Do you support the death penalty?

[MOB Karen]

Tell us what your view of the death penalty is. Please be respectful of other's views. :D

[MOB Karen]

I do support the death penalty.

[SoontobeMrsClark07]

I honestly dont know... I havent really pondered it enough to make a decision.

[LaceyinPgh]

Under no circumstances do I condone killing. Murder in any form is wrong whether by a stranger on the streets or by a government.

The death penalty does NOT deter crime. Violent crimes in the US have gone up since most states reinstated the death penalty.

Death penalty cases cost the state (meaning you the tax payer) more in time, effort, and money than a lifetime in prison. By the time you get through the case, the fifty billion appeals, the cost of housing the prisoner 10+ years in some cases, then the actual cost of the execution it adds up to far more than keeping them in a cell with 3 crappy meals a day and an hour of excercise a week.

The death penalty is blatantly prejudiced. There are exponetially more African Americans on death row. Those on death row fall far lower on the socioeconomic totem pole than are represented in the population. They are also more likely to have legal aid or public defenders with little to know experience working on a capital charge cases. The fact of the matter is this: middle class and upper clase people can afford better more qualified attorneys. They also appear more sympathetic to jurors and prosecutors hence are more likely to win favor and more lenient sentences. Poor minorities are NOT given the smae oppurtunities in death penalty cases.

I know of at 4 men (I had the oppurtunity to meet them at an Amnesty INternation meeting several years ago.) who were freed from death row (one was within DAYS of his execution) because DNA or other evidence proved that they could not have committed the crimes. If those 4 were freed by chance, who else is innocent waiting for the needle in their arm? A government executing ONE single innocent victim is not delivering justice. It is acting as a playground thug trying to prove its point.

Finally, I don't know of one single murder victim who was brought back to life after the death of their murderer. I hold in the fact that violence begets you violence. It has to stop somewhere. Lock them away, throw away the key. Never let them see daylight again. But under NO circumstances do I justify killing.

[JennF]

I used to be a bit of a fence sitter on this subject, but in the last few years I've come around to opposing the death penalty. Lacey sums up several reasons quite nicely.

[WhiskeyGirl]

I think it depends but in most cases no. I think people should have to suffer and rot in jail!!

[Kacie_bride]

I support the death penatly with my whole heart. The school I attend is in Huntsville, Texas which is like the heart of the Texas prison system. The Walls Unit is in Huntsville and that is the unit where they execute people in Texas. Trust me, I've been inside the prisons and know lots and lots of people who work in there. The majority of the people in there are the scum of the earth. Most of them are repeat offenders.

I am currently looking at the Texas Department of Corrections page on death row inmates and it seems that the ethnic break down of these inmates is not overwhelming in any direction besides the other category.

white-30.8%
Black-41.2%
Hispanic-27%
ohter-1%

Here is a discription of what some of these people did :

On February 19, 1994, in Bexar County, Texas, Hernandez abducted a thirty-eight year old white female from a grocery store parking lot. Hernandez restrained the victim by placing his hands around her neck and then sexually assaulted her. When Hernandez realized the victim was not breathing, he transported her body to a park and left her in a garbage can.

On November 18, 2001, in El Paso, Texas, Renteria abducted a 5 year old hispanic female, fatally choked her and burned her body. (This guy had already served part of a 20 year sentence for sexually assualting a child. They let him out and he did this.)

#292744, received on 6/7/1979 on a 30 year sentence from Dallas County for 2 counts of aggravated rape, 1 count of attempted aggravated rape, and 1 count of aggravated robbery; released on mandatory supervision on 7/24/1991. (This one about a year after his release killed a 9 year old boy.)

Most of these people have been in prison before. Some of them have been convicted of violent crimes before. Most of the people here on death row were not only involved in murder, but also sexually assaulted their victims.
The court system may not be perfect, but I believe that the overwhelming majority of people on death row are as guilty as sin. It seems to me that many here confess anyway before they are executed. I know this not only because of the news, but because when I lived in Huntsville I lived next door to a prison worker who was present at all the executions.
As far as I am concerned the world is a better place without these people in it whether they are behind bars or not. They do not deserve the air in their lungs.

