Guest Column: Behind the Death Penalty Cheers
One of the oddest moments of the GOP presidential primary debate Wednesday night in California occurred when the audience burst into applause in response to moderator Brian Williams’ recap of Gov. Rick Perry’s record of presiding over 234 executions.
Williams had not yet even finished asking his question when the crowd erupted with clapping and even whistles. The effusive audience applause in response to both Williams’ mention of Perry’s record and the governor’s full-throated, guilt-free answer seems to reflect a Republican primary audience that, like the governor, is untroubled by the death penalty, either in principle or ...
Comments (38)
Penni Livingston via Texas Tribune on Facebook
fazed
Megan Walker via Texas Tribune on Facebook
It's because such a large portion of the population in Texas is uneducated about the capital punishment system in this state. I've read so many comments today in response to last night's applause praising the system's ability to deter homicide and save taxpayer dollars. It is NOT cheaper to execute someone. In fact it's over 3 times more expensive than to sentence someone to life without the chance of parole. And a whopping 87% of criminologists say that there is no evidence that capital punishment acts as a deterrance to homicide.
Rudy Gonzales
It's sickening that Perry commits murder in the name of Texas while espousing religious beliefs into law here in Texas! The crowd was as at fault for cheering the murder of anyone in the name of so-called justice. Here's our Texas Attorney General playing cover up for Rick Perry who allowed and inmate to be murdered in the name of Texas just as the "Innocence Project" was about to offer evidence that he was in fact innocent. Perry allowed the execution to be done and now he sleeps with blood on his hands!
Oliver Franklin via Texas Tribune on Facebook
"a match made in heaven..." Nice work Dr. Henson
Thomas Prentice via Texas Tribune on Facebook
They just want to kill, kill, kill -- anyone not like themselves (white, cult christian, stupid, ignorant and under- or uneducated racists).
Bambi Clark via Texas Tribune on Facebook
They have little tolerance....
Imelda B. Robles via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Cheering for the death penalty? What's next? Cheering for a nuclear war?
Bo Han
Listen. I'm in favor of abortion, but I don't applaud when a woman goes and gets one. Whether or not you favor the death penalty, applauding for it is just disgusting.
Karen Spivey-Cummings via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Yep, war with Iran.
Ken Collier via Texas Tribune on Facebook
People cheering the death penalty is one of the reasons I no longer support the death penalty.
Donna Rene Johnston via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I am against the death penalty because I think it says more about who we are as a culture and a nation then it could ever say about the nature of the person who is executed. It makes me sad and weary to see the truth if that exhibited at the debate. However, name calling doesn't push the ball forward, just creates a bigger divide.
Daniel Norton via Texas Tribune on Facebook
The death penalty is an absolutely perfect punishment that should be meted out only by an absolutely perfect system of justice.
Ronnie Odom via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I can see the necessity, but don't ask me to be on the jury.
MaryLou VandeRiet via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I have heard audiences laugh at the death penalty, as well as the topic of suicide...I sincerely hope that the Todd Willingham Execution will keep Perry from becoming president !!!
Larry Hilliard via Texas Tribune on Facebook
These are the same people who are vehemently against abortion. They seem to think that human rights end upon birth - think gays, Latinos, blacks, the poor, the elderly....
Bobbi Reichert Kessler via Texas Tribune on Facebook
This reaction totally creeped me out. Then I thought, wait, Republicans haven't thought this through. With all these privatized prisons, they'd better keep the inmates as long as possible. It's better for bidness!
Donna Rene Johnston via Texas Tribune on Facebook
@Ronnie-I'm curious about the necessity. Other industrialized nations have abandoned it, and survived. So, is it necessary? This is a serious question. Not meant to be snarky.
Richard Stewart via Texas Tribune on Facebook
I might be able to see the just in a death sentence , but you couldnt see me find the justice in cheering for it . Cheering for it is no better than the crime !
James Henson
This table included on the page covers GOP self-identified registered voters in the sample. This table -- twitpic.com/6ii2ux -- will help with the discussion of the cross tabulations of the overall sample. twitpic.com/6ii2ux
Native Texan
The crowd was not cheering about the death penalty. Listen to me, libs. They were cheering about the concept of justice. And here is why: We are sick and tired of political correctness that is so thoroughly unAmerican in its concept. We are sick and tired of putting up with the insanity of the liberal point of view. The liberal point of view murders a developing baby in the womb and gives it not a second thought, but then mourns and grieves over the execution of a monstrous murderer. The liberal point of view gives its very soul to save an obscure fish in California, all the while depriving human beings of the water they need for their farms. Liberals in the 1960s hated and reviled the poor young soldiers returning from Viet Nam, when the majority of of those soldiers were drafted in the first place and had no say in going to that war. The liberal point of view is convinced that manmade global warming is occurring, are desperate and obsessed about it, while numerous scientists say it is not manmade but rather the sun that is altering the climate, as it has done since the beginning of time. The liberal point of view desires to shut down coal producing businesses and oil producing businesses, but has no plan for how we are supposed to have power here and now. The liberal point of view was obsessed with occurrences in Abu Ghraib as though it represented the entirety of our military men and women. The liberal point of view was obsessed with waterboarding heinous jihadist murderers to extract information to save innocent lives. The liberal point of view actually believes that you can have a system where you redistribute the wealth of productive citizens to pay for welfare to other citizens, paid for mostly by taxing the rich, and that such a system will not turn people into dependent infants and that it will be sustainable forever. Never mind that the rich do not have enough money to pay for such a system, even if they gave it all to the government. Also, never mind that such a system is totally antithetical to the American spirit and is being forced on millions of Americans against their will. I could go on all night. There is just nothing sensible about liberalism. There is no logic to it.
