Aug. 30
KENTUCKY:
Yes to the death penalty
I believe the death penalty should be re-institutionalized and used. We will
see senseless murder rate go down in a generation.
It took a generation to get here. I am old enough to remember growing up in the
late 60s-early 70s. No one thought about using a gun...let alone killing
anyone...we all knew you got the chair usually in less than a year or 2.
Now people shoot someone and get 4-5 years for it...really?
That is why life is so cheap to people there is no consequence for it. You get
more time for not paying child support than killing someone intentionally.
Now I know all the liberals will cry the innocent poor often convicted of
something they did not do....I agree. So, if you are confessing your innocence
and there is not a beyond shadow of doubt of guilt, you should get life without
parole...thus if later DNA or some other evidence finds you not guilty at least
you are around to be let go. But if you have someone on video or in front of
multiple witnesses like in a school or church setting killing someone. Death
penalty...executed timely manner...2 year tops.
If you kill someone horrific and inhumanely...why not the same way?
Lloyd Darling
Crestwood, Ky. 40014
(source: Letter to the Editor, Courier-Journal)
NEBRASKA:
Opposing arguments in capital punishment
The Nebraska Attorney General is taking issue with a study that concludes the
state would save $14.6 million a year by doing away with the death penalty. Dr.
Ernie Goss of Creighton University, who issues regular reports on the Midwest
economy and does studies for a conservative think tank, said he was surprised
by the results.
"Through our study, we show that the state of Nebraska has spent $14.6 million
annually by having the death penalty. These are costs above and beyond the
costs of having life without parole,??? Goss said at a news conference last
week.
"To put it in other words, if the death penalty stays repealed and we leave in
place life imprisonment, the state will save approximately $14.6 million
annually," he added.
The 5 areas of expense associated with death penalty convictions are defense
costs, pretrial costs, court length, incarceration and decades of appeals, he
said.
The latter was questioned by Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson, who said
the study, relying heavily on studies from California, Florida, Texas and other
states, does not accurately reflect Nebraska conditions.
Peterson's office said approximately 500 criminal appeals are filed each year,
but less than 1 % of them are in capital cases.
"It is misleading for this report to conclude that, on an annual basis, having
the death penalty costs an amount that far exceeds the total annual budget of
... the Nebraska Attorney General's Office and the State Public Defender's
Office, combined."
The study pointed out that of the 1,842 Nebraska murders between 1973 and 2014,
prosecutors obtained 281 first-degree murder convictions, sought the death
penalty in only 119 cases, or approximately 2.9 cases per year, resulting in
only 33 death sentences.
Of those, Nebraska courts commuted 13 sentences, 6 individuals died in prison,
1 sentence was vacated and 3 individuals were executed, the last in 1997.
Attorneys are currently appealing 10 sentences.
The attorney general is right in that voters need accurate information in
deciding whether to reinstate the death penalty, but it would be a mistake to
reject the entirety of the Goss study out of hand. Let's hope Nebraska voters
take all the facts and arguments into account before casting their ballots,
rather than basing their choice entirely on emotion.
(source: Guest Opinion; McCook Daily Gazette)
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