[Kacie_bride]

I just wanted to add that I just looked at 48 last statements from 2004, 2005, and 2006 in Texas. Of those 48 only 5 still claimed they were innocent. 6 only said goodbye or a prayer or nothing. 37 of those admitted to their crime right there.

[hummingbird521]

I am a firm supporter in the death penalty. If done more often I feel as if crime would go down considering the alternative to committing the crime. I hate knowing my tax dollars go for prisoners for such items as healthcare, hospitilization and even food. We have to many americans doing without those things to cater to the ones who have commited crimes to receive it. I for one cannot afford to have heath insurance at the moment. I worked in the hospital industry for many years and in a town close to a prison. It was amazing to see how often prisoners came to the hospital and would lay there and laugh about how they faked something to get a "little vacation" away from the system. No matter what tests they had done they all said it was better than prison. We waste our hardearned money daily for their vacations.

[mlm063007]

I think it depends on the crime. I mainly believe that it is wrong. Like Lacey said, there are many people on death row who are innocent, and 1 innocent person should not die for the sins of another. It is very hard, however, to not see the sense in killing some of the people who did some of the things that those from TX did. I am very on the fence about this issue.

[jeni740]

An eye for an eye, My grandmother was raped and killed over 35 years ago, and the man that did it got 5 years in prison because the cops messed something up with the mans bloody clothes, now I have to live with the fact that the man who killed my grandmother lives less that 3 miles from me.

[rainbowtreat]

I understand that soem should get put to death for some of the things they have done and you know they will keep doing htem if and when they get out of prison. But for some of them I think locking them up and keeping them their is a huge punishment. Let them sit and think about what they did and feel sorry for themsleves.

[WebLady]

Again, I just skimmed the thread, but here are my thoughts ...

I would say yes, I believe in the death penalty. And eye for an eye, right? If you have done something that heinous than I'm sorry, you deserve to die. Why waste tax dollars keeping killers in jail for the rest of their natural life?

A good friend of my sister's had to deal with this not too long ago ... this girl's estranged husband broke into their home and shot and killed her sister that was staying with her, and shot and almost killed her ... all in front of their then young 4 children. The man was arrested and was in jail for several years, then came a trial and they were going for the death penalty. The kids were older and a couple of the youngest ones were scarred didn't want to see their father at all and the others didn't seem to have an opinion either way. The guys sister didn't want to see her brother die either, she said he was all the family she had left.

But what about the lady he killed and the lives her altered? What about him showing no remorse or every saying he was sorry for what he had done? If I remember correctly, he was sentence to multiple life terms with no parole. (I still don't understand multiple life sentences, you only have one life)

I don't know, I know that killing is wrong in every way and it won't bring back the people that this person took away, but there has to be some sort of justice ... right?

I think if a person actually thought the justice system would make them pay for their crime then they would be less likely to do it. Now you will still have psychos that just think they will never get caught, but I doubt that will not change.

[70707Bride]

I put maybe. It depends on the situation.

[AngelinLove]

I put yes, becasue I support the death penalty in certain circumstances!!!

[Jenn060306]

I said maybe. I'm not totally sure on this topic because there are a number of things that come to mind when i think about the pluses and negatives of it.
As far as i know it costs about $70,000 a year to keep someone alive in prison a year. That seem's outragous to me considering the average house hold income is less then that. I don't feel that prisoners should be allowed to have internet or cable or access to many of the luxuries they do.
I do not support it for all the people who have been put in jail for crimes they did not commit. In Canada a man named Guy Paul Morran has put in jail for 10 years begore DNA testing proved him innocent. The crimes that were committed were crimes that the death penalty could and should have had him killed for. For cases where people are put in prison when they shouldn't i am extrememly glad there is no death penalty. There lives have already been ruined by the expereince. They should not have to die for someone eles crime too.
Due to video evidence Paul Brenadro is in jail for brutally raping in murdering two teenage girls with his then wife carla hemolka. Due to a plea bargain she made she is now free to walk the streets of Canada. This i do not agree with!

