"Trump's pronouncement is about much more than deterring killings, though. With speed and brazenness, Trump seems intent on creating a new, federal arrest and detention system outside of existing norms, aimed at everyday citizens and controlled by his whims. The death penalty is part of it, but stomping on civil rights is at the heart of it ruthlessly exploiting anxiety about crime to aim repression at whatever displeases him, from immigration protesters to murderers."
"This administration is using the words of crime and criminals to get themselves a permission structure to erode civil rights and due processes across our criminal, legal and immigration systems in ways that I think should have everyone alarmed, Rena Karefa-Johnson told me. She's a former public defender who now works with Fwd.us, a bipartisan criminal justice advocacy group. Authoritarians love the death penalty, and have long used it to repress not crime, but dissent."
President Donald Trump urged federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., to seek the death penalty for murders in the capital, calling the measure a strong preventative and asserting "we have no choice". The pronouncement accompanies an apparent push to establish a new federal arrest and detention system outside established norms, targeting everyday citizens and subject to executive whims. The death penalty is presented as one component, while erosion of civil rights and due process across criminal, legal, and immigration systems is central. The rhetoric of crime is being used to justify repression of immigration protesters and other perceived threats. Historical examples cited include Franco's purges, Duterte's extrajudicial killings, and Saudi executions.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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