67 Pro Death Penalty Quotes by Writers II



People who claim that sentencing a murderer to "life without the possibility of parole" protects society just as well as the death penalty ignore three things: (1) life without the possibility of parole does not mean life without the possibility of escape or (2) life without the possibility of killing while in prison or (3) life without the possibility of a liberal governor being elected and issuing a pardon.

The never-ending battle of the left to keep people from being held responsible for their acts is now in the U. S. Supreme Court.  The justices are being urged to exempt murderers from the death penalty if they score below some number on the IQ scale.  Psychology and psychiatry are not sciences, though some courts pretend they are.

Sometimes those who oppose capital punishment talk about "the sanctity of human life." The issue of capital punishment comes up only because the murderer has already violated the sanctity of human life. Are we to say that his life has more sanctity than the life or lives he has taken? Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent. - McVeigh and the Death Penalty 18 July 2001 Thomas Sowell

As Adam Smith said, two centuries ago, "Mercy to the guilty is cruelty to the innocent." Those who lost loved ones in the Oklahoma City bombing do not need to spend the rest of their lives having their deep emotional wounds rubbed raw, again and again, by seeing Timothy McVeigh and his lawyers spouting off in the media. McVeigh inflicted more than enough cruelty on them already and they need to begin to heal. - McVeigh and the Death Penalty 18 July 2001 Thomas Sowell

Shabby logic often tries to equate the murderer's act of taking a life with the law's later taking of his life. But physical parallels are not moral parallels. Otherwise, after a bank robber seizes money at gunpoint, the police would be just as wrong to take the money back from him at gunpoint. A woman who used force to fight off a would-be rapist would be just as guilty as he was for using force against her. - McVeigh and the Death Penalty 18 July 2001 Thomas Sowell

Nothing is more universal than the pain of having someone dear to you die, whether or not you witness it. Nor should anyone rejoice at inflicting such pain on someone else. But one of the fatal weaknesses of the political left is its unwillingness to weigh one thing against another. Criminals are not executed for the fun of it. They are executed to deter them from repeating their crime, among other reasons. - McVeigh and the Death Penalty 18 July 2001 Thomas Sowell



It is dogma on the political left that capital punishment does not deter. But it is indisputable that execution deters the murderer who is executed. Nor is this any less significant because it is obvious. There are people who would be alive today if the convicted murderers who killed them had been executed for their previous murders. - McVeigh and the Death Penalty 18 July 2001

Glib phrases about instead having "life in prison without the possibility of parole" are just talk. Murderers kill again in prison. They escape from prison and kill. They are furloughed and kill while on furlough. And there is no such thing as life in prison without the possibility of a liberal governor coming along to pardon them or commute their sentence. That too has happened. - McVeigh and the Death Penalty 18 July 2001

The great fear of people on both sides of the capital punishment debate is making an irretrievable mistake by executing an innocent person. Even the best legal system cannot eliminate human error 100 percent. If there were an option that would prevent any innocent person from dying as a result of our legal system, that option should be taken. But there is no such option. - McVeigh and the Death Penalty 18 July 2001

Letting murderers live has cost, and will continue to cost, the lives of innocent people. The only real question is whether more innocent lives will be lost this way than by executing the murderers, even with the rare mistake -- which we should make as rare as possible -- of executing an innocent person. - McVeigh and the Death Penalty 18 July 2001

As so often in life, there is no real "solution" with a happy ending. There is only a trade-off. Those who cannot bring themselves to face trade-offs in general are of course unable to face this most painful of all trade-offs. But they have no right to consider their hand-wringing as higher morality. People are being murdered while they are wringing their hands. - McVeigh and the Death Penalty 18 July 2001

The general mindset of the political left is similar from country to country and even from century to century.

The softness toward dangerous criminals found in such 18th century writers as William Godwin and Condorcet has its echo today among those who hold protest vigils at the executions of murderers and who complain that we are not being nice enough to the cutthroats imprisoned at Guantanamo. - The Left and crime 23 August 2006

Thomas Sowell (born June 30, 1930) is an American economist, social critic, political commentator and author. He often writes as an advocate of laissez-faire economics, and his political outlook can generally be classified as libertarian. He is currently a senior fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. In 1990, he won the Francis Boyer Award, presented by the American Enterprise Institute. In 2002, Sowell was awarded the National Humanities Medal for prolific scholarship melding history, economics, and political science. In 2003, he was awarded the Bradley Prize for intellectual achievement.

