[stolinsky]

Thanks for the glaring example. There are many other cases of convicts with long or “life” sentences who were released, or escaped, and murdered again—or murdered a guard or another prisoner while still in prison.

But my primary reason for supporting the death penalty is that it shows how highly we value human life. If a long prison term is the punishment for kidnapping, rape, child molestation, or murder, why not murder the victim and remove the witness? The death penalty for deliberate murder is the only law that is repeated in all of the first five books of the Bible. Or, if you prefer Star Wars terminology, it is the only way to restore so great a disturbance in the Force.

[Niuhuru]

These killers play God, just as much as the executioners are accused of doing. The difference is, the executioners are usually not killing innocent people.

[Alberta's Child]

I always cite the case of Reginald McFadden, a guy who had previously been convicted of murder in Pennsylvania and given a "life sentence," yet somehow was paroled in 1994 only to go on a killing spree in New York within weeks of his parole. That guy ought to be the poster child for the death penalty.

I use that example because the case had major political implications that lasted for years. If it weren't for McFadden, nobody ever would have heard about Tom Ridge. Ridge was running well behind his opponent Mark Singel in the 1994 Pennsylvania governor's race when the McFadden case unfolded, and when it was learned that Singel had been the head of the parole board that recommended McFadden's release, his political career was basically over.