New Jersey became the first state to abolish the death penalty, do you like to see your state abolish also?

Answer 1

Michigan* does not have the death penalty

Answer 2

New Jersey did the right thing and in the right way. It instituted a year long study commission before taking up an abolition bill. Among the many witnesses before the commission were families of murder victims who do not support the death penalty. I have given a link to the commission report, below.

You don't have to sympathize with criminals or want them to avoid a terrible punishment to ask if the death penalty prevents or even reduces crime and to think about the risks of executing innocent people. Your question is much too important to settle on the basis of slogans instead of facts.

125 people on death rows have been released with proof that they were wrongfully convicted. DNA is available in less than 10% of all homicides and isn’t a guarantee we won’t execute innocent people.

The death penalty doesn't prevent others from committing murder. No reputable study shows the death penalty to be a deterrent. To be a deterrent a punishment must be sure and swift. The death penalty is neither. Homicide rates are higher in states and regions that have it than in those that don’t.

We have a good alternative. Life without parole is now on the books in 48 states. It means what it says. It is sure and swift and rarely appealed. Life without parole is less expensive than the death penalty.

The death penalty costs much more than life in prison, mostly because of the legal process which is supposed to prevent executions of innocent people.

The death penalty isn't reserved for the worst crimes, but for defendants with the worst lawyers. It doesn't apply to people with money. When is the last time a wealthy person was on death row, let alone executed?

The death penalty doesn't necessarily help families of murder victims. Murder victim family members across the country argue that the drawn-out death penalty process is painful for them and that life without parole is an appropriate alternative.

Problems with speeding up the process. Over 50 of the innocent people released from death row had already served over a decade. If the process is speeded up we are sure to execute an innocent person.

Answer 3

You are incorrect. New Jersey was the first state to abolish the death penalty for several decades. There are many states that abolished it long ago.

I'm in Maine now, and thrilled that we do not have that as a sentence.

Answer 4

First of all this is to the answerer Coop: That's the Exact thing my husband says should be done! Personally, I'm with ya. We do have the death penaltry, but it's used "sparingly". My son and brother n law are both correctional officers and the whole prison system is unbelievable as it is. There are gangs, sexual escapades, plus rape, drugs, work out rooms, t,v. (cable), three square meals, full medical, computers, and the resourses to actually get a degree. I personally knew a guy who went in a murderer (arm robbery) and came out a minister. He has a church and rather large congregation right now....Just the thought of someone living, breathing, enjoying food, television, pleasuring themselves after a cold blooded murdering makes me disgusted. One a day sound more than fair !

Answer 5

Yes, I live in California, and it costs the taxpayers here a helluva lot more to have them executed, then to keep them incarcerated. When the attorney's fees and the court costs are added during the appeals process, the cost of executing a condemned person can run into the hundreds of thousands, (if not millions), of dollars.
We need to rejoin the civilized world and abolish capital punishment, once and for all.
A bumper sticker that I had seen, put it best when it said, "Why do people want to kill people who kill people to show that killing people is wrong?"

Answer 6

We have the death penalty here in this state I am all for it. For the liberals out there, please consider if YOUR 6 year old child was beheaded and sodomized , without a doubt they had the right killer, he had killed other children, do you still support life imprisonment? I personlly would pull the switch or start the injection myself.

Answer 7

if you mean see my state abolish the death penalty, then the answer is a resounding NO!
I believe in the death penalty

Answer 8

I'd like to see Miss New Jersey get the death penalty....

I didn't say anything!!! *whistles innocently*

Answer 9

no, we were the first to use the death penalty .once it was reinstated in 1972. Gary Gilmore in 1977

Answer 10

We don't have the death penalty, but I'd like to see it abolished nationwide,