It should be eminently clear that a recurring decision by the political echelon to circumvent due legal process and to grant clemency to murderers and other convicted terrorists will necessarily produce a loss of public faith in the justice system, which is a pillar of any democratic society. [Time to institute the death penalty for terrorists Tuesday 18 October 2011]

A justice system that is courageous enough to prosecute the most powerful is praiseworthy. [Time to institute the death penalty for terrorists Tuesday 18 October 2011]

How can this situation be remedied? How can Israel forestall the loss of public confidence in the sentences that are meted out to terrorists upon the completion of due process? One obvious option is to introduce, in the most extreme cases, the use of the death penalty. Particularly heinous crimes can and perhaps ought to be punished by death, a punishment that cannot be reversed as a result of political pressure. The death penalty ensures that the worst of all criminals are fully and irrevocably punished by the state and that justice has been publicly served. [Time to institute the death penalty for terrorists Tuesday 18 October 2011]

Ultimately, the lengths to which the state and society are prepared to go to save each individual Israeli is something to take pride in. That said, this comes with a cost that is borne by individual Israelis who are the victims of pursuant attacks, and to democratic Israeli society as a whole. One way of mitigating this cumulative damage caused is to begin to instate the death penalty for the most heinous and extraordinary crimes. [Time to institute the death penalty for terrorists Tuesday 18 October 2011]

Jonathan Rosen is a veteran Israeli writer and translator. A novelist, memoirist, editor, and journalist, is the author of the new novel, "Joy Comes in the Morning" (2004), a playful, probing novel about Jewish faith and identity. The novel follows the growth of a romantic relationship between Deborah Green, a Reform rabbi, and Lev Friedman, a science writer and skeptic. Writing in the "New York Times," reviewer Art Winslow said, "Not since E. L. Doctorow's 'City of God' have we seen such a literary effort to plumb the nature of belief- in Jewish-American culture, in Talmudic study, in prayer, in sexual relations, in the very soundness of one's own mind." The "New Yorker" said, "Rosen's touching novel of Jewish manners thoughtfully addresses the question of whether piety can teach us faith." Rosen's first novel was "Eve's Apple" (1997), the story of a young woman's struggle with anorexia. The "New Yorker" called "Eve's Apple," "An impressive debut--a highly original addition to the distinguished line of Jewish-American romances." Writing in the "New York Review of Books," Sue Halpern called it, "A realistic and emotionally complex narrative . . . Intention and desire, love's chaos, sadness that cannot be extinguished--the emotional nuances that Rosen brings to 'Eve's Apple' are haunting." Rosen is also the author of "The Talmud and the Internet" (2000), a family memoir as well as a meditation on Judaism, literature, and technology. In advance praise, Cynthia Ozick said, "Its wisdom is in its mixture of rapture and elegy and honesty and reverence. Its learning leaps into living contemporaneity; it honors father and mother and grandparents; it thinks into both past and future; it shines with beauty and originality." Rosen is the former cultural editor of the English language Jewish weekly, "The Forward," and a frequent contributor to the "New York Times" and the "New Yorker." He currently serves as series editor of the "Jewish Encounters Book Series," a collaboration between Schocken Books and Nextbook.org. The first two books in the series include the short biography, "Maimonides" (2005), by author and physician Sherwin Nuland, and "The Life of David" (2005), a prose biography of the biblical king by former U. S. Poet Laureate Robert Pinsky. Other forthcoming books include Stephen J. Dubner on Moses, Stephen Greenblatt on the city of Vilna, Hillel Halkin on medieval poet Yehuda Halevi, Ben Katchor on kosher dairy restaurants, and David Mamet on Jewish self-hatred and anti-Semitism.

DNA and the end of innocence - DNA is the death penalty's best friend.

Gregg Edmund Easterbrook (born March 3, 1953) is an American writer, lecturer, and a senior editor of The New Republic. His articles have appeared in Slate, The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, Reuters, Wired, and Beliefnet. In addition, he was a fellow at the Brookings Institution, a Washington, D.C. think tank. During the National Football League season, Easterbrook writes a column called Tuesday Morning Quarterback, currently on ESPN.com.

There are some crimes so incontestably heinous that they cast their perpetrators irretrievably beyond the pale of civilisation. The murder of a child and the deliberate mass killing of the innocent exemplify a moral class of acts for which contrition is irrelevant and repentance impossible. (Anders Breivik's monstrous crimes a life-and-death issue August 9, 2011)

It is my view that those who so profoundly succumb to barbarism do not warrant the privileges and protections of enlightened society, and that the commission of such abominations triggers the forfeiture of any right to continued life. (Anders Breivik's monstrous crimes a life-and-death issue August 9, 2011)

There is only one penalty severe and well deserved enough to match the obscenity that was his crime. Anders Breivik should pay for his actions with his life. (Anders Breivik's monstrous crimes a life-and-death issue August 9, 2011)

So if Breivik's guilt is beyond dispute and his sanity is not in serious question, we're returned to the moral question of retributive justice. Does a prison term - even for the entirety of life - constitute adequate punishment for such monstrous wickedness?

