Six experts debate the death penalty in today’s issue of the New York Times. The fact that the death penalty has reached this level of civil, open, public conversation gives me great hope for the future.

What It Means If the Death Penalty is Dying, NYT, 4/7/14

• “Rare and Decreasing” by Richard C. Dieter, Death Penalty Information Center
• “Punishment Needs to Be Punishment” by Robert Blecker, Author, “The Death of Punishment”
• “No Justice for Victims of Color” by Khalilah L. Brown-Dean, Political Scientist
• “Of Course It’s Cruel and Unusual” by Kirk Noble Bloodsworth, Witness to Innocence
• “Claims of Racial Disparity Are Misleading” by John McAdams, Political Scientist
• “The Most ‘Unusual’ It’s Ever Been” by Paul Butler, Law Professor and Former Prosecutor