Do you think the death penalty for felony murder is fair?

That's the way I understood it. Made it out to be that he was the one who committed the murders.

NukeDude is talking about "specific deterrence," or "incapacitation." Calling it "deterrence" just muddies the water.

"Deterrence" in criminal justice usually refers to general deterrence of future crimes by people in general. Execution has never been proven effective for this purpose, despite numerous studies. Capital offenders generally don't consider consequences - they're too dumb or maladjusted, or they assume they'll never be caught.

In fact, execution as a deterrent actually lacks evidentiary support where you'd expect to find it. I.e., there are no known criminals who deliberately stopped short of capital offenses for fear of execution.

Now, admittedly, execution is indeed an effective as incapacitation. But it's equally effective against rapists, embezzlers, shoplifters and jaywalkers. So incapacitation by itself is an insufficient justification for the death penalty.

Additionally, the long appeals process necessary before execution eliminates and hope of actual deterrence, while serving the purpose of incapacitation without actually killing the person.

And before you say, "just eliminate the appeals," you should know that (A) that's not going to happen anytime soon and (B) we've executed people later proven to be innocent, which should be sufficient reason NOT to eliminate or shorten the appeals process.

Honestly, how many of you would waive your appeals process if you were wrongly sentenced to death? You know you're innocent, just like any number of other executed convicts. Are you honestly going to tell me you'd take the hit and accept wrongful execution because the process is so wasteful in general?

I doubt it.