Support for the Death Penalty Remains High at 74%

[Bonaparte]

"I hold the state morally responsible..."

The state is morally responsible for doing its best to provide an honest trial. It is not morally responsible for being error-free at all times. Perfect judgment comes only from God. And btw, I'm talking about the same God Who made covenant with Noah "for perpetual generations" --

Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made He man. [Gen 9:6]

And God said, "This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you for perpetual generations. [Gen 9:12}

[Merman]

I read that paper and it made it very clear depending on the method used in analyzing data, different results are produced, not quite a science yet...

Yes, there are no repeat ofenders with the death penalty, but the real problem is the aggrivators that put people there.

As far as your passive aggresive accusation of me being a liberal, think again. Just because someone does not agree with you does not mean you should polarize them and call them nasty names...ha ha ha :):):)

[Consort]

I still believe that prisoners should only be put on Death Row if they request it in writing through proper channels. Otherwise, they should remain on what I call Life Row where they have to save lives by donating a kidney or a lung or an eye to crime victims and dying or blind children in return for not being executed. If they elect to go to Death Row or can't donate an organ for any reason, then the death sentence is carried out within six months with no appeals. Some variation of this could be tried on a trial bases.

[PA Engineer]

"As far as your passive aggresive accusation of me being a liberal, think again. Just because someone does not agree with you does not mean you should polarize them and call them nasty names...ha ha ha :):):)"

Since you just signed up today, maybe you can tell us something about yourself. Your liberal machinations are still showing...ha ha ha :):):)

[LittleBoPeep]

So?? If that is true, don't the families of the victims deserve justice?

[Carlucci]

How is he going to get those 30 years of his life back? Are you honestly trying to make a "same difference" argument between losing 30 years and losing your life?

He gets to step out of jail and breathe free. He gets a massive settlement from the state. He gets an apology from the prosecutor. He gets to hug his children again. He gets prayers from the victims family, who once condemmed him. And just maybe he gets a special place in Heaven for having never given up hope.

So shall we stop trying people for kidnap and rape?

No, I'm against both.

[Carlucci]

Each of the men on death row get 10 or 20 years to appeal. Isn't that enough for you?

Imagine. Really Imagine, that you're on death row. You are completely innocent. You are the ONLY one who knows it.

Would 10 or 20 years of appeals be enough for you?

[Bonaparte]

It would have to be. Who beyond the age of 10 does not know that there is danger, injustice and bad luck in this world? Did Jacob deserve all the ordeals he was subjected to?

What of my question to you? How does society give back those 30 years to that innocent defendant? How does it give back his work, his wife, his children? Where is the reversibility?

[Bonaparte]

"He gets to step out of jail and breathe free."

The 30 years are gone! And it is not he who steps out of jail, it is the man he has become in prison that steps out.

"He gets a massive settlement from the state."

Nonsense. He does not.

"He gets an apology from the prosecutor."

He might. But isn't that what is called "cold comfort"? And why should the prosecutor apologize if he acted in good faith at trial as originally posited?

"He gets to hug his children again."

No. He gets to hug adult strangers, raised by his ex-wife's second husband.

"He gets prayers from the victims family, who once condemmed him."

He might. And then again, they may have prayed for him all along anyway.

"And just maybe he gets a special place in Heaven for having never given up hope."

Now we're in agreement, so long as his hope was centered on his love of God and the redemption of his soul above all else he may have hoped for.

[Prodigal Son]

And yet they continue to support it?

Many vaccinations kill as well yet it is viewed as an overriding public health issue to force people at times to be vaccinated. When this issue comes up and a vaccination is ordered, public health officials know that innocent people will surely die (in some cases) and that they are innocent. In fact, they (the victims) don't even get the benefit of a trial or a lengthy appeals process.

The beautiful thing about the USA is nobody is forced to live where they feel they are under threat of execution. There are States that don't have the death penalty. Anybody who has the means to move but prefers to stay in a geographic region or State where they feel they may be unjustly subjected to capital punishment is implicitly agreeing to this condition.

[No Dems 2004]

Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Just because there's some problems that need to be ironed out with the death penalty doesn't mean that it's not a good idea. Just because there's lots of car accidents doesn't mean that we all throw the keys away and ride bicycles. As the Good Book says, the law is for the lawless, and, speaking of authorities, says that they "bear not the sword in vain."

I firmly support streamlining the death penalty to make it foolproof as much as possible, but I could never live with myself if I supported stopping the death penalty altogether. I've been stunned out how many death row inmates admit to what they've done, and actually apologise to the victims just before their execution. My personal belief is that the error rate is extremely low. We don't need these kind of wicked people in our society.

One last thing: even many of those 12 states that don't have capital punishment -- surveys show that most would like it to be brought back (e.g. Wisconsin and Massachusetts).

[eno_]

But, with the Innocence Project (and yes, I know it is mainly a leftist project) we have found that criminal justice has a high error rate, for the death penalty and otherwise.

I'm for the death penalty. I also very very much for three strikes for lesser crimes. But we have to reform our snitch-based plea-bargaining system of "justice."

We could start with firing prosecutors who were invovled with bad prosecutions.

[eno_]

He isn't going to get his life back, but there are good prosecutions, and there are bad prosecutions. A surgeon's career can end with a botched operation. WHy no consequences for prosecutors, or police, for that matter?

[eboyer]

life in an actual prison also cuts this rate.

It may not be 0% but since victims would be fellow life in prison inmates, who cares?

ps you meant recidivism

[presidio9]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/915450/posts

[TedsGarage]

I'll never understand why people who don't trust the government to spend their money trust it with the power of life and death. I remember a line from that movie "Blue Collar Comedy Tour": "In Texas, we have the death penalty, and we use it!" Well, Mao tse-Tung and Joe Stalin had the death penalty, too, and they used it. The power of life and death should belong to God, not the state. Mao and Stalin both tried to replace God with the state, and millions died as a result.

[Bonaparte]

"WHy no consequences for prosecutors, or police, for that matter?"

Bad prosecutors usually take the trouble to have political cover. I have one of these DAs in my county -- one bad prosecution after another and he's politically untouchable. Below command rank, cops are often sacrificial lambs. Ask Mark Fuhrman.

[Bonaparte]

"surveys show that most would like it to be brought back"

3 in 4 people support it. 3 in 4 politicians either oppose it or say they support it but work to undermine it. Even the USSC reversed itself on that "cruel and unusual" silliness, but most politicians are bound and determined to defeat the will of their own constituents in this matter.

[eno_]

And there are surgeons who are serial butchers as well. But it has to start somewhere.

Currently, the left gets to score points with the Innocence Project. This is an issue that needs to be reclaimed by the right, and can be done so in a way that scores a few points for our side, too.

[No Dems 2004]

"I'll never understand why people who don't trust the government to spend their money trust it with the power of life and death."

But, don't you see: That's one of the main jobs of the government - to keep us safe. We need police, military, etc. to keep the peace, as individuals can't begin to keep things safe on their own. Comparing our government to Stalin and other communists because of the death penalty isn't sound, and I'm pretty sure you know that. The death penalty is God's ordained system ". . . by man shall his blood be shed."

You just can't feel sorry for the kind of people who inhabit death row. Most of them are unbelievably awful, and so unconvertable from their evil ways that the only appropriate measure is to remove them from the earth. None of us want innocent people to die, but we know that this problem is generally blown way out of proportion and we feel morally obliged to support the execution of the world's most wicked. That said, I fully support further streamlining of the death penalty to make sure that innocent people aren't executed. But don't forget -- many, many death row inmates acknowledge their crime and even end up being very apologetic to the victim's families. After all, there's hardly a surer way to go to hell, than to refuse to repent for your sin.