As I've mentioned before, I'm a moderate on the death penalty. I believe in it, but I have no trouble at all with efforts to ratchet up evidence requirements and other efforts to make sure the punishment is proportionate and justified. Indeed, I wouldn't mind laws which require the use of DNA evidence before the penalty could be used. (Which, by the way, may be the achilles heel of the anti-death-penalty movement. Short-term, the use of DNA evidence to clear people has helped them make their case, but long-term, it's going to make it a lot tougher for them to keep making their case.)

I only favor the penalty when the jury decides that the murder was premeditated and thus, by definition, not a "crime of passion." And if we executed fewer people than we do--not that we execute all that many--I wouldn't mind either. Still and all, is George Ryan really a hero?

The outgoing Governor of Illinois, George Ryan, had my support when he put a moratorium on the death penalty, and aggressively started investigating cases. He had it when he started issuing commutations for Death Row prisoners for which there was some reason to doubt the guilt of the inmates, or the fairness of the sentences.

Then, in a stunning act in his final days in office, he simply commuted the sentence of every single person on Death Row.

Not that he has no right to do so. He does. And if the people of Illinois don't like it, they can amend their Constitution so future governors can't do such things. But this doesn't mean Ryan deserves uncritical praise.

In point of fact, he's retiring and is beyond any political repercussions for his act. He's also undergoing criminal investigation for unrelated matters. To some, this appears to be an effort to salvage his image and distract from other issues.

If you think I'm being harsh, go read this. Then contemplate that those people are among those receiving Ryan's beneficence, although there is not a smidge of allegation that they were tried unfairly.

You might also remember this case the next time a hard-line anti-death penalty person talks to you about how most murders are crimes of passion. They're right of course. But don't most death penalty states require that a murder be premeditated, and not a "crime of passion," before the penalty is applied?

And tell me. When they killed Jacqueline Annette Williams, her 10 year old daughter, and her 8 year old son, leaving the 17-month-old behind with his mom's sliced-open body, was it a "crime of passion?"

* Update * OpinionJournal's Brendan Miniter has some interesting info on this issue. The best quote: "Despite ample claims to the contrary, researchers are now finding that the death penalty is a deterrent. Researchers at Emory University looked at nearly 6,000 death sentences and compared them to the murder rates and likelihood of being sentenced to death in 3,000 counties. They found every execution saved as many as 18 would-be-murder victims. Other studies done at the University of Colorado and the University of Houston also found that executions saved lives." Now isn't that a surprise? For more, just click right here.