Opinions that I first agreed with from ProCon.org----
For Death Penalty
Our position has been and remains that the death penalty is appropriate for the worst of the worst, people who have committed crimes so atrocious that they are no longer fit to be among us. Richard A. Devine, JD, State's Attorney for Cook County in Illinois, in an Apr. 30, 2003 State Attorney's
Against Death Penalty
How likely is it, really, that a killer will be more deterred by the risk of the death penalty than by having to spend the rest of his life in prison? The claim fails the test of common sense. Criminologists and police chiefs say the death penalty just doesn't influence murderers -- partly because its application is so haphazard… It's true that the purpose of punishment is not only deterrence but also retribution. Bloomberg View wrote in its Feb. 23, 2014 editorial "Ban the Death Penalty" at bloombergview.com
For Death Penalty
Along with two-thirds of the American public, I believe in capital punishment. I believe that there are some defendants who have earned the ultimate punishment our society has to offer by committing murder with aggravating circumstances present. I believe life is sacred. It cheapens the life of an innocent murder victim to say that society has no right to keep the murderer from ever killing again. In my view, society has not only the right, but the duty to act in self defense to protect the innocent." Steven D. Stewart, JD, Clark County Prosecuting Attorney, in an Office of the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney's website section (accessed July 22, 2008) and titled "A Message from the Prosecuting Attorney," offered the following: