A short but potent opinion post at Dallasnews.com (the comments are definitely worth a read, too):
When comparing murder rates in Texas against states that do not have the death penalty, it becomes obvious the death penalty is no more a deterrent than mandatory life sentences. Capital punishment simply makes no sense, and it's time for our country to join the rest of the civilized world and abolish it.Technorati Tags: death penalty, texas, dallas, capital punishment, crime, law, prison, innocence, dna testing, wrongful conviction
Read more: OPINION Blog | The Dallas Morning News
The 2007 murder rates for Texas and Massachusetts are 5.9 and 2.9 respectively, an indication that the people of Massachusetts, which currently does not use capital punishment, are only half as likely to be murdered as residents of Texas, which on its own executes more people than the rest of the states combined.
ReplyDeleteThanks for that info!
ReplyDeleteI'm no psychologist, but I can't help but think that state-approved killing dimishes the value society places on life.
ReplyDeleteSome will see the state's use of capital punishment as justification for other types of killing.
I realize that many sincerely argue in favor of capital punishment from an ideological position they hold. The empirical data, however, show that the consequences of these vengeful ideologies make all of us less safe.