California and the Death Penalty
By Jordan Harms

A piece in the New Yorker I read recently entitled Tinkering with Death by Alex Kozinsky, a death penalty judge, alternately enraged me and buoyed me with hope for common sense. This roller coaster ride with Kozinski’s words epitomizes how he presented his argument for the death penalty, which is why where he ended up was somewhat surprising. One could characterize Kozinski’s work as self-persuasion—was he trying to show all sides of the argument, or merely trying to convince himself that he was on the right side of that argument? He juxtaposed the appeal to the heartstrings by those speaking for the man on death row next to the gruesome horror of the acts that got him there. There are perhaps better ways to make his point. (more…)