Seems strange that New York State (NYC), Maryland (Baltimore), Michigan (Detroit), New Jersey (Newark), Illinois (Chicago),D.C. (Washington), and California (LA and Oakland) have so many murders and yet only account for 16 of the 1,000.
I've long held the belief that the death penalty provides little deterence to murderers, but looking at this I am currently reexamining this belief.
IMHO, EVERYONE who is convicted of murder should get the death penalty...no exceptions. The vast majority of those who have committed a violent rape should likewise be considered candidates for the death penalty, as well as those who sexually abuse an innocent child (depending on the severity of the case & how the child was affected by the abuse).
I say leave those of us who enjoy & responsibly use marijuana ALONE, & EXPAND the death penalty in order to get rid of the worst of the worst in our prisons. Make the executions a public event while we're at it, in order to send a message that such violent behavior will not be allowed. Our prison overcrowding problem would then be settled overnight.
Any deterence value is a side benefit and should not be consider as the reason to support the death penalty. What value do we place on the life of an innocent victim? Anything short of executing the killer, lessens the value of all of us.
On a more practical level, there have been a number of cases where someone has been on death row, and somehow gotten out, and killed others. The one sure things about the death penalty is, that person will never kill another innocent victim.