But the data now show that the double, triple, and quadruple checks that America keeps on capital punishment are crucial, lest a careless bureaucracy put innocent lives to death. And so the politics of the death penalty are changing. That figure is now down to 66 percent. When given the alternative of life without any possibility of parole, it drops to 52 percent. Nine out of ten Americans believe that at least one innocent person has been wrongfully sentenced to death in the last 20 years.
Politicians watch polls.
George W. Bush, despite having proudly presided over a record number of executions, recently granted his first 30-day stay of execution to a condemned man in Texas. The Governor's reprieve stands in stark contrast with a parallel episode from then-Governor Bill Clinton's first presidential run in 1992. Then, Clinton left the campaign trail to return to Arkansas so that he could personally oversee the execution of Ricky Rector a man so mentally incompetent that he saved the dessert from his final meal to eat it later. Those were different times. The nationwide drop in crime, brought about by increased imprisonment and more vigorous law-enforcement, has shown that society can be tough on crime without giving reckless politicians and overzealous bureaucrats the power to kill.