Carry out death penalty only if system foolproof: #tellusatoday

The number of people executed in the U.S. fell to 35 last year. Executions peaked in 1999, when 98 inmates were put to death. Comments from Facebook are edited for clarity and grammar:

It’s so sad people are feeling that it is wrong to serve a just punishment for murder. It is just if someone takes a life that he should lose his own. I mean, how simple does it have to be?

— Thomas Debaillon

The death penalty should be considered only in the most extreme circumstances, with irrefutable hard evidence and heinous crimes. We cannot risk executing an innocent person. If we focused on only these extreme cases, I imagine speed and costs would both improve.

— Michael Ulrich

There is no perfect system, and no matter what, some innocent people can be executed. Until the day you have a perfect system, I will always be against the death penalty.

There are many countries that do not have capital punishment. I don’t want to be in the company of countries such as Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria or Egypt that still have capital punishment.

— Arnold Indictor

Life without the possibility of parole is a death sentence.

— George Kubach

Letter to the editor:

It is understandable that some would demand capital punishment for the severest of crimes. Vengeance is part of the human emotional makeup.

However, capital punishment does not effectively deter crime. It is costly when one considers the appeals process. Perhaps the greatest problem with capital punishment is that it forces a defendant’s case to be heard by a jury composed of a skewed selection of the community.

Moreover, a life sentence without the possibility of parole is for all practical purposes a death penalty. That should satisfy the most vengeful proponent of capital punishment.

Execution as a punishment for crime has outlived its usefulness and should be done away with.

We asked our followers what they thought about the drop in death sentences. Comments from Twitter are edited for clarity and grammar:

If there is no doubt the person committed the crime, he or she should be executed, and much more quickly than is done now.

— @Cowgirlz1971

It’s about time. There is no bringing anyone back from a miscarriage of justice.

— @Theartfuldoge

It is because life sentences are increasing. We have gone soft.

— @DallasRoxanne

So far this year, five who were on death row were exonerated and seven last year, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

— @RockRt66

For more discussions, follow @USATOpinion or #tellusatoday.