Thursday, February 11, 2010

TRAVELER VIEWS: The death penalty needs to pass away

From Arkansas City dot Net

The Arkansas City Traveler

Published:
Wednesday, February 10, 2010 1:20 PM CST

The death penalty should be abolished.

The evidence against it is abundant.

It is not applied fairly. It is not a deterrent. It is expensive.

It risks putting an innocent person to death.

Most of all, it rips the cords of morality upon which our justice system is based.

The United States do not follow eye-for-an-eye justice. We are not Saudi Arabia.

Our system is meant to squeeze out emotion and human impulses, so that we might apply the laws of the state fairly and objectively.

Yes, even for the most savage among us.

Our constitution outlaws "cruel and unusual" punishment.

What is the difference between life in prison and death, as far as society need be concerned?

Let's get rid of the death penalty in Kansas — as a Senate committee recently voted to do — and let the worst killers feel our contempt from a permanent prison cell.

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