Wisconsin, my adopted state for the past 12 years, abolished the death penalty in 1853. Not 1953, 1853. (As far as states go, only Michigan abolished it earlier, in 1846, the first English-speaking government in the world to do so!) Now, certain state legislators want to put a non-binding referendum on the fall ballot, asking voters if they favor capital punishment for murders where there is a DNA match.

Can you guess which side of the aisle the folks putting this forth sit on?