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Sometimes, after reading how these death penalty appeals drag on for years, if not decades, I often think it might be better to give the guy life without parole and give the victim's family the millions that are being expended by the state in the appeal process, including the cost of the defense........but that's what the opponents of capital punishment want....to make a travesty of the process.....so, the game contines afoot..

Ken, some of this is a legislative problem. On the federal level, Congress has passed the Prison Litigation Reform Act and a few other statutes a while back that have the effect of making death penalty appeals on the federal level more streamlined.

The reality is that a lot of families don't care much about life in jail vs. death. But federal prosecutors under the new statutes are supposed to take family wishes into account for sentencing, and so are judges. So for those families that really do want the death penalty, and that's important to them, in death-eligible cases, who knows, who can put a price on peace of mind? Everyone grieves differently and some people really do have peace of mind knowing that the person who snuffed out their loved one is dead.

"Sometimes, after reading how these death penalty appeals drag on for years, if not decades, I often think it might be better to give the guy life without parole and give the victim's family the millions that are being expended by the state in the appeal process, including the cost of the defense........but that's what the opponents of capital punishment want...."

I basically support the death penalty. However, I live in a "life-without-the-possibility-of-parole" state regarding first-degree murder. I have to say, it works quite well. I have lived here since 1974 and have watched a lot of murder cases. There is an easier time getting convictions on less than 100 percent perfect evidence (which never exists, anyway) when the death penalty is not an issue. And there is a whole lot less whining on the part of the press and the touchy-feely crowd when these murder cases come up because the death penalty is not even in play. All of the murderers convicted in the cases I have followed since 1974 in the state are, indeed, still in prison and should die there.

I have to confess, it's not a bad system. But you HAVE to have specific "life-without-the-possibility-of-parole" sentencing actually ON the BOOKS in your state or even the life-sentenced people tend to get parolled eventually (and of course "20-years-to-life" does NOT mean life, either).