The Death Penalty Is Not Racist ......

[JohnHenry]

.... in spite of what many people say;

http://www.newsmax.com/Koch/Death-Pe...9/27/id/412402

[The Duke]

I find it strange about all of the drama and media attention to the cop killer, Troy Davis who was black.

But on the other hand, the white supramacist killer who killed a black man in Texas was juiced up the same night at Huntsville...Barely a mention in the media..

Both dirtbags deserved to die for their crimes...RACIST??? I suppose it depends on what color your are and not the act that you commited...

If you cant do the time, dont do the crime.

[jim summers]

Some would say that the death penalty is not a deterant to crime but i beg to differ. The grease ball that is getting the electric chair/lethal injection is one that society does not have to worry about commenting another crime, it is also a money saver for the state if you keep them in prison it cost thousands of dollars just to maintain them.

[hogger129]

I agree. People are merely politicizing this. This guy's case was reviewed numerous times, and if they saw anything that would have made him innocent, he'd be alive today. But that's not the way things went down. Now we'll hear how racist and bad the death penalty is for another couple months.

Just like how after the Giffords incident, all we heard about was how evil firearms were and about the "rhetoric" from the right wing.

[HunterAlpha1]

what would be an even greater deterrence to crime? ALL murderers and rapists being executed within a year of being found guilty. sure, the number of innocent people being executed would go up slightly since they would have much less time to investigate and appeal, but the number of crimes would drop precipitously.

[terryu1]

If the death penalty is racist, then it is by choice and not chance or policy. The criminals make a decision to commit a crime and therefore they themselves choose the percentage of race whom get "the chair".

[45nut]

The racial breakdown for those sentenced to death since 1977 is as follows: 48.6 percent white; 40.9 percent black; 8.9 percent Hispanic; and 1.6 percent other. The race of defendants executed in the U.S. since 1976 is 56 percent white; 35 percent black; 7 percent Hispanic; 2 percent other.

Sounds about right to me. As I always tell folks when discussing this issue, it does serve as a deterrent both by example to other criminals and to that particular criminal as they will never commit another heinous crime.

In Texas, they have streamlined the appeals process so that we're executing them more rapidly.

[carver]

I am for capitol punishment! It works! No repeat offenders! That being said, while the percentages are out there: The race of defendants executed in the U.S. since 1976 is 56 percent white; 35 percent black; 7 percent Hispanic; 2 percent other. Now look at the percentages of whites to blacks in America. in 2010 there this country was about 72% white, and about 13% black. When looked at from this perspective you see that population wise, there are a higher percentage of blacks being executed in the U.S., and that's what they are screaming about. Personally, I say let em scream! Do innocent people sometimes get executed? Yep! We aren't perfect! Innocent people being killed is the reason for capitol punishment. If you don't go around killing others, then we won't kill you! And I don't care what color your skin is!

[45Auto]

Originally Posted by 45nut

The racial breakdown for those sentenced to death since 1977 is as follows: 48.6 percent white; 40.9 percent black; 8.9 percent Hispanic; and 1.6 percent other. The race of defendants executed in the U.S. since 1976 is 56 percent white; 35 percent black; 7 percent Hispanic; 2 percent other.

Sounds about right to me. As I always tell folks when discussing this issue, it does serve as a deterrent both by example to other criminals and to that particular criminal as they will never commit another heinous crime.

In Texas, they have streamlined the appeals process so that we're executing them more rapidly.

Because the percentage of white and black people in the United States is not 50/50, there is clearly a much greater % of black people, per capita, getting the death penalty than white people. However, this does not prove that the death penalty is racist.

Our criminal justice system works best if you have money. As a whole, the % of black Americans living below the poverty level is greater than the % of white Americans in poverty.

The death penalty in America is not racist, it is class/money based. White or black, if you have money it is much less likely that you will get the death penalty. White or black, if you are poor the odds are against you.

[45Auto]

When DNA was perfected as forensic evidence America discovered that we had convicted alot of people of crimes they had not committed. Thus, our system of justice is only human and errors are made. It's not ok to kill people for crimes they did not do. Otherwise, we are no better than the Taliban.

The deterent value: Since 1833 Michigan has outlawed the death penalty. The murder rate per-capita (by percentage of population) in Michigan and other non-death penalty states is no worse than states with the death penalty. It does not seem to make a difference in the crime rate. However, it does appeal to the need for revenge.

Revenge: The real life conditions in most prisons are brutal. A murderer will suffer more during a life time in prison than from being exacuted. The murderer will suffer more from a brutal life in prison than from being on death row.

[Gun Geezer]

Also the taxpayers suffer the expense of medical care, room and board, etc,etc. of a lifetime in jail. Remember, we have more people incarcerated than any other country. We need to cut out some of the amenities so prisons won't be such a nice warm place to live.