My own response to that question is a definitive no. And my negative resolve is strengthened by news of the palatial conditions that await Breivik behind bars. (Anders Breivik's monstrous crimes a life-and-death issue August 9, 2011)

But even if he were consigned to the most brutal of Third World prisons rather than a five-star Norwegian jail, the essential issue would still not be addressed. The question is not one of vengeance, but one of justice. And society should be entitled to make a moral declaration that some acts constitute such unadulterated evil that they warrant the ultimate penalty. (Anders Breivik's monstrous crimes a life-and-death issue August 9, 2011)

Capital punishment also provides finality to the families of those who have been murdered. It prevents them from being twice victimised - once by the original crime and a second time by the sight of their loved ones' murderer walking free. (Anders Breivik's monstrous crimes a life-and-death issue August 9, 2011)

Ted Lapkin has worked as a ministerial advisor to the federal Coalition and as communications director to a senior member of the Republican leadership in the US Congress. His writing has been published by leading newspapers in both Australia and the United States, including The Los Angeles Times, The Australian, The Herald Sun, The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian Financial Review. Ted also featured as a commentator on ABC Lateline, ABC Radio National and SBS.

The death penalty is indeed a decent thing. Answering the monstrosity of the evil among us is our duty as decent people, as justice demands removing those who slaughter the innocent. The indecency is the idea of a justice system without the death penalty, consequently forcing victims’ families to endure the corruption of society coddling the evil that destroyed their lives. [The Decency of the Death Penalty By: Tammy Bruce Tuesday, July 30, 2002 Posted: The Front Page Magazine]

Why do I appreciate the death penalty? It’s pretty simple, really. It gets the scum of the Earth off the face of the planet, making everyone infinitely safer. [The Decency of the Death Penalty By: Tammy Bruce Tuesday, July 30, 2002 Posted: The Front Page Magazine]

Life in prison for murderers, with or without parole is absurd, insulting, and dangerous. People who are murdered are dead. Forever. Their families are forever condemned to missing the person they loved. The victims of murderers have no hope, no future. The families remain, at heart, lost. That’s not the case though for the depraved Manson family, and every other murdering freak of nature who has yet to be executed. [The Decency of the Death Penalty By: Tammy Bruce Tuesday, July 30, 2002 Posted: The Front Page Magazine]

The animals living life in prison or on death row have the pleasure of experiencing emotions, breathing air, eating food, falling in love, having sex. All the things denied to their victims for eternity. Prison is indeed too good, while execution provides at least a dignified and moderately painless way out while making our planet a better place. Taking away prison privileges is also simply not enough. It is the joy of life, the pleasure of living, the most depraved do not deserve. [The Decency of the Death Penalty By: Tammy Bruce Tuesday, July 30, 2002 Posted: The Front Page Magazine]

It is appropriate to deny someone parole based “simply” on the seriousness of their crime. It is even more appropriate to execute the murderously depraved among us. [The Decency of the Death Penalty By: Tammy Bruce Tuesday, July 30, 2002 Posted: The Front Page Magazine]

Tammy Bruce (born August 19, 1962) is an American radio host, author, and political commentator. Her nationally-syndicated talk show, The Tammy Bruce Show, airs live weekdays from 10am-12pm Pacific time online via TalkStreamLive. (A podcast of the show is also available to subscribers at her website). She is a frequent on-air contributor to Fox News Channel, and writes material for the Fox Forum blog. Bruce's website describes her as a "gay, pro-choice, gun owning, pro-death penalty, Tea Party Independent Conservative" who "worked on a number of Democratic campaigns in 1990s, including the 1992 Boxer and Feinstein senate races and the Clinton for President campaign" and "also has a history of supporting Republicans as well, including President Regan, both Presidents Bush and, quite reluctantly, John McCain during the 2008 presidential campaign." In 2003, Bruce was appointed to serve on California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Transition Team after his successful recall election against then-Governor Gray Davis.

The Great Prison Break - "If we design a legal system that will be so generous to the suspect that there is absolutely no possibility of unjustly convicting that one out of ten thousand defendants who, in spite of overwhelming evidence, is really innocent, then we have also designed a legal system that is utterly incapable of convicting the other 9999 about whose guilt there is no mistake."

G. Edward Griffin (born November 7, 1931) is an American film producer, author, and political lecturer.

The Death Penalty Dilemma = “The prudent use of the death penalty can emphasize, as no other penalty can, that malefactors are responsible for their own actions and that the deliberate, willful taking of innocent life is the most abhorrent of all crimes precisely because the right to life is the most precious of all rights.”
CHARLES RICE, Notre Dame Law Professor, The New American, April 4, 1994

Charles Edward Rice (born August 7, 1931) is an American legal scholar, Catholic apologist, and author of several books. He is best known for his career at the Notre Dame Law School at Notre Dame, Indiana. He began teaching there in 1969, and in 2000 earned Professor Emeritus status. He still teaches an elective course called "Morality and the Law" each spring.

Yet, death penalty opponents have never been known for letting the facts get in the way or for worrying about logic. They just continue to scream unfairness, whether it's unfounded cries of racism or unsupported claims that innocent people are being executed. And, they'll continue their false arguments as long as they are aided and abetted by members of the press who are either lazy or gullible (or both), or who possess an agenda.

Brad Zuber who is writing a book about government policies during the 20th Century.
In the case of murder, the death penalty - issued by way of putting the culprit to sleep to then apply the lethal injection - is the time delayed procedure of self-defense as carried out by the representatives of the victim(s) who, at the time of the incident and due to the then existing circumstances, was/were unable to defend itself/themselves from the willful murderous attack.”
Manfred F. Schieder is a writer.

Killers must pay for their crimes - Law enforcement in general approves of the death penalty as a deterrent to murder. In speaking to a high-level administrator in the Orlando Police Department, I received a clear message that Florida law enforcement wants murderers off the street and the death penalty should definitely be a permanent part of the justice system in our state.

Killers must pay for their crimes - The costs of life imprisonment compared to being on death row are sometimes indistinguishable, based on the lingering appeals of the terminal convicts. However, this is a good thing because appropriate DNA tests and other appeals can be used to make certain the prisoner is guilty of the murder.

Killers must pay for their crimes - There are more arguments for the death penalty, but I prefer, as a Christian, to focus on those that are Bible-based:

Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed (Genesis 9:6). And in Romans 13:4, Paul is talking to the Christians in Rome about the authority of the Roman government: But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is Gods servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer.

We must pay the price for our crimes on Earth, but many death-row convicts have repented and been converted to Christianity before their executions.

Susan Zwieg is a lecturer at Brevard Community College and a volunteer mentor for Take Stock in Children. She lives in Cocoa.

Why Loughner deserves the death penalty By Jared Sichel | Section: Jan 21st, 2011 - Even if Loughner only murdered one person at the rally, either Arizona or the federal government would have a moral obligation to execute him. Not because the presence of the death penalty may serve as a deterrent or because society needs to make a statement about the gravity of what Loughner did. It is simply because murderers do not deserve to keep that which they stole and cannot return.

Why Loughner deserves the death penalty By Jared Sichel | Section: Jan 21st, 2011 - If a man steals your car, he must, at a minimum, return the car. If he has his own car and chooses to destroy yours for the fun of it, he must compensate you equally because he irreversibly destroyed your car. Giving up one’s own property works for replaceable property such as cars, but it does not work for human life. Murderers cannot return life to the dead like a thief can replace a car. Therefore, because murder is by its own nature irreversible and a life is inherently irreplaceable, for a murderer to keep his own life while permanently stealing someone else’s innocent one is an immense injustice.

Why Loughner deserves the death penalty By Jared Sichel | Section: Jan 21st, 2011 - The most valid reason for opposing the death penalty in general is that innocents may be executed. Let us buck reality and assume that executing innocents is a potentially widespread problem. In this case, that concern is not applicable. Newspapers, out of journalistic political correctness, may call Loughner the “alleged” killer, but everyone knows with total certainty that Loughner pulled the trigger in Tucson.

Why Loughner deserves the death penalty By Jared Sichel | Section: Jan 21st, 2011 - The frailest argument for opposing Loughner’s execution — and the death penalty in general — is that killing murderers is a hypocritical way to teach that killing innocents is wrong. This position must assert, then, that the value of the killer’s life is comparable to that of his victims.

Jared Sichel is a junior in the Newcomb-Tulane College.

Death Penalty must live on - Unfortunately, every so often a crime leaves a community so shocked and horrified that-despite its cost and controversy-the death penalty remains the only true measure of justice society can provide. Such is the case in the trial Steven Hayes, who was recently found guilty by a Connecticut court for the murders of Jennifer Hawke-Petit, and her two daughters Hayley, 17 and Michaela, 11.

Death Penalty must live on - For all the grief capital punishment causes us, cases like these are the reason why we still have a death penalty in the United States; for when we have to react to the shocking and unthinkable evil of men like Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky. Both Steven Hayes and Joshua Komisarjevsky deserve to die for their crimes. Justice could not possibly be served with anything less.

