Is capital punishment a 'national shame'?

We should end capital punishment. Perhaps the foremost reason is because there are too many cases in which an innocent person gets convicted. Putting to death even one "by accident" is one too many. The second reason is because handling death sentences is far to costly. There are numerous appeals and it has been shown in the past, that overall costs of all of these appeals is much higher than supporting the criminal in a life sentence. I'll admit, when I was younger I voted for capital punishment but I don't believe it is worth it. I don't believe it curbs crime.

If the debate is going to about capital punishment then why is this individual's picture attached?

"In other words" Ms. Boyles could have provided subscribers instead a picture of her recently burglerized home where property was removed while she enjoyed the luck of absence. It would be a personal reminder of how precious are our lives and the homes which we work like slaves to keep; and how the invasion into our residences and our minds by cowards, who would should we accidentally present, irreversibly harm or murder our families at the drop of a hat, be most appropriately eliminated according to law of the land.

Going to have to disagree with you on this Kim. My problem with the death penalty is that there are to many appeals and it is not used soon enough. I have not seen very many people on death row found to be innocent. I can't even recall one, although I am not saying there has not been.

Actually, capital punishment should be used--seldom is now and used within six months of conviction. Put an investigator and defense attorney on each case and if nothing new is found to point to a new trial, execute the criminal. If prosecutors/police are found to have violated the law intentionally, lock them up for life. Let's have SOME accountability in this country and state. Also vacate the false sentiment on cruel and unusual punishment. The only individuals who face capital punishment have committed heinous crimes. There can be few things for them that are cruel or unusual. We even coddle these people to no end.

Well Jim, we do agree on one thing there are two many appeals and they cost a bunch.

I took these following tidbits from http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/costs. If accurate, that is good enough reason for me to end the death penalty.

“The additional cost of confining an inmate to death row, as compared to the maximum security prisons where those sentenced to life without possibility of parole ordinarily serve their sentences, is $90,000 per year per inmate. With California’s current death row population of 670, that accounts for $63.3 million annually.”

A new study released by the Urban Institute on March 6, 2008 forecasted that the lifetime expenses of capitally-prosecuted cases since 1978 will cost Maryland taxpayers $186 million. That translates into at least $37.2 million for each of the state’s five executions since the state reenacted the death penalty. The study estimates that the average cost to Maryland taxpayers for reaching a single death sentence is $3 million - $1.9 million more than the cost of a non-death penalty case. (This includes investigation, trial, appeals, and incarceration costs.) The study examined 162 capital cases that were prosecuted between 1978 and 1999 and found that those cases will cost $186 million more than what those cases would have cost had the death penalty not existed as a punishment.

I found these excerpts as well. I can't verify with certainty their accuracy but it gives me enough doubt that makes me believe capital punishment is not worth the cost.

Or we could do it the old way... kill em all and let God sort them out.... just kidding.

“Charges were dropped this week against a Louisiana man who spent nearly five years on death row for a crime he did not commit, making him the 115th former death row inmate in the United States to be freed due to actual innocence.”

“On April 8, 2002, Ray Krone was released from prison in Arizona after DNA evidence proved that he was not responsible for the 1991 murder of a Phoenix bartender. Krone became the 100th person exonerated and released from death row since 1973. Convicted twice for a brutal murder, Krone spent ten years in prison, two of them on death row. The DNA evidence that ultimately proved his innocence also implicated the real murderer. Unfortunately, Ray Krone's story is not unique. As of February 2004, 113 inmates had been found innocent and released from death row. More than half of these have been released in the last 10 years. That means one person has been exonerated for every eight people executed.”

“A study by Columbia University professor James Liebman examined thousands of capital sentences that had been reviewed by courts in 34 states from 1973 to 1995. ""An astonishing 82 percent of death row inmates did not deserve to receive the death penalty,"" he said in his conclusion. ""One in twenty death row inmates is later found not guilty."" The vast majority of those exonerated were found innocent because someone came forward to confess committing the crime; key witness testimony was found to be illegitimate; or new evidence was found to support innocence.”

The question posed by Lisa Maria Boyles, "Is it time for the US to join many other nations around the world that have abandoned this practice?" is easily answered. The answer is "No". Simply because other nations have abandoned this practice is not sufficient reason to abandon it in the US. First, we might be able to better assess the effectiveness/ lack of effectiveness if we actually had a functioning death penalty. The endless appeals nearly guarantees that many sentenced to death will die of old age on death row before meeting the executioner. Second, there is a legitimate role for punishment in our criminal system- an unpopular but valid reason for the death penalty. In the few cases where the death sentence is made, the evidence is almost always so overwhelming that twelve people (and a judge)unanimously concur that it is appropriate.

Here's a few other things that other nations do:

1. Transport goods and people by horse drawn cart
2. Enslave women and treat them as property
3. Confiscate 50%+ of their citizens' wealth to pay for wrong-headed social programs
4. Create a monarchy to rule the lives of the citizenry

Shall we adopt these too? After all, other nations do this.

'We should end capital punishment. Perhaps the foremost reason is because there are too many cases in which an innocent person gets convicted. Putting to death even one "by accident" is one too many."

Kim Tanksley, without maudlin or misguided sentimentality, put the issue into perspective. See below:

'I now favor a moratorium, because I have grave concerns about our state's shameful record of convicting innocent people and putting them on death row," Governor Ryan said. "And, I believe, many Illinois residents now feel that same deep reservation. I cannot support a system, which, in its administration, has proven to be so fraught with error and has come so close to the ultimate nightmare, the state's taking of innocent life. Thirteen people have been found to have been wrongfully convicted."
(Governor Ryan Of Illinois)

The best to my knowledge, it is the State of Texas which seems to execute on a conveyor belt.... as long as a jury says guilty.

If the people of Texas don't think they can get a fair trial, then why do they remain there? Have you ever heard a Texan wonder why California justice is superior to theirs? I have not, on the contrary.

Inversely, I would like to know why Obama left Ilinois with such an injustice unaddressed? Wasn't it morally wrong for him to turn his back on all the innocent inmates of that state? What work, what change could have been more important to him in his life? The work of Barney Frank and Chris Dodd? The removal of the capitalist economic base of America, along with the deformation of its world class healthcare system? Wouldn't he have been wasting precious skills saving innocent lives? Perhaps he knew that ultimately they would prosper as freemen, and have rebelled in the new nation he would lord over. Maybe he knew that they came to understand what loss of liberty really means, while they waited for him to act on their innocence. That once free he could no longer control them either to further any of his agenda.

"I was once burglarized, I with be happy the give you a picture of that residence for your use,..."

Lisa do you understand that stewed to the gills Pidgin English?

While DNA Technology has advanced a great deal in the past few years I believe any case that has evidence that can be teasted should be done now or redone. This should be a mandatory thing done in the first appeal. Deathrow is basically the same as life in prison because they are often there until they die of natural causes anyway. I believe in the death penalty but it needs to advance with the times and be a quicker process. If they knew the death penalty was a max of 1-2 yrs of appeals instead of 20 that might curb crime a bit. Letting them out because they are ill is ridiculous like the Scotland terrorist knows hes gonna die soon anyway so what would keep him from a huge suicide attack.

Maybe it's time to come up with something more effective than the "Death Penalty".Compared to those that have been convicted wrongly...way too many are getting away with murder.They are outliving the victim's family and increasing their survival rate by being on "Death Row" in California.