Obama on Death Penalty

http://ontheissues.org/2008/Barack_Obama_Crime.htm


Okay well I first just want to state what Obama’s view of the death penalty is and what he thinks, and then I will discuss my opinion about it. First Obama states “While the evidence tells me that the death penalty does little to deter crime, I believe there are some crimes--mass murder, the rape and murder of a child--so heinous that the community is justified in expressing the full measure of its outrage by meting out the ultimate punishment.” He passed a bill in Illinois that required videotaping of interrogations and confessions in capital cases. While discussing the bill he said “I talked about the common value that I believed everyone shared--that no innocent person should end up on death row, and that no person guilty of a capital offense should go free.” His most significant contribution has been his legislative battles against the death penalty, and against in the criminal justice system. Obama’s three main ideas about how to address crime are to implement penalties other than incarceration for certain non-violent offenders, increase state funds for programs which rehabilitate and educate inmates during and after their prison sentences, and provide funding for military-style "boot camps" for first-time juvenile felons.

Well I think that his ideas on how to address crime are absolutely great! I think that is exactly what we should do, and I think that we have A LOT of things to fix in our criminal justice system. I believe that our criminal justice system is not good right now and that we NEED to make some changes. However, I definitely disagree with Obama’s stance on the death penalty. I know that the death penalty is against my religion and no one in my family supports it, but I am so strong on the idea that we should keep it. The only reason that the death penalty isn’t deterring crime is because it’s not carried out swiftly!! On average, death row inmates spend about 10 years on death row appealing their convictions and sentences! I think the death penalty is definitely needed but we have to make A LOT of changes going about it. While I disagree with his stance on the issue, I think that we do need a big change in our criminal justice system and I think that the death penalty should be used only in cases where this is absolutely no doubt that the person did it, by either them confessing, or by someone seen them do it. I think it would be stupid to get rid of the death penalty because that will not deter crime either, and PLUS our prisons are SO overcrowded it’s ridiculous. We need some MAJOR changes in our prison systems and we need to fix this problem, and if that means enforcing the death penalty, then I think that’s what should happen. Don’t let inmates sit on death rows for 10-20 years, we need to carry it out faster and show that we are serious about it! KEEP the death penalty and start making changes in our criminal justice and prison systems!!