Massachusetts’ ​“Foolproof Death Penalty” Idea Achieves Questionable Status

In its annu­al eclec­tic col­lec­tion of ideas from the past year, The New York Times Magazine includ­ed the ​“Foolproof Death Penalty” propsed by Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. The Times attempts ​“to salute the absurd­ly wide range of human orig­i­nal­i­ty” and culls its entries not only from main­stream sources but also from the ​“tat­too cul­ture and fast food man­age­ment, hor­ti­cul­ture and shoe design.” In response to Romney’s notion of ​“error-free cap­i­tal pun­ish­ment,” Berkeley law pro­fes­sor Franklin Zimring said that the pro­posed leg­is­la­tion could be ​“the first effort to write a sole­ly sym­bol­ic crim­i­nal statute.” The mag­a­zine notes that the idea has lit­tle chance of being adopt­ed, and the gov­er­nor has­n’t even intro­duced a bill based on the pro­pos­al. (The New York Times Magazine, December 12, 2004). See Innocence.