Here is a great letter to the editor by Robert Nave, executive director of the Connecticut Network to Abolish the Death Penalty. Nave really hits the nail on the head in expressing how I feel about abolition and the death penalty.

You all know that I do not believe any human being should be murdered by the government (or by ANYONE). I do not think we have the right to make that choice, no matter how hideous the underlying crime (and some of the underlying crimes are admittedly so horrid I want to be sick to my stomach). However, this opinion has developed over years of thinking about this issue and is based on all of the things Nave discusses in his very brief but poignant letter. My opinions on the death penalty did not start with "no human being should be murdered," they started with "the death penalty is not a deterrent, that it is racially and economically biased, that it has killed and will continue to kill innocent people and that it is cost ineffective."

Abolition is not about saving the lives of murderers (though it may seem that way from my blog from time to time since I try to put a real life human face on the government's murders), it is about respecting life and living in a society where violence and vengeance are not sanctioned. It is about recognizing that the system is BEYOND flawed. I read somewhere (apologies to the author) that the application of the death penalty is best analogized to a lottery. To me, that's one of the main problems with it. Who decides who lives and who dies? If you believe someone should get death, are you willing to start the injection? Some supporters are...most are not.

Death-penalty Foes Are Victim Advocates