death penalty a deterrent?
Brent Finnegan -- February 7th, 2007
Del. Todd Gilbert (whose district includes part of RoCo) was quoted in a USA Today article today, which included the Commonwealth among “a half-dozen states [that] are considering broadening the death penalty, countering a national trend toward scaling back its use.”
Virginia is bucking the trend.
Virginia is considering bills that would make accomplices to murder, as well as killers of judges and court witnesses, eligible for the death penalty.
“I’m a believer in the deterrent effect of the death penalty,” says Republican Delegate Todd Gilbert, a state prosecutor who sponsored two of the measures. “I know a number of states are reconsidering their position on the death penalty. … I feel confident Virginia’s system is set up to work.”
This reasoning runs counter to several studies presenting evidence to the contrary.
Do you think the death penalty (versus life in prison) is a deterrent?
“Then you are just as stupid as these guys who think capital punishment is going to be a deterrent for drug kingpins. As if drug kingpins didn’t live their day to day lives under the possibility of execution, and their executions are a lot less dainty than ours and tend to take place without the bother and expense of due process.” From the third episode of West Wing. Cracks me up every time.
No one…NO ONE…leaves their home to commit a crime with the intension of getting caught for their crime. Criminals won’t be deterred by the death penalty because they think they will never get caught.
Check out Amnesty Internationals website if you’re interested. They have a lot of good info. on capital punishment.