Thomas Morgan is the Assistant Opinion Editor of SMCCollegian.com is the online edition of The Collegian, the official newspaper of the Associated Students of Saint Mary's College and member of the Associated Collegiate Press. The Collegian is a weekly newspaper with circulation of 1,500 and only prints during time in which school is in session and non-final exam periods. The Collegian is distributed across the Saint Mary's campus.

Jewish World Review June 27, 2000 /24 Sivan, 5760 Attitude toward death penalty gets in the way of facts Executions, guilt, and the facts of the Graham case - PEOPLE WHO WORK in the news media are overwhelmingly opposed to the death penalty, so the nearer we get to any well-publicized execution, the more innocent the perpetrator is apt to look. This often makes it hard to get beyond the attitudes of the press to the actual facts of a capital case.

John Leo (born June 16, 1935) is a writer and a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. He edits Minding the Campus, the Institute's web site on America's universities, and is a contributing editor to the City Journal (New York).

Those who reject capital punishment tend to be noisemakers who are not inflicted with the pain and agony of losing someone in an act of homicide. I suspect these opponents would change their views instantly if their loved ones were brutally murdered, but when it is about other victims -- whether it's 8-year-old Tori Stafford, or those of other previous horrific cases such as the serial killer and rapist, Paul Bernardo; the Shafia family who were convicted of murdering their own daughters and their step mother; or the convicted BC serial killer, Robert Pickton -- opponents of the death penalty unfailing start preaching about mercy and forgiveness because for them, the victim is someone else's family. [Bring Back the Death Penalty for Brutal Murderers Posted: 05/08/2012 9:30 am in The Huffington Post

Keeping brutal murderers behind bars, feeding and educating them with taxpayer's money is an insult to the victims and a mockery to the justice system. [Bring Back the Death Penalty for Brutal Murderers Posted: 05/08/2012 9:30 am in The Huffington Post]

Society must retain the death penalty in order to establish justice, especially for those innocent victims whose lives are so horrifically and unfairly taken. [Bring Back the Death Penalty for Brutal Murderers Posted: 05/08/2012 9:30 am in The Huffington Post]

 

Abubakar Kasim is a freelance writer living in Toronto, Canada.

Sometimes the claim is made that capital punishment is not forgiving or compassionate. It is very compassionate to the 'would be' victims, that often become statistical tragedies due to the will of lenient courts.

Robert Meyer is a hardy soul who hails from the Cheesehead country of the upper midwest. Robert is known by his opponents as a "clever rhetorician" who often exposes the fallacies of knee-jerk arguments presented in local papers. Seeking to develop precepts for every aspect of life — based on a conservative Christian worldview — Robert often gleans inspiration from looking off his back deck, over the scenic Fox river and recalling the wise counsel of those who mentored him. Robert Meyer is a hardy soul who hails from the Cheesehead country of the upper midwest. Robert is known by his opponents as a "clever rhetorician" who often exposes the fallacies of knee-jerk arguments presented in local papers. Seeking to develop precepts for every aspect of life — based on a conservative Christian worldview — Robert often gleans inspiration from looking off his back deck, over the scenic Fox river and recalling the wise counsel of those who mentored him. Robert Meyer is a hardy soul who hails from the Cheesehead country of the upper midwest. Robert is known by his opponents as a "clever rhetorician" who often exposes the fallacies of knee-jerk arguments presented in local papers. Seeking to develop precepts for every aspect of life — based on a conservative Christian worldview — Robert often gleans inspiration from looking off his back deck, over the scenic Fox river and recalling the wise counsel of those who mentored him.

A Conservative Case for Capital Punishment Steve Farrell Friday, March 18, 2005

Since the dawn of creation the law of God to man has been "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." Today we refer to this biblical principle in public law as capital punishment.

Interestingly, regardless of the fact that the death penalty's origin is found in the Bible, every society, religious or not, has adopted the death penalty as a suitable way to deal with murder. There is a good reason for this: The death penalty makes sense.

Think about it. As harsh a sentence as death is, the penalty fits the crime.

1. Murder is a crime for which the victim cannot come back and say, "I refuse to press charges." The victim has no voice.

2. Murder is a crime for which no payment by the criminal will ever fully satisfy the debt incurred. If one robs a store, the captured thief can pay back the debt and, in fact, under biblical law (which is better than today's law) would be tasked to work for the man he robbed until the debt was satisfied seven times the value of the goods stolen. With such a bounteous payback, the thief is then freed and, by his honorable labor, restored to a position of trust.

But a murderer can never bring back life. Thus, no matter how hard he labors, he can never regain society's trust. His victim is dead and will remain dead.

3. The legitimate role of government involves the protection of life, liberty and property. Just as the role of the government is to raise an armed force and rain down deadly force upon a bloodthirsty invading army, so also the government is duty bound to inflict death upon the man who chooses to slaughter fellow citizens in their own backyards.

Few, if any, object to the use of deadly force against an invading army. Yet those invading soldiers, ordered to fight and likely whipped up by propaganda to go into battle, are far less deserving of death than the assailant who has been proven guilty and convicted in a court of law, by a jury of his peers, of shedding the innocent blood of his neighbor – and this of his own free will.

Yet we do and must condone war in such situations. Governments must protect life. This is no less true regarding individual life.

4. Murder eventually revokes the full array of rights of citizenship. Some defend the murderer with the claim that he/she, like anyone else, has certain rights, including the right to life, which can never be taken away. This is true, prior to conviction. In this country we assume a person is innocent until proven guilty.

Therefore, the accused has the same rights in the legal system as anyone else: i.e., the right to know the crime for which one is being charged, the right to a speedy and public trial, the right to counsel, the right to face one's accusers, the right to trial before a jury of one's peers, the right against forced self-incrimination, the right not to be tried twice for the same capital crime (if declared innocent the first time around), and the right to appeal.

But after all this has taken place and the jury proclaims guilt and decrees a sentence and the convicted criminal has exhausted all appeals, his rights as an American citizen ought to end. He freely chose to take the life of a fellow citizen; he must not now be free to avoid the consequences of his heinous choice. If the jury assigns death, his fate ought to be sealed, his right to life terminated.

5. The death penalty is not, as social activist lawyer Clarence Darrow once claimed, "an act of revenge"; it is an act of justice.

Liberals and libertarians have made hay of a few people, once upon a time, driving by a penitentiary in Michigan City, Ind., shouting "Burn, baby, burn!" as a man who raped and strangled a mother and drowned each of her three children one by one was electrocuted.

As to the "burn, baby, burn," let's address a more important issue. Even if the account is true, why do we suppose some people react that way? Could it be that they are bearing testimony to the slayer and to would-be slayers that murder hurts?

Could it be that they are witnessing to the murderer and to those who take murder lightly that murder is a crime not just against an individual but also against all those who loved that individual, all those who depended upon that individual, all those who were and may yet have been influenced by that individual, and all those who fear that a similar act might someday befall them or their loved ones?

Certainly no sane human being pastes on his face a perpetual smile after a family member or fellow citizen has been brutally murdered, nor should he.

Consider the counsel of King Arthur to Sir Lancelot in the movie "First Knight": "A man who doesn't fear anything is a man who loves nothing." Or, with slight adaptation, "A man who has never felt anger has never known love." Or, as founder Thomas Paine reflected on the proper reaction to the deaths, tortures and rapes being inflicted by the British upon America's sons and daughters, brothers and wives, neighbors and countrymen: "He that feels not now is dead."

Love is a very good and strong emotion. When the object of that love is threatened or destroyed, people who possess moral and emotional sense ought to react with equally strong emotion, if not outrage. Nor can anyone fully understand such emotions until they have been there themselves.

And so we wonder, could it be that some activist lawyers and pundits – who don't believe in Judeo-Christian morality anyway – are guilty of intentionally confusing revenge with righteous indignation and true love? One can be angry; one can insist that stiff penalties including death be administered as remedies, without being filled with hatred and vengefulness.

Again from Thomas Paine, regarding America's call to arms against England: "Say not that this is revenge, call it rather the soft resentment of a suffering people, who, having no object in view but the good of all. ..."

Even so, in an imperfect world, a spirit of revenge will exist in the hearts of some victims. Their bitterness, however, does not change the nature of the crime, the proof of the murderer's guilt, nor the necessity for proportional justice. Murder is still murder, regardless of emotion and the imperfections of victims.

6. The justice of the death penalty is strengthened, not weakened, by the advent of new technologies such as DNA testing, which have recently been utilized to more firmly establish guilt or innocence. It does not logically follow that the death penalty should be abolished because such evidence "might" have reversed the fate of some previously put to death. It's too late for that. What's past is past.

7. Racial profiling and rich/poor lawyer success rates are poor excuses to eliminate the death penalty and thus rob justice. That some people inevitably "get off" because of the skill of a lawyer, because of celebrity status, or because of political power does not negate the validity of and necessity for laws and penalties. It should only motivate us to find a way to make these "untouchables" accountable before the law as well. We can't have anarchy.

