In another pro-criminal 5-4 decision the Supreme Court today declared it cruel and unusual punishment to lock up a juvenile armed robber for life. The defendant was convicted of armed robbery (gun) at age 14. The judge gave him probation with a warning that he would be locked up for life if he erred again. The defendant promptly proceeded to commit at least two more gun robberies so the judge decided he was too dangerous to be sentenced to anything less than life. Now the Supreme Court declares it cruel and unusual punishment to lock up a juvenile armed robber for life.

In other words let him out again until he finally kills someone. Only then can he be locked up. In other words, it is not cruel and unusual for law abiding people to be subjected to this proven undeterrable gunman.

Because the Court’s decision cites foreign law for the fact that other nations don’t have life imprisonment for juveniles, I expect that will provoke outrage from parochial conservatives. But I am provoked to reflect on the difference between being parochial and being Catholic.

Oddly, the terms "Catholic" and "parochial" have come to have almost opposite meanings. One meaning of Catholic is universal. In contrast, meanings of parochial include: limited, ignorant, naive, knowing only a single culture, narrow-minded, culture-bound and so on.

Ironically, though opponents of stern and even capital punishment for criminals think themselves progressive and broad-minded, they are actually narrow minded and parochial. By the same token, parochial supporters of stern punishment for violent felons are in tune with the vast majority of the world’s nations and peoples

Opposition to stern punishment is a dominant view primarily in a narrow set of European – primarily Western European – states. In contrast, capital punishment is the law over the great majority of the world’s nations (e.g., China, India and Russia) and the great majority of its populations. In Africa and Asia only a tiny minority of nations (e.g., Israel) eschew capital punishment, while the great majority embrace it. Israel is the only nation in the Middle East to reject capital punishment. Its neighbor the Palestinian Authority provides for capital punishment for 50+ different offenses .

The world’s largest nation, China, provides for capital punishment not only for murder but for many non-violent offenses such as drug smuggling, fraud, corruption by public officials and tax evasion.

No great respect is due to the fact that a small minority of  parochial nations representing one culture reject capital punishment. To argue that capital punishment is wrong is to condemn the vast majority of human cultures.  

The U.S. is in step w/the great majority of nations and peoples except that the U.S. is far more moderate about capital punishment than most of the others.