Chris Bazan via Texas Tribune on Facebook
Complete hypocrites...so glad the state is becoming more democratic....slowly
David Spratt
Whether you are for it or not , IT IS THE LAW, and it is being enforced. As Perry noted, there is a lengthy appeals process and it it used to it's fullest extent by all. While not 100% perfect it remains the law of the land and deserves to be enforced. Unlike the Federal Government on Immigration issues which only enforces the law against some but not all. We do not make exceptions saying " well he was a churchgoing man or woman . he has children " or any other excuse. If you do not like it then change it , but until then it is what it is. I am not a champion of the death penalty , but I realize it is the law and as such deserves to be enforced and observed according to the letter of the law. The cheers were not for the killing itself, the applause was for the idea that the rule of law prevails here in Texas, in at least one area of established law that the Federal Government cannot supersede or overrule.
Lucian Villasenor via Texas Tribune on Facebook
If the cheering made you sick, join the fight to help an innocent man on deathrow, http://www.facebook.com/notes/campaign-to-end-the-death-penalty/what-you-can-do-to-save-troy-davis/10150362079101151
Jim Fisher via Texas Tribune on Facebook
That reaction showed that there are many "red-neck" Californians. We Texans are frequently lumped in that category. That should prove that, if Californians can be "red-neck", Texans can also be "enlightened"..
patricia bird
Recent criminology studies have suggested that capital punishment is not a significant factor in lowering the murder rate. In 2008, the average murder rate for states using capital punishment was 5.2 per 100,000 people, while states without a death penalty statue was only 3.3 per 100,000 people
Every year that an inmate spends in prison costs $22,000. An individual sentenced to five years for a $300 theft costs the public more than $100,000. The cost of a life term averages $1.5 million.
First, to even house an inmate on death row in the state of California costs $90,000 per year. The average cost for just defending the inmate at a federal trial is roughly $620,000. The average cost for a death row inmate after all the years in prison and the actual execution comes out to around three million dollars.
So applaud all you want, but it is your taxpayer dollars that is fueling the cost of housing an inmate or killing him. We spend 3.5 times as much to kill someone than to educate them. Prison is not a country club...it is violent and frightening and a depressing place to live. I would argue that this country needs to join the other civilized countries in the world and stop all executions - would save a lot of money, a lot of legal challenges, and a lot of angst over whether or not we killed an innocent person that is now going on in TX with the Willingham case. The new evidence suggests an innocent man died - and frankly that is one too many if you are that person's family.
T D
When someone says "The crowd was not cheering about the death penalty," you can be sure that it was cheering about the death penalty.
David Spratt
So there is one of two solutions that should happen to save money, since it is always about money. Either do away with the death penalty or speed up the process. I personally would have no regret about putting someone to death I knew with certainty committed the crime. Since our justice system is closely tied to the rest of our government and both operate with low efficiency, absolute certainty is always a question of degree.I have no doubt innocents have been executed before and probably will be again.maybe the cost factor will determine when this practice will end? Certainly the issue of fairness and adequate representation have not made a difference.
Frances Morey
After a discussion of Perry and the Todd Willingham one of the participants commented: "It takes balls to execute an innocent man." It sounded like approval, even if the death row inmate is innocent.
Roger Wag
Although I agree that it was appalling that the audience applauded the death penalty in Texas, but not the mention of bin Laden's execution, I'm not surprised given the venue. However, I think commentators are missing an important point in this discussion. Although the lack of concern about executing a possibly innocent man by Perry is unnerving to most non-conservatives, a more important issue is his handling of the whole affair. He refused to postpone the execution when new scientific evidence was in the offing and he has been fighting to cover up the possibility that a mistake was made. So he refuses to listen to any evidence that contradicts his preconceived views like George W. Bush and he tries to cover up a mistake like Richard Nixon. This should be pretty scary to principled voters both liberal and conservative.
Fallon
Roger Wag put his thumb on it; but, I wish he had been forthright enough to mention Barack's ongoing cover-up of Fast and Furious, and associated operations.
I don't recall who said it; but, during the past week a commentator said: "Barack took what GW Bush did wrong, and multiplied it ten fold."
GW did NOT abet the illegal international trafficking of arms, as far as we know. We know that elements of Mr. Obama's administration did exactly that, and did it under his watch.
If any wish to disparage Bush over the "scandals" of his administration, like Abu Ghraib, then the over 150 dead that we know were killed in conflicts involving Fast and Furious trafficked arms should shame them to silence if voice is not given to the condemnation and prosecution of those outrageous acts.
