why do we keep 100% guilty criminals on death row for so long?
608736
It is all due to appeals, which wind their way through both state and federal courts, all the way to the Supreme Court.  Then there are the motions for reconsideration, motions to file new evidence, and all of the resulting appeals and judicial reviews.\n\nAs a Canadian, I have never figured out the American judicial system, with its two (state and federal) tracks, interlocutory appeals upon interlocutory appeals, etc.  We haven't had capital punishment in decades, but back then our system didn't allow all of these interlocutory appeals at various stages.  The Court of Appeal would hear one appeal after everything was done at the trial level.  After the Court of Appeal was finished with it, it would proceed to a retrial or to the Supreme Court.  If the Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal, then it would hear the appeal and make its decision.  If the death sentence were upheld, the Prime Minister and his cabinet would make a decision on whether to commute the sentence.  Generally, that was it.  No eleventh hour calls to the Supreme Court.  A couple of times, the Minister of Justice asked for a new reference before the Supreme Court (Coffin and Truscott), but that was it.  And it never took 20, or even 5 years.\n\nI suppose that this was partially due to the fact that, even back then, there were significantly less death sentences handed out in Canada compared to the U.S.
1153874
I have no objection to capitol punishment.  I agree that if the criminal is truly guilty, beyond a shadow of doubt, then by all means, eliminate him from society in the most expeditious manner available!\n\nUnfortunately, the modern US legal system isn't perfect.  There have been several cases in the past where a person convicted of a crime and sentenced to death has later been proved innocent of that crime.  \n\nWould you want to be the one who pushes the button on an innocent man?
600447
Yes, for 2 reasons - they made their choice when they took a life & why should we as taxpayers pay to fed, clothe, educate & guard life sentence criminals.\nIn our state it is rarely given - must be cruel - like all murder is not cruel. Murderers forfeit their right to live.\nMy brother was murdered while buying a gallon of milk during robbery. They got the death penalty but it was overturned & they get out this year his 3 children are not even out of college yet. They grew up without him.
596695
It is only to assuage our own guilt that they are given a last meal. In reality we are no better off than the killers themselves if we have to resort to dealing death in retribution. think about this, how is killing different for the legal system? What are the alternatives to the death penalty? Why are we not using and advertising their usage more?---It really makes you wonder about the cruelty and the overall lack of compassion in our societies judicial system.--"You kill someone in the state of Texas, We'll kill you back" Ron White--\n--Food for Thought--
625857
Pro capital punishment, I just think they shouldn't stay on death row for 12 years... yes, a few innocents may have been put to death, but thousands of lives have been saved.\n\nIf life in a cell was worse than death then most criminals wouldn't fight the death penalty ;)  Most do even after 10 or more years on death row...
255002
Considering how long people sit on death row, it is probably not too far fetched to suggest that old age is the way most of them do go. Given a choice I would prefer not to go from old age. The gas chamber sounds like a nice way. \n\nActually, I always wondered why there is so much carrying on about the means of execution. For hundreds of years, hanging was good enough. Now for some reason it is frowned upon. I wonder how much the governments could collect by having nice public hangings and charging admission--say $25. Hold the hangings in the football stadiums. 100,000 attendance at $25 would be $2.5 million plus refreshments and souvenirs. There are probably enough people on death row that they could have events every week. Maybe even a double header. Maybe ABC would even like to buy the rights, another $50 million. They could drag the event out for an hour easily having a pre-execution interview with the condemned, interviews with the survivors of the victims, a review of the crimes committed. \n\nI am sort of surprised that no one has been promoting this.
1174324
i think death row is good the prisons have become too leniant
1148421
I don't believe in capital punishment.  I think it's a much greater punishment to let a criminal rot in hellish prisons for endless years.  It's in no way a deterent for capital crimes.
639960
In a nutshell:\n\nPros: Helps to eliminate murderers/rapists/pedophiles. Reduces population of multiple time losers in prisons rather than rewarding them with a lifetime of free food and shelter paid for by the taxpayers. Reduces need for taxpayer-funded "rehabilitation programs" where the offender is "rehabilitated", then released to kill/rape again. Improves the gene pool. Serves as a deterrent to future criminals (and yes, it does work in other countries despite what a previous poster said, and there are statistics to back it up).\n\nCons: None except the huge supply of scum who deserve it. Occasionally an "innocent" person is put to death; but historically in the US the number of cases like that is very small, less than 1/10 of 1 percent...and with improved DNA technology this number is fast approaching zero. I put the word "innocent" in quotes because as a rule, if you are in the system, you aren't totally innocent... even if you aren't necessarily guilty of murder. Let's say the guy didn't KILL the kid, he just participated in the torture and rape part. If he's 'mistakenly' put to death don't you think he got what he deserved anyway? \n\nEven though there will always be some idiot out there willing to see if he can "get away with it", capital punishment is the single most effective crime deterrent available, despite what bleeding-heart liberals might think.\nIt is a proven fact that for every rehabilitation success story, which the liberal media glorifies at every turn, there are 1000 failures where the offender repeats the crime. Offering someone life in prison in today's justice system means offering them a life of free food, shelter, medical care, education, and the ever-present chance to escape and do it again. The death penalty insures without a doubt that they'll never do it again. Enough said.
