In response to:
The State of California has the Death Penalty on it's books so the real question here is why have they only executed 13 of the more than 700 people on death row over the past 20 years? Setting a reasonable time limit for appeals (2 - 3 years max) then scheduling the execution takes care of the so called cost concerns. Carrying out the death sentence is the only way it becomes a real deterrent to crime. Here in Texas the death penalty is carried out efficiently and it does deter crime and help expedite the plea bargain process of the guilty who want to save their own lives.
Recently, editorial page editor John Diaz asked Mark Klaas whether he expects to feel closure if California executes Richard Allen Davis, the man who kidnapped, toyed with and then killed Klaas' 12-year-old daughter, Polly, in 1993. A jury found Davis guilty and sentenced him to death in 1996.
From the early days after Davis snatched Polly from a Petaluma slumber party, Klaas has been a highly visible advocate for strong laws to protect the public, especially children, from career criminals and predators like Davis. He had come to the San Francisco Chronicle with other opponents of Proposition 34, the...
1. When carried out it rids society of the most heinous among us.
2. It avoids having the society that was victimized to pay the cost of supporting the heinous perpetrator.
3. It prevents the guilty party from re-offending and very well might deter others with a similar intent.
4. It metes out a punishment equal to the crime.
5. It causes the perpetrator to serioulsy evaluate his options prior to trial.