At least, in a US court of law, one has a hope of a defense, unlike the children killed in the wombs and Mexicans hung from bridges and then shot.
Samdavis
I'm as vindictive as the next person when it comes to punishing perpetrators of violent crime. However, for the truly heinous, nothing is worse than life without parole in a small cell cut off from society. It's cheaper and holds open the possibility of release if their innocence is proven by advances in DNA or other means. Sadly it seems that a disproportianate number of Texans want to live by that old axiom, "He needed killing" rather than doing what makes fiscal and moral sense. People who applaud executions are pond scum.
Fallon
Prisons are not drug-free, nor are they murder-free. While the prison life in state pens truly is punishing, allowing heinous murderers to continue flushing on a daily basis only raises the risk they pose to prison staff and - should they get out - others as well.
Some cases leave no doubts, and in those cases, the death penalty remains appropriate.
Todd Willingham was not one of those cases. Had Perry been subject to the same process and reasoning as prevailed in the TW case, Perry might be serving time for arson himself. Unfortunately for us, TW chose to not contest his death penalty - if his misery continues, we have no way of knowing that and he has no way to testify any longer.
That inability to testify further offers a compelling reason to keep heinous conspirator-murderers alive.
Osama B L, for instance, may have had some interesting insights to share... just sayin'.
Non-conspirator murderers, like the one who raped a sixteen year old girl before bashing her head in with a piece of asphalt, deserve to find out if the misery continues, and the family of the victim should not have to live with the prospect that a person who -alone- judged and executed their daughter/sister/aunt/cousin would EVER have a possibility of parole [a prospect we must recognize]!
Let the known murderers share the judgement they forced on their victims.
patricia bird
"Let the known murderers share the judgement they forced on their victims"....the word KNOWN is the one that haunts me...so many cases are due to eye witness accounts which is now being reviewed as viable in court due to so many being wrong; DNA is not being run on rape kits due to the cost; and on and on...the man refused a life sentence as a plea bargain as he said he was innocent - and the Governor could have erred on the side of caution and asked for all new evidence to be presented even if it meant a delay...I think you will find that the victim's families are not as blood-thirsty as those in the audience who clapped...and as one victim's family said - we want to make certain that the person put to death was the correct person, or else a murderer is still alive and well and roaming free...sit on a jury for a death penalty case and i will assure you, there are very few who find it easy to put someone to death...what is frightening is that this Governor finds it a notch on his belt versus trying to make certain that these individuals were actually guilty...read the Innocent Project and tell me how many of the freed men would you liked to have told their familites OOPS had they been put to death...I would rather set all of them free, than kill one of them who was innocent...
Fallon
"I would rather set all of them free, than kill one of them who was innocent..."
I hope that was just runaway rhetoric.
Innocents might get caught in the crossfire between unemployed set-free murderers and police, or CCLs, or rival gangs.
And if you choose life without parole, how can you be sure a future legislature, governor, or judge will not repeat B. J. Clinton's massive pardon-spree [including FLN terrorists]?
Dudley Sharp
US death Penalty Support at 83%
However, a poll from November 11, 2010, shows 83% of Americans support the death penalty for any murder, even while 81% believe innocents have been executed. (1)
When polls ask about specific death penalty eligible crimes, death penalty support is consistently around 80%. (2)
Polling responses have, generally, shown around 70% death penalty support to the question "do you support the death penalty", which is not specific to death penalty eligible murders, the only crimes punishable by death. (2)
(1) "Americans Support Punishing Murder with the Death Penalty", Angus Reid Poll, 11/09/10,
http://www.angus-reid.com/polls/43498/americans-support-punishing-murder-with-the-death-penalty/
(2) "Death Penalty Support Remains Very High: USA & The World"
http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2009/07/death-penalty-polls-support-remains.html
Dudley Sharp
Of course they were cheering for the death penalty, but in the context of:
1) justice;
2) that the justice of the death penalty is actually carried out in Texas, as opposed to the host state, California, which avoids justice and bleads the taxpayers dry; and
3) a very partisan crowd, instantly recognizing that an anti Perry journalist was going to ask a question critical of both Perry and the death penalty.
I suspect those and mayber a few more were wrapped up in the cheers.
Kathy Azhar
Personally, I think the death penalty is barbaric. I cannot justify the eye-for-an-eye mentality that most Texans thrive on. What does it say to civilized human beings that our state executed 234 people. Doesn't the Bible say "you should not murder"...NOT 'you should not murder unless its a punishment for murder'...I just don't get how these people think they will be judged by their god. Murder is murder...PERIOD. UGH - and anyone who would applaud either the act or the number are seriously troubled.
C Gunther
Texas is a dump. Fattest cities in the USA. It's a high crime state. So, those God-playing executions obviously aren't working in any meaningful way. Yet, the undereducated populace is too dumb and hateful too seem to get it. Instead, they label people who think things through (like me) as intellectual snobs and then have the audacity to recite meaningless drivel such as "God bless America"
Who are the real anti-democracy, anti-Americans? If the USA is all about executions, ignorance/stupidity and propaganda and hate, then, yes, I'm anti-American.
However, I think I might just be anti-Texas ;-)