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To: Solon who wrote (3686)	3/20/2002 1:19:29 PM
From: one_less	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21057

I really like Ryan's statement. It had something to do with turning my position to anti-death penalty. "I cannot support a system which, in its administration, has proven so fraught with error and has come so close to the ultimate nightmare, the state's taking of innocent life... Until I can be sure that everyone sentenced to death in Illinois is truly guilty, until I can be sure with moral certainty that no innocent man or woman is facing a lethal injection, no one will meet that fate." However the rest of the statistics are fairly meaningless to me. I expect to die. I consider that a positive outcome to having lived. I hope and pray that I will make it to that eventuality able to claim a live that was worth living. I am sad for persons like Andrea Yates who must go on living a life that is so irreparably traumatized. When you mention that there are, "Currently, about 3,565 prisoners reside on death row." ....It becomes painfully obvious that most of these people are probably not in prison for first time offenses. Which means that as a group they represent the perpetration of many thousands of heinous crimes. Heinous crimes often leave the lives of the victims in a state of irreconsilable distress. Most of the prisoners themselves have no way to reconsile their crimes with the rest of us in society. There is no comfort in the fact that we must suffer one another's existence, knowing that heinous acts will continue to be wrought against our loved ones until leaving the planet. 600 executions since 1976 does not bother me at all. In fact if we could carry out 3565 executions in March, I would rest easily knowing that there was some resolution for the history of this heinous group. I do not care what the racial or age demographics are either. The only cause I have for hesitation is Ryan's comment, which I am totally in agreement with.

To: Solon who wrote (3686)	3/20/2002 5:04:55 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21057

A poll of police chiefs found that they ranked the death penalty as least effective in reducing violent crime. "Least effective"? Among what alternatives? For example if I saw a list of "more cops", "quicker convictions", and "the death penalty", I might say that the death penalty is the least effective in reducing crime but that doesn't mean it is ineffective. It is a big jump from "least effective at reducing crime", to "uneffective at reducing murder". During the early 1970's, death-penalty states averaged an annual rate of 7.9 criminal homicides per 100,000 population; abolitionist states averaged a rate of 5.1. This might have something to do with greater demand for the death penalty in states with high murder rates. Also do you have more recent data. The early 70s is about 30 years ago. Since 1973, over 160 children in the U.S. have been sentenced to die. This is higher than any of the other 5 countries (Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen) which authorize the death penalty for crimes committed by juveniles. That's focusing on an unimportant issue. Either the death penalty for teenage murders is just or it is not. If it is just then it doesn't matter much if we do it more often. If it is unjust then even one such execution is wrong. Also the US has more population then any of those 5 countries. Actually more then any 2, and possibly more then all 5 added together. Of the 38 death penalty states in the U.S., 12 have no minimum age for imposing the death penalty. How old was the youngest person ever executed in the US in say the last 2 or 3 decades? Of course the appeals could take years so perhaps the more important question is how young was the youngest executed murder at the time of the murder? Tim

To: Solon who wrote (3686)	3/20/2002 5:41:36 PM
From: Bill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21057

ALL of those stats are faulty. First, asking the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers to comment on the death penalty is a bit like asking al Qaeda to comment on capitalism. Look at this one. 84 American citizens have been released from death row as a result of being wrongly convicted. What they don't tell you is that almost every one was released on a technicality. Doesn't mean they didn't murder, just that some prosecutor or judge made a mistake at trial. Each year, at least 4 innocent people are convicted of capital crimes. Where's the proof for this one? Are they so good at fortune telling that they know what next year will bring? The whole study is a joke and anyone who parades it around isn't dealing with facts.