[MOB Karen]

I said maybe. I'm not totally sure on this topic because there are a number of things that come to mind when i think about the pluses and negatives of it.
As far as i know it costs about $70,000 a year to keep someone alive in prison a year. That seem's outragous to me considering the average house hold income is less then that. I don't feel that prisoners should be allowed to have internet or cable or access to many of the luxuries they do.
I do not support it for all the people who have been put in jail for crimes they did not commit. In Canada a man named Guy Paul Morran has put in jail for 10 years begore DNA testing proved him innocent. The crimes that were committed were crimes that the death penalty could and should have had him killed for. For cases where people are put in prison when they shouldn't i am extrememly glad there is no death penalty. There lives have already been ruined by the expereince. They should not have to die for someone eles crime too.
Due to video evidence Paul Brenadro is in jail for brutally raping in murdering two teenage girls with his then wife carla hemolka. Due to a plea bargain she made she is now free to walk the streets of Canada. This i do not agree with!

I saw a program about Paul Bernardo and Carla Hemolka. They were horrible people!! They killed her little sister!! I totally agree that she should be behind bars for the rest of her life. God will get her though, that I am sure of!!

[AllyM1]

I am definitely for the death penalty. With science how it is today they can pretty much determine if someone did the crime. Jenn said that she thought it cost $70,000 a year for one prisoner, does it cost that much for an execution?

I in no way mean to offend anyone so please do not take it this way, but I could never understand how people dont' feel we should kill people who commit heinous crimes, but it's okay for a woman to kill her unborn child... I just don't get it!

[LaceyinPgh]

For those concered about costs:
According to the department of corrections (which in an unrelated story, 2 of their links took me to the Coldwater Creek Shopping page, weird.)

The average cost nationwide of keeping a prison behind bars is $62.05 per day. That comes to $22,648.25 per year. Over a 25 year span that comes to $566,206.25 (of course this doesn't count for inflation). This does not figure in the cost of the average criminal trial which can run from next to nothing to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Now for the death penalty, the cost of the trial alone, that I can see on several pro death and anti death penalty websites roughly averages to $2 million dollars, just to get to the sentencing of death part.

Now most states aren't really big on putting out how much it costs exactly for execute a prisoner. But, several states have investigated the pros and cons to you, the tax payers. This is what they found:

A New Jersey Policy Perspectives report concluded that the state's death penalty has cost taxpayers $253 million since 1983, a figure that is over and above the costs that would have been incurred had the state utilized a sentence of life without parole instead of death. The study examined the costs of death penalty cases to prosecutor offices, public defender offices, courts, and correctional facilities. The report's authors said that the cost estimate is "very conservative" because other significant costs uniquely associated with the death penalty were not available. "From a strictly financial perspective, it is hard to reach a conclusion other than this: New Jersey taxpayers over the last 23 years have paid more than a quarter billion dollars on a capital punishment system that has executed no one," the report concluded. Since 1982, there have been 197 capital trials in New Jersey and 60 death sentences, of which 50 were reversed. There have been no executions, and 10 men are housed on the state's death row. Michael Murphy, former Morris County prosecutor, remarked: "If you were to ask me how $11 million a year could best protect the people of New Jersey, I would tell you by giving the law enforcement community more resources. I'm not interested in hypotheticals or abstractions, I want the tools for law enforcement to do their job, and $11 million can buy a lot of tools." (See Newsday, Nov. 21, 2005; also Press Release, New Jerseyans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty, Nov. 21, 2005). Read the Executive Summary. Read the full report. Read the NJADP Press Release.


