Death of a penalty

While listening to The United States' finest rocker and surfing the web aimlessly as modern humans often do, I stumbled across a news story saying New Jersey will abolish capital punishment.

For those who see the United States as a fascinating and often progressive country albeit with a significant amount of silly flaws, this is splendid news. In a country that has its share of murdering bastards, taking one step back and re-considering the consequences of the cruelty, barbary and blind vengefulness of the death penalty takes guts.

New Jersey is home to the TV mafia family Sopranos, but also to the aforementioned rocker Bruce Springsteen. The latter's lyrical fight for social justice may or may not be one of the causes of the state legislature's decision. At least to those of us who don't live in The US of A, Springsteen has given colourful insights and shown tragic fates of the American working class, including those wretched guys who, guilty or not, wound up on death row.