No Moratorium on Executions in North Carolina !

No Moratorium on Executions in North Carolina !

Here, in NC, some legislators in the state legislature (The General Assembly) are trying to pass a bill to put in place a two-year moratorium on the executions of those sentenced to death by the courts. So far, we have been able to hold it off. It has passed the Senate, but the House killed it.

These “Moratorium people” people hardly ever give up, so I fully expect the bill to be re-introduced in the State Legislature before this term is over.

Now, if you have read this far, you know I am not in favor of a moratorium on executions. Period. A moratorium is simply a way of giving jurors, and the courts in NC, the back of the hand.

I am in favor of the death penalty. But death penalties should be imposed by states… not the Federal Government. (I was astounded recently to see the cascade of federal offenses punishable by death.) The imposition of a death sentence is a very personal thing between the state and the offender.

Back to the proposed two-year moratorium in NC: Those of us against the moratorium understand that this is not really about a moratorium. We understand it is the “camel’s nose under the tent” scheme. It is the first step to ridding the state of the death penalty. After two years, and at least one DNA test proving that a person has been found guilty who, in fact is not guilty, and the moratorium crowd will have their high moral ground to proclaim that NC is “murdering” innocent people on death row and they’ll tear into the state legislature to get rid of the death penalty in NC. That’s the long and the short of it.

The problem for the “moratorium folks” is… the people of NC want the death penalty. We want those who commit heinous crimes to be killed and out of our lives… forever. We do not want to feed and cloth them for the remainder of their lives, at state taxpayer’s expense, with the always-present chance they might escape and kill again. We want the threat removed… forever. The death penalty does that.

I do believe the death penalty is a deterrent to crime. Put an offender to death and he will not commit a crime again!

Down through the ages innocent people have been tried, and found guilty, and hanged… or otherwise dispatched. It is a price we, as a society, pay to have a nation based on law. Occasionally there is collateral damage. But, without law, we would be a anarchic mess. When an innocent is put to death we share the burden of guilt…. equally. That, too, is a price we pay to keep our families safe.

No, we must not allow a moratorium on executions in North Carolina. The courts have spoken, the jurors have spoken, and to impose a moratorium would be to undermine our entire legal system.

We strongly urge the General Assembly, of North Carolina, to stand firmly against the Moratorium on Executions when it comes, again, to the legislature this term.

Your Obedient Servant,

“Longstreet”