Death Sentences Down:  The Death Penalty Information Center (DPIC), an opponent of capital punishment, released its year-end report yesterday.  Among its disclosures was that In 2009 fewer murderers were sentenced to death.  As per usual, this fact was reported as proof that "juries continue to grow more wary of capital punishment."  While some news outlets swallowed the DPIC spin whole, without bothering to seek an alternative perspective, others were more careful.  Some examples are here, here and here. 

Habitual Criminals:  Habitual criminals commit roughly two-thirds of all crimes yet some people have trouble acknowledging that the only way to stop this type of offender from committing crimes is to lock him up.  A story by Tom Alex of the DesMoines Register profiles 55-year-old Melvin "Punky" Adams, who had been convicted 25 times since his 19th birthday.  Adams, who says that he wants to change, was arrested two weeks ago when police, responding to a burglar alarm at 4:00 am, found him inside a restaurant with a hammer and a screwdriver.  A retired police officer who arrested Adams in the 1970s said, "....to most people going to jail is a terrible thing.  To others, it's like attending a class reunion."