Murderers deserve death penalty
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Editor,
This is in response to the letter, “Death penalty not a viable option.”
The death penalty is somewhat of a joke the way our liberal court system works and isn’t the deterrent it is supposed to be. For punishment to be an effective deterrent, it must be: 1) likely the criminal will be caught and convicted; 2) the penalty will be harsh; 3) the penalty will be carried out in a timely manner.
Obviously, this is not happening in capital offense cases, and isn’t on other crimes either. If murderers believed they would be put to death shortly after being caught and convicted, it would be a deterrent. But how can it be, when the odds are the murderer will not get the death penalty, and even if he does, it will be another 15-30 years before it is carried out, if ever?
This little saying about crime and penalties has been around for a long time and expresses what I just said above: “If you can’t do the time, don’t do the crime.” Not too many years ago, the average time spent in prison, nationwide, for homicide convictions was about 7 1/2 years; it is probably still about that long. While in prison, some states allow the convicts to marry, receive conjugal visits and earn advanced college degrees.
If some common sense was put into the justice system, it wouldn’t take 15-30 years to carry out an execution, and it would be far less expensive than housing the murderers forever. Having spent 30 years in law enforcement and spoken to many victims’ families, I know most of them get more closure from the perpetrator being executed than from 15-30 years of appeals, delays, stays of execution, or penalties being commuted to life sentences. It angers them that the killer goes on living while their beloved child, spouse, sibling or friend lies in a cold, dark grave.
Lastly, money isn’t everything. Some people deserve to die, so let it be done, even if it costs more.
Bob Simpach
Polson