8. Life imprisonment is a poor, immoral substitute for the death penalty. Such a plan heaps additional punishment upon victims by insisting that they pay for the living expenses, the education expenses, the recreation expenses, the medical expenses of the man who killed their kin. Such a plan is in fact socialism on behalf of butchers.

But even worse, life imprisonment unnecessarily puts at risk prison guards, lesser criminals, survivors, jurists, judges, lawyers, witnesses, family members, little children ... everyone.

Face it, murderers have been known to kill in prison, order a hit on a civilian while in prison, and kill again once they get out of prison. That's why the average murderer on death row has killed three people before finally being put to death.

Further, who can doubt that their murderous attitudes influence other less violent prisoners to adopt similar tendencies when they are set free. Permitting a murderer to live is a paltry example of the so-called "progress of the law." Putting a man to death the first time around is better. It saves lives.

9. The swift use of the death penalty – besides eliminating the possibility of follow-on murders – deters (not eliminates) the commission of murder in the first place. An ancient prophet asked, "Now, if there was no law given – if a man murdered he should die – would he be afraid he would die if he should murder?"

This question won't go away. To assume and/or manipulate statistics in order to say that the death penalty does not deter crime is at best thoughtless and at worst smacks of ulterior motives. The desire for rewards and the avoidance of punishments affect every human being. We spend our entire lives pursuing the one and avoiding the other, to the degree that the law and our native common sense and abilities aid us in that quest.

Just look at the free market. Just look at the influence of religion. Just think about how our driving speed is affected by the presence of a police officer. To claim that the fear of punishment, and such a final punishment, does not deter murder is illogical. Our justice system's failure to swiftly and consistently apply justice – that is, to swiftly and consistently administer the death penalty – is the real deterrence to deterrence.

10. A society that honors the sanctity of life by putting to death those who are destroyers of life is not murderous but Godly. Allies of eliminating the death penalty often flout the religious command "Thou shalt not kill" back in the face of religious folks who advocate the death penalty. This presumptuous and fanatical approach to a command of God certainly misses the mark on the spirit of the command's intent and the command's supporting doctrines.

The Hebrew translation of the same scripture reads "Thou shalt not murder." Murder is defined doctrinally not merely as killing but more precisely as "shedding innocent blood." Putting to death a convicted murderer who has been afforded a fair trial, and who has exhausted every appeal, is not the shedding of innocent blood, and thus is not murder. As already cited at the start of this article, the Father of heaven and earth has also commanded, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed."

In this regard, we read also in Holy Writ, "For a commandment I give, that every man's brother shall preserve the life of man, for in mine own image have I made man." And then again, "Ye shall defend your families even unto bloodshed." Likewise, "[Defend your] lands, [your] country, [your] rights, and [your] religion" even unto death.

Therefore, when "Thou shalt not murder" is placed right smack in the middle of the big picture – as all religious principles ought to be – we realize that the commandment incorporates the inalienable right to self-defense and the moral duty to protect the lives of those within our jurisdiction as parents, neighbors, citizens and/or officers of the law.

Again, Thomas Paine persuades:

"My own line of reasoning is to myself as straight and clear as a ray of light. Not all the treasures of the world, so far as I believe, could have induced me to support an offensive war, for I think it murder; but if a thief breaks into my house, burns and destroys my property, and kills or threatens to kill me, or those that are in it, and to 'bind me in all cases whatsoever' to his absolute will, am I to suffer it? What signifies it to me, whether he who does it is a king or a common man; my countryman or not my countryman; whether it be done by an individual villain, or an army of them? If we reason to the root of things we shall find no difference; neither can any just cause be assigned why we should punish in the one case and pardon in the other."

The punishment that common moral sense signified was death to the villain or villains. Paine reminds those who would shrink at such a high moral duty: "[T]he blood of his children will curse his cowardice."

11. Finally, I address a question already alluded to but taken to an even greater extreme by a June 2000 National Review feature article, "The Problem With the Chair: A Conservative Case Against Capital Punishment." The question was asked: "If a democratic society executes criminals with the foreknowledge that some percentage of them are innocent, are all members of that society implicitly guilty of murder themselves?"

This off-the-mark, self righteous and insulting question, nevertheless, deserves a frank answer. God is more just and merciful than that. It seems best to trust, as did our forefathers, that if we do the absolute best we can to uphold the laws of God and man, He will judge us by the intent of our hearts in those areas where we may have remotely failed.

It is He who established the law for the death penalty. His law is good. To abolish His just and compassionate law in defense of criminals fairly tried and fairly convicted defies common sense and strikes a legal blow at the laws and justice of God, whose laws are at the root of the American judicial system.

