The short answer is NO! We need the death penalty for the safety of society and the prison population. But who should pay the ultimate price and how should we go about it? Simple! We should create an actual standard or special panel to decide on whether someone should receive the death penalty and why. Our biggest mistake in the legal system is that too many Death Sentences are handed down purely based on circumstantial evidence, an obscure witness, which may have questionable credibility or in many cases, a testimony from a Co-Defendant that will lie on a stand just to cover his or her own ass. So with all the confusion in the legal system, who should get the death penalty and why?
Death penalty should only be reserved for individuals who pose obvious risk to the General Population in Prison. A probationary period can be established during the term of service. Let’s say 10 years. If the offender, which received a death penalty and is a violent or has predatory nature, then the panel should decide his fate and move forward with the execution. If the offender is truly repentant and peaceful, the offender should be spared. Why? Four reasons:
1.) The death penalty does not deter crime.
2.) One too many innocent people are executed. Especially in Texas.
3.) It’s too costly. The appeals process costs a lot of money.
4.) If you are an evil person and committed a heinous crime, you don’t deserve an easy way out. You should die in Prison of an old age. Slowly. I don’t believe in giving monsters the easy way out.