear first strike. We tend to think that the military know their own business best, but it is worth considering whether military and foreign policy have an effect on domestic behavior, and vice versa.