A new report released by the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury recommended changes to the states costly death penalty and called into question its effectiveness in preventing crime. The Office of Research noted that it lacked sufficient data to accurately account for the total cost of capital trials, stating that because cost and time records were not maintained, the Office of Research was unable to determine the total, comprehensive cost of the death penalty in Tennessee." Although noting that, "no reliable data exists concerning the cost of prosecution or defense of first-degree murder cases in Tennessee," the report concluded that capital murder trials are longer and more expensive at every step compared to other murder trials. In fact, the available data indicated that in capital trials, taxpayers pay half again as much as murder cases in which prosecutors seek prison terms rather than the death penalty. Findings in the report include the following:

Death penalty trials cost an average of 48% more than the average cost of trials in which prosecutors seek life imprisonment.

Tennessee District Attorneys General are not consistent in their pursuit of the death penalty.

Surveys and interviews of district attorneys indicate that some prosecutors "use the death penalty as a 'bargaining chip' to secure plea bargains for lesser sentences."

Previous research provides no clear indication whether the death penalty acts as a method of crime prevention.

The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals reversed 29 percent of capital cases on direct appeal.

Although any traumatic trial may cause stress and pain for jurors, the victims' family, and the defendant's family, the pressure may be at its peak during death penalty trials.
(July 2004)
Read the The Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury Office of Research's Report, "Tennessee's Death Penalty: Costs and Consequences."

In its review of death penalty expenses, the State of Kansas concluded that capital cases are 70% more expensive than comparable non-death penalty cases. The study counted death penalty case costs through to execution and found that the median death penalty case costs $1.26 million. Non-death penalty cases were counted through to the end of incarceration and were found to have a median cost of $740,000. For death penalty cases, the pre-trial and trial level expenses were the most expensive part, 49% of the total cost. The costs of appeals were 29% of the total expense, and the incarceration and execution costs accounted for the remaining 22%. In comparison to non-death penalty cases, the following findings were revealed:

The investigation costs for death-sentence cases were about 3 times greater than for non-death cases.

The trial costs for death cases were about 16 times greater than for non-death cases ($508,000 for death case; $32,000 for non-death case).

The appeal costs for death cases were 21 times greater.

The costs of carrying out (i.e. incarceration and/or execution) a death sentence were about half the costs of carrying out a non-death sentence in a comparable case.

Trials involving a death sentence averaged 34 days, including jury selection; non-death trials averaged about 9 days.
(Performance Audit Report: Costs Incurred for Death Penalty Cases: A K-GOAL Audit of the Department of Corrections) Read DPIC's Summary of the Kansas Cost Report.

Total cost of Indiana's death penalty is 38% greater than the total cost of life without parole sentences
A study by Indiana's Criminal Law Study Commission found this to be true, assuming that 20% of death sentences are overturned and resentenced to life. (Indiana Criminal Law Study Commission, January 10, 2002)


The most comprehensive death penalty study in the country found that the death penalty costs North Carolina $2.16 million more per execution than the a non-death penalty murder case with a sentence of life imprisonment (Duke University, May 1993). On a national basis, these figures translate to an extra cost of over $1 billion spent since 1976 on the death penalty. The study,"The Costs of Processing Murder Cases in North Carolina" is available on line at www-pps.aas.duke.edu/people/faculty/cook/comnc.pdf.


Florida would save $51 million each year by punishing all first-degree murderers with life in prison without parole, according to estimates by the Palm Beach Post. Based on the 44 executions Florida has carried out since 1976, that amounts to an approximate cost of $24 million for each execution. This finding takes into account the relatively few inmates who are actually executed, as well as the time and effort expended on capital defendants who are tried but convicted of a lesser murder charge, and those whose deathe sentences are overturned on appeal. (Palm Beach Post, January 4, 2000)

ON a side note, the Miami Herald found this to be true in terms of the death penalty in Florida
$ Florida spent average of $3.2 million per execution from 1973 to 1988
During that time period, Florida spent an estimated $57 million on the death penalty to achieve 18 executions. (Miami Herald, July 10, 1988)



