Writer’s Block from July 16, 2010:

What is your opinion of the death penalty? How important is this issue in deciding which political candidates you support?

I am absolutely, completely and totally opposed to the death penalty; and yes, I consider it very important when selecting among political candidates.

I haven’t always been opposed. In fact, I used to support it. That was until I started working with the North Carolina Division of Prisons and met former death-row inmates (their sentences had been vacated to life due to Furman v. Georgia.) Make no mistake: these men had done horrible things. They had proved they could not function in society, and absolutely should be in prison for the rest of their lives. But I generally found them quite ordinary and, at times, decent. They weren’t the bug-eyed, hate-filled psychopaths the media likes to portray.

They also provided a useful economic service. At the time I worked for Prisons, the most an inmate could earn was $1 per day. That’s a whole lot cheaper than the cost of a cleaning crew at minimum wage. In addition, there was a prison farm; the cost of inmates’ food was not fully borne by the taxpayers. It seemed to me to be a good situation: the state benefited economically (offsetting taxpayer costs), and the inmates were given meaningful and relevant work.

As my adult conscience has continued to form, I’ve discovered that there’s really no reason to support what is, in actuality, legalized homicide. Modern technology can indeed prevent most prison escapes. When it does happen, prisoners can be, and often are, recaptured. In other words, life in prison can, when properly sentenced, mean prison for life.

This accounts for other issues such as the cost of appeals for death-row inmates (a process I believe should be continued) and the costs of the executions themselves. There’s also the issue of human error; prisoners have been exonerated more than once.

In the United States as it is today, the death penalty is not necessary to protect society. Thus, its drawbacks far outweigh its benefits.

The reason I consider it so politically important is because of the phrase I mentioned above: “legalized homicide.” Applying the death penalty means that the government is using my tax dollars to murder a person in cold blood. That runs counter to everything I’ve come to believe as an adult. Only God has the right to decide who lives and dies.

Life and death are too vitally important to not consider them when making choices. In fact, I consider them to be the most important issues. Application of that isn’t always easy, but for the death penalty, it’s a no-brainer. Politicians who support it are supporting death, and will not receive my vote.