As I said above its the innocent people who are executed that I'm concerned about.
We reserve the death penalty for those who have murdered in such a heineous manner to be beyond belief.
How can you ever be sure that you have caught the perpetrator? Isn't life imprisonment just as effective at removing someone from society?
The shortening of the appeal process is due to the fact that we now have DNA available.
Do you think that DNA evidence isn't open to tampering like any other evidence. For example, the way blood was planted by the Police during O. J. Simpson's murder investigation.
If you find the death penalty so repugnant, you can live in one of the countries who do not allow the death penalty.
I do, I live in England.
But you avoided the abortion question. So are you for or against it? Please, aren't the innocent lives of children worth crusading for? I'm personally only interested in saving the innocent ones.
We have faith in our system. No, life in prison is not adequate for the types of crimes that warrent the death penalty. We are not talking about the type of crime where someone merely shoots another in a fit of passion. We are talking about people who hack someone to death with an axe. No, life in prison is NOT adequate. Perhaps you haven't seen our prisons. Private cells, telephone, TV, computer access, better food than many of us have, rent furnished, no worry about keeping a job. Sorry, that doesn't cut it.
People have to know that there are consequences for their actions. Everyone here in the states knows that the consequences are death. It's their own choice.
You see, we believe in individual responsibility. There are many freedoms here, we expect people to deal well with those freedoms and the opportunities that are the birthright of all Americans. A recent study has come out that says that even our poorest citizens live better then the middleclass in Sweden. What excuse is there for failure to obey the simple law that says "Don't KILL"?
You can not be paralyzed by fear that you will make a mistake. You have to enforce the laws as best you can. We have a lengthy proceedure to assure that an innocent man is not executed. As to DNA, the prosecutor, the defense, and usually a third party conducts the tests. If these tests do not match, then there is "reasonable doubt", nobody can be executed when there is reasonable doubt.
There was recently a man who raped and killed his daughter who claimed innocence. His execution was stayed because there was reasonable doubt. DNA samples were taken and when they came back it was found that the skin beneath the nails of the child was her fathers, and the semen was his as well. He was executed. He was executed, he should have been. Can you think of any crime as heineous as raping and killing your own child? How long do you think this man would have lived in prison? Instead of being left to the mercy of his fellow inmates, he was gently put to sleep.
We do not hang people, nor pump their bodies full of electricity, we show them much more kindness then they showed to their victems. It is not an easy thing, and it's something that we do not relish, but it is a duty that we owe to each other as human beings to make sure that those among us who are unable to follow the simple rules are taken care of in a way that will leave the rest of us as safe as is possible.