California spends $90 Million dollars annually above and beyond the ordinary costs of the justice system on capital cases. $78 million of that total is incurred at the trial level (Sacramento Bee, March 18, 1988). In January 2003, despite a budge deficit, California Governor Gray Davis proposed building a new $220 million state of the art death row. (New York Times, January 14, 2003)

Texas death penalty cases cost more than non-capital cases.
That is about three times the cost of imprisoning someone in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years. (Dallas Morning News, March 8, 1992)



I'm not arguing, but if you have a question, I will find the answers. I have looked over web pages for this since yesterday evening. If you want more, I will happily go and find it. (But I do have to buy groceries today so don't sit around being too anxious! :bbmrgreen: )

To me the millions that we waste to execute one criminal would better be spent on proven ways to deter a crime. I ,personally, would like to see more after school programs to keep kids off of the streets, away from gangs, drugs, and bad behavior. More programs getting the poilce into neighborhoods so that they aren't viewed as "the enemy". More anti drug programs (OMG, I just pulled a Nancy Reagan!) More rehabilitation programs. More social welfare programs with better controls in place so that people can actually get help and get on their own two feet in a reasonable amount of time.

[cowboysbride]

I voted yes, and will leave it at that.

[mariaandmanish]

I'm on the fence on this one... I think that killing someone who killed does not make up for the original crime committed. At the same time, though, sometimes it is the only punishment that really fits the crime committed. I think that the problem with innocent people being found guilty is something that has always happened, and unfortunately, will probably always happen, but at least it is less and less often with technology. It's a very touchy subject though, and there is really no right answer. In the end, I believe that "what goes around, comes around." Those who do wrong, will eventually get it back ten fold.

[Kacie_bride]

To me the millions that we waste to execute one criminal would better be spent on proven ways to deter a crime. I ,personally, would like to see more after school programs to keep kids off of the streets, away from gangs, drugs, and bad behavior. More programs getting the poilce into neighborhoods so that they aren't viewed as "the enemy". More anti drug programs (OMG, I just pulled a Nancy Reagan!) More rehabilitation programs. More social welfare programs with better controls in place so that people can actually get help and get on their own two feet in a reasonable amount of time.

Although I disagree with you on your view of the death penalty I do agree that we need more after school programs for kids and some of the other things you mentioned!

I also think that the prisons should have more work programs and education for the inmates who will eventually go out into society again. If they are given skills that could give them a chance to make a decent living then it may deter them from committing another crime again. I know prisons around here teach landscaping, have high school classes, and a select few are taught how to break horses and to assist in breeding programs. I think this is great! I don't know if they do, but I think there should be classes for them to get a cosmetology or barber's license, chef training, and other things things that could help them when they get out.

[LaceyinPgh]

Although I disagree with you on your view of the death penalty I do agree that we need more after school programs for kids and some of the other things you mentioned!

I also think that the prisons should have more work programs and education for the inmates who will eventually go out into society again. If they are given skills that could give them a chance to make a decent living then it may deter them from committing another crime again. I know prisons around here teach landscaping, have high school classes, and a select few are taught how to break horses and to assist in breeding programs. I think this is great! I don't know if they do, but I think there should be classes for them to get a cosmetology or barber's license, chef training, and other things things that could help them when they get out.

It depends on the prison system. But in a lot of major prisons there are high school and college classes offered. They also teach vocational work, have work programs that allow the prisoners to leave the grounds, ect. If they really want to apply themselves and work they can get some credit for it. With the internet I know many prisoners now take high school and college courses to recieve a degree as well. When I was in law school I had a professor approach me about teaching a high school level history/civics in course in the local prison due to my experience in politics. Because of time constraints, I turned it down. (Although not too many people I mentioned it too were overly thrilled about me teaching the course.)

If they have something to do to earn their keep and can find someone who trusts them enough to give them a chance the individual prisoner's chance or relapsing into a life of crime is lower than those who aren't given or do not take those oppurtunities.

