Do you know we share something in common with China, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq and Sudan?

We are in terrible company on this one. You are absolutely correct. On a strictly pragmatic level the death penalty is wrong.

You don't have to sympathize with criminals or want them to avoid terrible punishments for terrible crimes to ask if the death penalty prevents or even reduces crime, to look at alternatives and to think about the risks of executing innocent people. Sources below.

127 people on death rows released with proof that they were wrongfully convicted. DNA, available in less than 10% of all homicides, can’t guarantee we won’t execute innocent people.

The death penalty doesn't prevent others from committing murder. No reliable study shows the death penalty deters others. To deter others a punishment must be sure and swift. The death penalty is neither. Homicide rates are higher in states and regions that have it than in those that don’t.

We have a good alternative, life without parole, on the books in 48 states. It means what it says. It is sure, swift and rarely appealed. Life without parole costs less than the death penalty.

The death penalty costs much more than life in prison, mostly because of the legal process which is supposed to prevent executions of innocent people.

The death penalty isn't reserved for the worst crimes, but for defendants with the worst lawyers. It doesn't apply to people with money. When is the last time a wealthy person was on death row, let alone executed?

The death penalty doesn't necessarily help families of murder victims. Murder victim family members have testified that the drawn-out death penalty process is painful for them and that life without parole is an appropriate alternative.

Problems with speeding up the process. Over 50 of the innocent people released from death row had already served over a decade. Speed up the process and we will execute innocent people.

Estimated deaths from the wars we are in 100,000 to 1,000,000 These were wars of choice Those were wars were we chose to be the judge, jury and executioner. China has not been in a war since the late 70's and even then it only lasted a month and when it was over, they left. How dare you try to compare China to the USA in such a flimsy way. I am against the death penalty, but it is a countries right to set their own laws. It is not a countries right to make war on others unless there is an immediate threat, non of which existed in both our wars. Therefore, for you to say that China has taken the low ground and the USA the high, is not looking at both sides of the coin. PS China only the other day has stated they are revising the law so that less are executed. Peace Jim .

Very interesting. The Charleston County jail was built to hold 662 inmates, there are currently 1600 in population there. They have tried new programs and here are some of the results.

33 y/o male incarcerated for drugs and theft, tries work release program, he does not return to the jail. He stays with a friend, the friends mother and aunt He kills all of them and beheads one, the reason? They wouldn't give him money for drugs.

5 youth full offenders are released and they kill a volunteer policeman, why? They had drugs in the car and it was just a routine traffic stop, they also were part of a theft ring.

5 kids age 17-24, out on probation, steal a car. They speed at 85-100 miles per hour and will not stop, the police throw out stop sticks, the car is disabled, the driver runs into a barbed wire fence. the police search the car, it is a mobile meth lab in the car. The highways are shut down due to the potential of explosion. It takes 40 firefighters, 10 police and hazmat/Coast Guard to decontaminate and contain safety

Like the old program, if you don't have the time, don't do the crime

As a philanthropist (and a moderate hippie), the idea of the death penalty still being in our society is somewhat depressing since we are supposed to be a civilized nation and set an example of an ideal demo/republic society.

But as a realist, the death penalty probably needs to stay in place. We, as Americans, have to consider the fact that our tax dollars go to feeding convicted criminals who (in some cases will spend "400 years in prison"), so we really have to ask ourselves is it better to punish this person and spend a great sum of money to keep them alive, or should we execute them to set an example of intolerance to the most sinister of crimes and create an improved level of efficiency in the prison system.

If we were to enact a greater number of executions, then we could perhaps reduce crime levels by creating a fear mentality, but at the same time, you would be creating a greater probability of sending an innocent to an incorrect death due to an increase in rapid flow executions. It seems most logical keep executions for dollar efficiency and intimidation, but to keep the number of executions under the (approximate) number of 500, which could further keep judges in check from handing out the death penalty like free samples at HEB.

Personally I am for the death penalty - I believe it to be one of society's necessary evils. However, when a felon is sentenced to death - he usually spends 8 - 10 years on death row before the ultimate punishment. This is the ONE aspect of the death penalty I believe to be appalling! We are paying for his punishment twice! This Govt. and those before just cannot get this right! CJ

Whom shall we sympathise with. The victim or the criminal. The capital punishment is a justice delivered, to the solace of the victim's near and dear ones. It has been sanctioned in scriptures. Why to rebel against the wise who passed on the Scriptures through generations to us. What status does an NGO like Amnesty claim over and above the wise of the past. I myself need convincing on this judgement of social values where all the sympathy lie with the criminal.

I like "Chill Before You Spill" too. No, I didn't know our executions were only exceeded by those countries. I saw a stat tonight that said 1 in 100 Americans are in prison. Surely that can't be true!

In capital punishment I think about the lifelong tax-funded feeding, housing and in some cases, entertaining of those who've killed. Yet the execution of those actually innocent, from spotty judicial procedures or planted or faulty DNA is obscene, and in crimes of passion, those who killed out of it might be dangerous to no one else.

There are bad seeds and psychotics who endanger anybody who comes in contact with them. I don't want to house, feed or entertain them, regardless which costs less.

I'm familiar with those nations who still have capital punishment. I also believe that the problem with it in the U.S. which lends itself to a charge of cruel and unusual punishment is the enormous delay between trial sentencing and the carrying out of the sentence. In China, the total elapsed time from trial sentencing to review by their Supreme Court on appeal does not exceed 160 days. In Japan, the death penalty is normally reserved for cases where the victim is in the "koseki-to-hon" (family registry) of the killer. In short, the victim and killer have to be related to each other by blood or marriage. Only Special Criminal Laws, like those used in the Sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway are added on as death penalty cases. Again, the total appeals process from trial to Japanese High Court is usually never more than two years.

In the U.S. we have young killers sent to death row who stay alive long enough to qualify for medicare. That is not only cruel to the condemned person, it is also cruel to the survivors of the killer's victim(s).

As for the use of our tax money, a good deal of that could remain non-appropriated for upkeep of the condemned party for years that stretch into decades.

Now for a few words about Amnesty International. Earlier they were almost livid over the method used by the U.S. to transport illegal combatants from Afghanistan to Guantanamo Bay, railing about the inhumane use of blindfolds, shackles and the like. At the same time they had a link on their web site to a report in the British Medical Journal "Lancet" which recommended a safe way to transport violent criminals. Amnesty International had high praise for the article. That's why they provided the link. Turns out the method recommended by these British doctors was identical to the methods being used by U.S. personnel. Hoist on their own petard!

The real shame is that so many people in our society deserve the punishment they receive, and that so many who deserve it fall though the cracks and are not brought to justice, but go on to commit further crimes. (I have no problem with life sentence in lieu of execution. It is not in my nature to want to kill someone because it is less expensive than incarcerating them. But, there are people who should never be allowed to go free.)

I agree with the Vermont Senator who said, "Perhaps, if we adequately invested in our children and in education, kids who now grow up to be criminals could become productive workers and taxpayers." Earlier this week, the Chicago Tribune reported that over 49 percent of entering freshmen in Chicago schools will not graduate. When half the young people in a community drop out of school, there are consequences in terms of unemployment, public health, gang activity and crime.

And headlines today: 1 in 100 in jail in America! Economy facing ruin. Dollar plunging. Medical, energy, and food cost soaring.

Cheers!