Crimes and the death penalty

MANILA Mayor Joseph Estrada proposed the restoration of the death penalty last week. He was moved by the gruesome crime committed by a drug addict pedicab driver who raped and then killed a six-year-old girl.

Whenever heinous crimes proliferate and get broadcast-media attention, calls for the return of the death penalty increase. Also, when the corruption of government officials – of the massiveness and extent of the Napoles PDAF scam—make the people squirm with disgust and scream in anger, more people shout “Execute the plunderers!”