Steve Farrell is associate professor of political economy at George Wythe College, press agent for Defend Marriage (a project of United Families International), and the author of the highly praised, inspirational novel "Dark Rose"

Why Illinois Shouldn't Have Abolished the Death Penalty Rachel Krech Rachel Krech Fri Mar 11, 3:31 pm ET - Gov. Quinn's main reason for abolishing capital punishment is that innocent men are being executed in our legal system, such as in the case of 20 different instances. This doesn't seem to be a problem with capital punishment but with our flawed legal system. Ending the death penalty won't automatically fix any problems with our legal system that are condemning innocent men. Unless we address that issue, we will still be convicting innocent people at the same rate, maybe even higher, since there isn't the worry about killing someone who may potentially be innocent. Most executed people are proved innocent through retesting DNA evidence and assessing other surfaced evidence; if more careful and intricate measures were put in practice the first time around, there would be fewer innocent people being convicted.

Why Illinois Shouldn't Have Abolished the Death Penalty Rachel Krech Rachel Krech Fri Mar 11, 3:31 pm ET - Although many anti-capital punishment advocates claim that even innocent people who are convicted of murders and put on life without parole still have a chance at being released at some point, there is often decreased interest in pursuing further evidence for proving that person innocent since they won't be executed anyway. Additionally, most innocent imprisoned people have their own criminal records, which can in part contribute largely to their wrongful conviction anyway. This too can contribute to decreased interest in proving inmates innocent. Also, there is still a possibility that an innocent person would never be found innocent and would rot away in prison.

Why Illinois Shouldn't Have Abolished the Death Penalty Rachel Krech Rachel Krech Fri Mar 11, 3:31 pm ET - Finally, the cost to taxpayers in capital punishment cases is often cited as another reason to abolish the practice since the sentence can be appealed. However, many life without parole sentences are appealed as well and those costs can add up too. Usually the costs between both sentences aren't black and white as many advocates make them out to be.

Rachel Krech provides an in-depth look at current environmental issues and local Chicago news stories. As a college student from the Chicago suburbs pursuing two science degrees, she applies her knowledge and passion to both topics to garner further public awareness.

Alleged innocence is just a convenient propaganda tool irrelevant to the true objective. Abolitionists do not oppose the death penalty for fear of executing the innocent. They oppose executing the guilty, period. Hence, they fear seeking the truth, lest it limit endless duplicative litigation to drag out any case – regardless of savagery and number of murders committed, recidivism, and overwhelming weight of evidence. (The Modern Elite Ruling Class Notion of Justice: Cruel and Unusual Punishment of Victims May 19, 2011)

Death penalty opponents endlessly moralize that "no civilized society can execute human beings."  But how can a society that considers itself civilized tolerate being governed by power-abusing officials who confer on the most violent and depraved, precisely because they are the most violent and depraved, the right to commit additional murders and other barbaric crimes without fear of any punishment at all? (Crime Without Punishment January 4, 2012)

How "civilized" is a society that places so little value on the lives of the innocents that it sacrifices them on the altar of preserving what it deems the precious lives of convicted barbaric murderers? (Crime Without Punishment January 4, 2012)

At bottom, fellow inmate murders are part of a larger problem.

Murderer advocates have created a constitutional right, exclusively for the most violent and depraved, precisely because they are the most violent and depraved, to commit additional barbaric crimes (including murders of prison guards and rapes), without fear of any punishment whatsoever. [Commented on Hawaii Prison Murder, Part II |Bill Otis Posted: Crime and Consequences Blog by CJLF]

It is crystal clear that “abolitionists” hold the lives of murderers to be sacred while simultaneously manifesting complete contempt for innocent victims. [Commented on Hawaii Prison Murder, Part II |Bill Otis Posted: Crime and Consequences Blog by CJLF]

Lester Jackson has written articles showing how the media has enabled the Supreme Court to undermine the death penalty. He views mainstream media misrepresentation and suppression of the truth as essential to harmful judicial activism. A former college teacher, he has a Ph.D. in Political Science.

Letter: Capital punishment as a preventative

Posted Nov 28, 2010 @ 12:03 AM

I have a thought concerning capital punishment: Let's put the horse before the cart and eliminate all murders, then we can eliminate capital punishment.  Oh, wait a minute — that's the arrangement now.

If no murder is committed then capital punishment is not accorded. Just a reminder: Diann Hoagland was murdered in August 2010, allegedly by Mark Pryer. In November 1984, Pryer was convicted of the 1982 slayings of David and Mary Davidson.

If prosecutors are correct, the second murder would not have occurred if capital punishment had been carried out the first time around.

Robert L. Clemens a writer in the State Journal Register.