Reply #28: It's not necessary to exist as a candidate.

[hippywife]

Anyone who thinks they have to be pro-death penalty, even in certain cases, to remain a viable candidate doesn't gain my confidence. Kerry was actually the first person I heard speak against it last winter when he declared his exploratory committee. This was before I decided on Kucinich.

And as I think has been clarified before, the president only has influence over the federal death penalty. States control their own death penalty laws. However, the president that is able to place a moratorium on the federal death penalty takes great strides in changing the thinking behind the practice in general.

The death penalty doesn't do anything for anyone really. It doesn't relieve the loss of the families of the victims. It is akin to something like the Iraelis and the Palestinians tit-for-tat conflict brought down to a smaller scale. Doesn't solve the problems that brought the conflict into being and doesn't prevent further conflict.

As Kerry so adeptly pointed out, the offender only knows the fear of death in the moments leading up to their execution and then their suffering is over with a shot in the arm; the families of the victims of these crimes have to still live with their loss for the rest of their natural lives.

It is my belief that is far more punishing in most cases that the offenders be made to live with their crime day in and day out until their natural deaths. I think it would be much more satisfying to alot of people if, in less than comfortable living conditions, it was a part of the punishment that every single day, someone would present them with reminders of their acts.