Saturday, January 14, 2006

Gov. Warner and the politics of crime

In this Talkleft post, Gov. Warner: Critics Claim He Moved Left on Crime Issues, there is a link to this NY Times article, "Governor Finds New Middle Ground in Death Penalty Debate."

The Times article says:

"But in four years as governor, Mr. Warner has incrementally and with little fanfare established groundbreaking policies on the use of DNA testing to confirm, or challenge, criminal convictions, many of them in death penalty cases. Last week, he became the first governor to order a DNA test involving a man who had already been executed."

The Talkleft writer says the idea that Governor Warner has made progressive use of DNA to get votes is laughable: "Can anyone name a politician who ran for high national office on a liberal crime platform?"

Reading all this gave me cause to recollect this Will Vehrs post, with the comments, mostly saying that having the Coleman DNA tested was good politics, except perhaps - as Jerry postulates, with the victim's family.

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