At one end the ultimate punishment is applied selectively, while at the other, efforts are made to let the prime minister skirt his corruption trial. In both cases, the law becomes an instrument shaped by identity and status
When a state legislates the death penalty, it touches the outer limit of its authority. But when it enacts a death penalty that in practice applies to only one ethnic group, it does more than cross a moral line, it alters the very meaning of the law itself.