194962
No, it is a good thing.  It is much better than giving them a lifetime of freebies.  The law-abiding have to pay for their food, clothes, medical care, everything they need.  Why should a murderer get all that, and in a lot of cases even more, free for life?\n\nAs for what the families of the condemned "go through" too bad!  Did the killer think about what the victim's family will go through?  The killer made a decision to murder.  The victim's family has to live with that decision. The murder victim had to die a horrible death, the killer gets a nice, peaceful one. The killer gets to say his "tender goodbyee" to his family and gets a last meal before being turned off.  Has any murder victim ever been given a chance to say goodby to their families?  Or a last meal?  I highly doubt it.\n\nAnd at least with the death penalty, that ensures 1000% that that killer will never do it again.\n\nEdit - chris42050:  So, you think the murderer should get to live his life, getting to have visits from his family, (does the murder victim's family get to visit a live person?  Or look at a cold tombstone?) getting to lounge around all day, getting free food, free clothes, free medical and dental care, free cable, free internet, etc?  And you cannot even compare the "suffering" of the murderer's family to the suffering of the victim's family. As I said, at least the murderer's family gets a chance to say "goodby" while the murderer is still alive. Keep in mind the muderer made a decision. The bottom line is I care more about the victims than the criminals.  And maybe if life in prison was truly a punishment, without all the frills I would feel different, but the cry-for-the-criminals liberals would never have it be that way.\n\nAnd as a side note - I have seen on the news plenty of times when an animal is vicious, it is put down.  So, if a human is vicious, the same should be done to them.
307891
You can look at it 2 ways....not enough or too many.  But what difference does it make if nothing realistically happens to them on death row since they sit there for 20+ years not having to worry about the crime, their victims or their victims family, room, board, etc.  I think there are way too many appeals given, I mean come on 20+ years of appeals.
7143
I think the broken part of the system is the endless appeals cycle.  The fact that someone on death row actually has a smaller annual chance of dying than the average inner city youth (I got that tidbit from Freakonomics if I remember correctly) seems wasteful to me.\n\nBut at the same time, we're not running the Tower of London here.  I think, in a perfect world, we would establish a system with a limited set of appeals or appeal conditions (really new evidence not "judge roulette") and when a case is beyond a shadow of a doubt, the swiftest possible justice should be applied.  As long as you're under the shadow of doubt though, we need to treat incarcerated citizens with full human dignity.
231255
Most prison system have time reduction for good behavior.  This gives an incentive for inmates to be good and saves the state money on keeping the inmate for the full term.
348109
You want to plagiarize to prove your point. Haven't you got any point of view of your own? This is a debate !!! It should reflect your views. Hahaha. \n\nYou should go a step ahead. One of the liberals spoke about banning life imprisonment and suggesting it to be maximum of 4 years. And one spoke about granting more rights to serial killers. Way to go!
490858
It amazes me in America, a country built on the foundation of Christianity, that we condone state sanctioned murder.  No matter a person's belief, the only person who has the right to take a life is God, Allah or whatever you may call him or her.  \n\nIf we are talking about punishment, life in prison is no cakewalk it's severe punishment.  If we are talking about costs, it costs LESS to house an inmate in prison for life than to put him or her on death row.  The appeals process is so costly and the person remains on death row for so long, that it costs the tax payers more to kill someone than to send them to prison for life.  Often times, when an inmate is murdered via state sanction, they are not even the same person they were when the committed the crime.  You have folks being "put to death" 20 years after they committed the crime. So the state is then murdering someone who is no longer the person who committed the crime...umm the point of that is WHAT?  \n\nAnd finally, the death penalty does not deter crime.  Low life murders don't stop murdering because they know they can get the DP.  Crime rates don't decrease because of the DP.  And if you are going to get a low life off other streets and they are sitting in prison for 20 years before getting iced, then just let em rot in prison. I am just glad that I ain't the one who has to pull the switch. I would never be able to sleep at night.
497402
There was a man here in Texas that spent 14 years on death row for rape and murder of a teenage girl at a volleyball tournament. He was released after 14 years for wrongful conviction. I don't think that the state paid anything to him for those 14 years. In fact, after they released him, they picked him up again for failure to pay child support while he was in the state penitentiary. His family spent everything that they had for appeals and finally there were a couple of attorneys who donated their time to his cause.
155732
It's funny that they sentence the criminals for a set time and then commit them because they think they can't be rehabilitated. Maybe they should not have been put in prison in the first place. \n\nI wonder why they let violent criminals out after they finish their sentence.