Tell me exactly what forms of violence results from using the death penalty?

Please, correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand the rates of violent crimes committed by those who have been executed on death row has always been very minimal.

Sure, I know, what an insulting comment, right? Well it's no more insulting than the comments made by anti-death penalty activists who talk to people like five-year-olds. Phrases like:

"Two wrongs don't make a right."

"If you kill that murderer, the people they murdered won't come back."

"If you support the death penalty, you're just as guilty of murder as the people on death row."

And of course, my personal favorite:

"The death penalty offends the French."

So if someone kills someone else, you think that person should live in jail or prisons for the rest of their life at taxpayers expenses, or that they should be free? How do family and friends of the victim feel when their taxes are feeding and clothing and providing shelter for the person who killed their loved one?

Government should not have the power to kill its own citizens. Why shouldn't government have that power? For every dog-gone reason you can think of. Government errs. Government is not always competent. Juries err. Juries are not always competent. 'nough said.

put all murderers on a deserted island and let them live amongst themsekves?

Evil people should be removed from our world. It is just as proper to kill evil people in America as the killing of evil people in Iraq.

My problem with the death penalty is that it is sometimes too lenient for the crimes commited.

However, if our law enforcement executes an inocent person, it is the same as murdrer.

With America leading the way in number of incarcerated citizens, its obvious that the death penalty does not deter crime.

Perhaps that is because we have made it a private affair, deep within the bowels of the prison, with a few eye witnesses and a paragraph on page 6.

Carrying out the death penalty on the courthouse lawn, might deter some crime.

There is a difference between killing for personal gain or pleasure and killing to protect society and the innocent. Some people can't seem to see the difference.

Oh here we go, the bleeding hearts are bothered about offending and not being nice enough to the darkest of Criminals. This is what you get from people who are more concerned about criminals then they are about victims. Same people who are more concerned with coddling terrorists then making a true all out effort in a war against terrorism. Hmmmm is exactly right on this subject. We should be increasing the implementation of the death penalty, not backing away from it. Then it may really become a deterrent as well as punishment. In the words of the comedian Ron White, we should be building an "express way" for getting these types of criminals into completion of their death sentence.

Dennis Kostecki of Mammoth Lakes, California writes a lot of "clever" little letters to the editor, but he doesn't offer solutions to society's problems.

Anyone can point a finger and say, "We've got a problem", but few can say, "We've got a problem, and here's the solution."

Rehabilitation does not work for crimes that merit the death penalty.

Restitution is not possible.

The family of the victim still has to deal with the horror of the crime and watch the criminal sit safely in his cell, fed and clothed, and pampered like a prize dog.

The victim's rights supersede the criminal's rights. Since restitution is not possible and rehabilitation does not work, the death penalty is a just and equitable method of dealing with the problem.

To drastically reduce the number of incarcerated in our prisons: stop the ludicrous war on drugs. The majority of our "criminals" are in due to drug-related charges. The government sponsored the worst of the drug culture in our country by their tactics to raise money to finance arms deals and rebellions in other countries. Decriminalize users. Make drugs legal, tax them, control them. Use the tax monies to fund rehab for those that need it. Bring the drug trade into the open market.

1. Abolish the death penalty, as have most first world countries.

2. Enjoy the cost savings of Life Without Parole

3. Never again execute an innocent person.

4. Abide by "Thou Shall Not Kill" and "Justice Shall Be Mine"

Are you serious?....We should use the death penalty more in the USA. The death penalty would be a greater deterrent from crime if used more widely. We should also have public executions, where would be criminals can see what can and will happen to them. I say bring back the gallows and firing squads....

Seems to me we've heard the blood-thirsty, violent cry of "KILL 'EM ALL - LET GOD SORT 'EM OUT!"
before in our society.

May God have mercy on these sad neocons' souls - they clearly know NOT what they do.

With long drawn out court cases,

People getting off for almost anything mistake a policeman or any law inforcement officer makes,

lawyers getting people off with anything a lawyer can come up with,

all the modern criminal science and DNA testing,

years of appeals on death row,

I think it is virtually impossible for an innocent erson to be put death these days.

And there is NO actual or real evidence of any innocent man or women being put to death,

except in the movies.

IF we truly value life or believe it has any worth, a victims life, then the death penalty must always be an ultimate option.

There is only one reason and one reason only why any person in a civilized society would want anything to do with the barbaric taking of a life and justifying it.

In two words:
Blood Atonement

Shame on those who embrace this totally unChristian philosphy.

I did some work with criminals in a maximum security facility in Hull, England. It is true that the death penalty has been abolished in most of Europe supposedly without the possibility of legalizing it ever again.
However, every inmate of whom I asked an opinion of the death penalty said absolutely it should be reinstated. In so many words, it would have been more merciful to be put to death than to live on with the memory of what they did.
Just the feeling of those who are in that position.

The death penalty is NOT un-Christian. On the cross, Christ did not demand or even suggest that He or the two with whom he was crucified be excused or that their sentence be commuted to life in prison.

To one thief He said, "Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise."

And then the sentence was carried out for Jesus Christ, who was neither a criminal nor had he ever broken any law, and for two thieves who had been sentenced to death for their crimes.

Surely, if Christ felt that the death penalty was unjust, He would have said something at that very moment. Even given the fact that He was being slain for the sins of the world, if He was against the death penalty for the two thieves, surely He would have used that opportunity to voice that opinion.

He said nothing at all about that penalty, even given the fact that dying on the cross took hours and sometimes days - instead of being a quick injection as it is done today.

Violence always begets more violence.
And the death penalty is as violent as it gets.
How incredibly uncivilized and barbaric can our society get?
A totally senseless act of violence and the early stages of the downfall of Man.

murder... there is a big difference between murdering someone and killing someone. Ever read any Old Testament?
Only sick,Godless societies abolish the death penalty. I believe that if the death penalty were used more liberally these days we would have a much safer society.
"Let's be like those smart, civilized Europeans"- What a bunch of rubbish. Let's be like a bunch of overtaxed, overworked sissies in Europe who are so far gone that they can't even defend their nations without the US or even provide for their families the very basics like healthcare without Government help. England has a camera on every corner to monitor the citizenry and their property crime rates are out of sight.

Who says they won't have memory awhat they did after they die.

The only real differences is they may be in worse place when they are dead.

Can you really trust what a convict says?

Anyone in their situation is scared to death of death. And will say anything to stay alive.

the outspoken hatred spewed from the bowels of this pathetic person for ... just about everyone, is chilling and unfortunately a growing hard-hearted trend in today's conservative America.

A truly dark and evil force is hatred.

All we are doing is exacting a revenge. Is that what we want to teach? That iy is ok for us to be violent if we need to exact revenge? That is not what Jesus taught. Remember turn the other cheek. I think we are teaching our children that it is OK to get back at someone if you feel that they have harmed you.

You don't have to be a doctor to know when the death penalty is used, it's because a very serious and gruesome crime was committed, with the loss of another human life. As far as I am concerned, once a criminal takes a life, they have taken that victims right to live away, making the criminals rights null and void. Can convicts change? Yes. But how often does that occur? Not often enough. The death penalty should stay as a reminder to all criminals of the potential consequence of very serious crimes against their fellow human beings.