Digital Dharma

The Middle Path, One Day At A Time

Category Archives: crime and punishment


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Report of the Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Maryland Commission on Capital Punishment has reviewed testimony from experts

and members of the public, relevant Maryland laws and court cases, as well as statistics and

studies relevant to the topic of capital punishment in Maryland. After a thorough review of this

information, the Commission recommends that capital punishment be abolished in Maryland.

The following sections detail the findings that support the recommendations and address each

major issue the Commission was charged with studying

via www.goccp.maryland.gov/capital-punishment/documents/death-penalty-commission-final-report.pdf?PHPSESSID=46545f41c22d727da5e4116655bd9f92.


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Thou Shalt Not Kill. Unless…

The End of Death Row

A thoughtful, well-written article, by a man who earned the right to his opinion by confronting Texas “morality” at close range.  How many of us have thought this carefully about the homicides committed in our names?

via Thou Shalt Not Kill. Unless – Features – Utne Reader.


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Vatican set to issue changes in sex abuse rules

In the latest chapter of the Vatican’s attempt to come to grips with the sexual abuse crisis, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith is expected to release a set of changes to the church’s rules for meting out ecclesiastical discipline against abuser priests sometime in the next few days.

Vatican sources caution, however, that the revisions are largely a matter of consolidating existing practice, rather than a dramatic new approach to how sex abuse cases are handled.

Sources also stress that the revisions affect only the internal ecclesiastical status of an accused priest. In a separate set of guidelines published in April, the Vatican said that civil law regarding reporting crimes of sexual abuse of a minor to the police and other authorities should always be followed.

Vatican
set to issue changes in sex abuse rules | National Catholic Reporter


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Quote of the Week:

Until the Vatican gets it through its thick skull that sexual abuse isn’t a sin but a crime, isn’t a moral weakness but a dangerous pathology, it’s going to continue putting up with predators within its ranks, thinking they can say they’re sorry and make it all go away. It will go on holding the devil responsible for its own worst acts. And it will continue condemning its youngest and most vulnerable members to hell on earth.

Read the rest here


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Wonking Class Hero — The Exonerator

Advocates for innocent people in prison are few, partly because lawyers are trained to honor the sanctity of the finality of court decisions. Advocates courageous and idealistic enough to proceed on behalf of an imprisoned innocent count themselves successful if they help achieve one exoneration during a lifetime of trying.

That McCloskey — who is not a lawyer — has directed investigations resulting in dozens of exonerations is, by any measure, astounding. Those prone to biblical language use a stronger word: miraculous.  Wonking Class Hero — The Exonerator


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Do great artists live by a different moral code than the rest of us?

Research of Culture | Miller-McCune Online Magazine

As French film critic Agnes Poirier told the Guardian of London: “We are prepared to forgive artists a lot more than we are prepared to forgive ordinary mortals.”

And, apparently, we cut them more slack than we do sports figures. You’d have to be pretty hard-core to equate raping a 13-year old girl with adultery, and yet…