Posted by jp on August 10, 2004 at 13:21:21 (PST):
In Reply to: Re: Area man faces trial for strangulation murder of girlfriend posted by Mary Ann on August 10, 2004 at 11:30:59 (PST):
The threat of the taking of ones life, via the death penalty is a deterrent to these crimes. It's not meant to be a vigilante act. The worst possible thing you can do is take someones life, so if you take away the death penalty, you take a life, yours isnt taken.. you just may get jail for life. For some ppl this isnt such a bad tradeoff.
In such cases like heat of the moment killings, yeah, the death penalty cannot deter these. But say the ones that are premeditated, possibly.
Recently I read an article on a man who killed a woman in 1957, got out about 20 years later and within the week killed another woman. The man, now 78 years old was just put to death recently. The oldest to be put to death in Texas I believe. The death penalty after the first crime would have saved the 2nd womans life.