[PapaNew]

Nothing about what the condemned prisoner has to say about it.

The death penalty is barbarous. Even if it "served a useful purpose" which it does not, it is wrong on so many levels for the state to be allowed to take another life deliberately and willfully after that person is confined and not an imminent danger to another.

Of course, the state & the police have the right and duty to protect its citizens from the threat of great bodily harm by using deadly force. But after arrest and containment, no such right or duty exists, IMO. The only duty is to further protect its citizens by keeping dangerous criminals confined if not varifiably rehabilitated.

Of course, the prison system could do a lot more to rehabilitate the prisoners and make them productive while they are confined. We are living in the dark ages in our penal system concepts IMO.

[Ouderkirk]

The death penalty is not about prevention..it’s about punishment. Punishment for certain crimes, so heinous that you have forfeited your right to continue.

Not knowing anything about the case at hand, it certainly sounds as though this is one of those persons who have forfeited his right to continue. My only reservation is that the certainty of the states’ case against him. If he’s the guy, and the prosecutor can prove without question that he did it....time for him to die.

[bgill]

Except when the government decides to commute the death penalty to life meaning those inmates who have severed the time for life are relased back out onto the streets and end up killing again. Naw, like that would ever happen, right? But it did.

[informavoracious]

He BEAT and anally RAPED a three year old girl over a period of time. On the day she died, she had over 120 fresh bruises on her body and evidence of anal penile penetration. She had intestines that turned gangrenous after the rape and beating. She died from those massive injuries. Her "mommy" turned a blind eye. He was 19 at the time and confessed. He claimed he did not want to go to jail because he feared getting "blanked" in the butt - even though that was EXACTLY what HE did to a THREE YEAR OLD BABY!!!

Now...you were saying WHAT about "rehabilitation"? Sorry. Some people just need killin'. He's already lived 20 years too long. Put him down.

[sinsofsolarempirefan]

A lot of people on both sides of the death penalty overemphasise deterrence as a factor for or against execution. It is undeniable however, that the death penalty has a flawless 0% recidivism rate, which is more than can be said for any other punishment ever given out by any judge in any legal system in the world.

Here in Britain, there have been many instances of murderers released on parole from life sentences who have gone on to kill again. Even in America, where life often means life without possibility for parole, some lifers have gone on to murder prison guards and other inmates, and the most they can do is send them to the hole for a few months. The death penalty is if nothing else, the most practical way of removing a dangerous offender from society permanently.