It isn't a matter of what is offered. It is matter of breaking the cycle and getting the individual to understand that they in fact have a self worth. They can get away from a life of crime. They can amount to something if they are willing to apply themselves. It is my experience that teaching the individual self worth (speaking from working in a major inner city school district for a time) is more important than threatening them with punishment. If all you have ever know is crime, drugs, violence. Than that is all you know. It takes others to teach you that you can in fact have a life away from that. The gains are not filled as quickly through legitimate work but they are filled more fully and to a more satisfying degree.

[Kacie_bride]

It depends on the prison system. But in a lot of major prisons there are high school and college classes offered. They also teach vocational work, have work programs that allow the prisoners to leave the grounds, ect. If they really want to apply themselves and work they can get some credit for it. With the internet I know many prisoners now take high school and college courses to recieve a degree as well. When I was in law school I had a professor approach me about teaching a high school level history/civics in course in the local prison due to my experience in politics. Because of time constraints, I turned it down. (Although not too many people I mentioned it too were overly thrilled about me teaching the course.)

If they have something to do to earn their keep and can find someone who trusts them enough to give them a chance the individual prisoner's chance or relapsing into a life of crime is lower than those who aren't given or do not take those oppurtunities.

It isn't a matter of what is offered. It is matter of breaking the cycle and getting the individual to understand that they in fact have a self worth. They can get away from a life of crime. They can amount to something if they are willing to apply themselves. It is my experience that teaching the individual self worth (speaking from working in a major inner city school district for a time) is more important than threatening them with punishment. If all you have ever know is crime, drugs, violence. Than that is all you know. It takes others to teach you that you can in fact have a life away from that. The gains are not filled as quickly through legitimate work but they are filled more fully and to a more satisfying degree.

Justin has pondered over applying to teach a high school level landscape development and horticulture class at a prison around here. One of our friend's father works there now and will retire soon. He has thought about applying for the job. He probably will not now since he started this new job that he likes much better than the last one.

[LaceyinPgh]

Justin has pondered over applying to teach a high school level landscape development and horticulture class at a prison around here. One of our friend's father works there now and will retire soon. He has thought about applying for the job. He probably will not now since he started this new job that he likes much better than the last one.
It wouldn't have bothered me to do. I figure if a professor was recomending it to me, than it couldn't be THAT bad of a position. Also, the men didn't have to take the class. It was work that they were taking on in their free time because they wanted a shot at life when they got out. Plus, I would have had at least one guard with me at all times. It had to have been safer than when I was teaching in the city schools. I had all the same delinquents on ly they were required to be there. And, I had no guard watching my back.

[Kacie_bride]

It wouldn't have bothered me to do. I figure if a professor was recomending it to me, than it couldn't be THAT bad of a position. Also, the men didn't have to take the class. It was work that they were taking on in their free time because they wanted a shot at life when they got out. Plus, I would have had at least one guard with me at all times. It had to have been safer than when I was teaching in the city schools. I had all the same delinquents on ly they were required to be there. And, I had no guard watching my back.

I have actually heard that teaching in the prisons in a class is not bad. They say that the inmates in those kind of classes are interested and pay attention and are more respectful than many students in the real world. They are there because they want to be. They enroll in the classes because these are they are the ones who actually care about their future. That is what our friend's dad said about the men in his class.

I also know of a lady who used to be a business teacher in my high school. Her husband got into some legal trouble and was fired from our high school, so she obviously didn't want to take on staying. She began teaching at the prison and she liked it.

[LizabethDavis]

I support it. I'm sorry, I don't think people that kill valuable members of our society should be housed and fed for the rest of their lives.

[racecargirl]

I'm for it. There are some people in this world, such as serial killers, who really really shouldn't be kept alive. Sure sometimes mistakes happen. But hopefully with the technology we have today those mistakes will become few and far between.

[CarlosHoney]

I don't. I don't think that anyone deserves to die, whether they did something awful or not.. Pretty much what Lacey said, but I couldn't just agree with her. I gotta spread some rep. around... ;) Besides, I think that spending the rest of your life in prison is worse than getting executed.