The Maryland Death Penalty should "stand as written, and be used more often to serve the citizens" writes Paul Highbarger in an Op Ed in today's Baltimore Sun. Governor Martin O'Malley has received legislative authorization to appoint a commission to study the state's death penalty and recommend changes to what Highbarger calls "one of the nation's most restrictive" capital punishment laws. He calls the commission a complete waste of time and money and a tool the Governor is using "to force his own personal beliefs on the state."

Protesters in Atlanta marched Thursday in opposition to the execution of Troy Anthony Davis, who was sentenced to death for killing an off duty police officer during a violent crime spree in 1986. An AP story in today's Atlanta Journal Constitution barely mentions the murder victim, and does not note that on the night of the murder Davis shot another man in the face and was pistol whipping a second victim when Officer Mark MacPhail intervened and was killed. Our post from Tuesday provides the background on this case.

The Adam Walsh Act passed by Congress in 2006 to transform the patchwork of uncoordinated state sex offender registries into a nationally linked system to keep track of sex offenders was not much more than a photo-op according to this Fox News piece by Charles D. Stimson and Andrew M. Grossman of the Heritage Foundation. While the agency created by the act has issued guidelines to upgrade and conform state registries, the funding promised to help offset the related costs has not been authorized. Just this year, Congress cut funds for the program by two thirds and some states are backing off of implementation or opting out.