Does Obama support the death penalty? (On edit: yes, he does)

[Proud2BAmurkin]

Trying to find differences between the top three Democrats. Where are they on the death penalty?

on edit: Found this. apparently he does support the death penalty:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/08/AR2007020802262_pf.html


Obama wrote in his recent memoir that he thinks the death penalty "does little to deter crime." But he supports capital punishment in cases "so heinous, so beyond the pale, that the community is justified in expressing the full measure of its outrage by meting out the ultimate punishment."

[TwilightZone]

1. Here's a handy table:

http://www.2decide.com/table.htm

I can't vouch for its accuracy, so hopefully everything is accurate.

Edit: it appears to be wrong on the death penalty for Obama.

From ontheissues.org:

Some heinous crimes justify the ultimate punishment
While the evidence tells me that the death penalty does little to deter crime, I believe there are some crimes--mass murder, the rape and murder of a child--so heinous that the community is justified in expressing the full measure of its outrage by meting out the ultimate punishment. On the other hand, the way capital cases were tried in Illinois at the time was so rife with error, questionable police tactics, racial bias, and shoddy lawyering, that 13 death row inmates had been exonerated
Source: The Audacity of Hope, by Barack Obama, p. 58 Oct 1, 2006

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. Good for him.

Taking the morally correct but unpopular stance.

[TwilightZone]

5. Actually, it appears to be wrong.

From ontheissues.org:

Some heinous crimes justify the ultimate punishment
While the evidence tells me that the death penalty does little to deter crime, I believe there are some crimes--mass murder, the rape and murder of a child--so heinous that the community is justified in expressing the full measure of its outrage by meting out the ultimate punishment. On the other hand, the way capital cases were tried in Illinois at the time was so rife with error, questionable police tactics, racial bias, and shoddy lawyering, that 13 death row inmates had been exonerated
Source: The Audacity of Hope, by Barack Obama, p. 58 Oct 1, 2006

[Proud2BAmurkin]

8. Thanks, just found that in an article too nt

nt

[TwilightZone]

13. Yeah, sorry about that. As I noted, I wasn't 100% sure of the accuracy of that table.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

12. That's actually what the way I feel.

I'm not adamantly opposed to the idea that the death penalty might be justified when it comes to, say, international war crimes in theory, but given the ridiculous racial and economic disparities of how it's done in this country I fully support a moratorium.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. Yes

~

[cali]

3. nope. n/t

[DemocratSinceBirth]

9. Perhaps

While the evidence tells me that the death penalty does little to deter crime, I believe there are some crimes--mass murder, the rape and murder of a child--so heinous that the community is justified in expressing the full measure of its outrage by meting out the ultimate punishment. On the other hand, the way capital cases were tried in Illinois at the time was so rife with error, questionable police tactics, racial bias, and shoddy lawyering, that 13 death row inmates had been exonerated

Source: The Audacity of Hope, by Barack Obama, p. 58 Oct 1, 2006

[TwilightZone]

10. Actually, there appears to be some gray area.

See #5 above.

[Proud2BAmurkin]

15. where? I just read that he does support it for "heinous crimes"

?

[TwilightZone]

21. The quote on OnTheIssues.org made it sould kind of ambiguous.

If we want to be technical, he says (in response #5 above) that the "community" is justified in using the death penalty. This could probably be loosely interpreted to mean that he understands why it's used, but doesn't support it personally.

Yes, that's parsing words, of course. I'm just anticipating a possible interpretation. :)

[Nailzberg]

6. not against death penalty, but has lead on reform of it's application

http://deathpenaltyusa.blogspot.com/2007/02/barack-obama-and-death-penalty.html

[goldcanyonaz]

7. Yes, "he supports it for cases in which "the community is justified in expressing the full

measure of its outrage."

more here.

http://pewforum.org/religion08/compare.php?Issue=Death_Penalty

[Native]

18. Wow. I can't believe so many candidates support it.

[bicentennial_baby]

11. Yes and no?

Obama says the death penalty "does little to deter crime" but he supports it for cases in which "the community is justified in expressing the full measure of its outrage." While a state senator, Obama pushed for reform of the Illinois capital punishment system and authored a bill to mandate the videotaping of interrogations and confessions.

http://pewforum.org/religion08/compare.php?Issue=Death_Penalty

[LisaM]

14. It's hard to find candidates against the death penalty

Kerry is. Gore and Bill Clinton, sadly, are not.

Of all people, Pete Coors is against it!

[TwilightZone]

16. Maybe that's the Michael Dukakis rule.

It was used against him, of course, so I think that candidates tend to take an ambiguous stance rather than a concrete one.

[bicentennial_baby]

17. Edwards, Clinton and Obama all are for it...

x(

[Proud2BAmurkin]

19. So far not having much luck finding substance differences between them nt

nt

[bicentennial_baby]

20. Me either, which is why I'm voting Kucinich

:)

[Proud2BAmurkin]

22. well I'm still voting for a Democrat. huge differences from the pukes nt

nt

[bicentennial_baby]

23. This is true...Which one?

:)

[Proud2BAmurkin]

34. whichever is nominated

:)

[bicentennial_baby]

37. You aren't voting in the primaries?

:shrug:

[Proud2BAmurkin]

40. Probably Hillary, haven't ruled out Edwards 100% but almost nt

Started out Edwards but he's not talking about national security. Clinton has had one foot in the general election all along and is the strongest image.

[MannyGoldstein]

24. Clinton and Edwards Voted For War

Obama was against the war.

Most important vote in decades.

(Incidentally - most Democrats in Congress voted AGAINST the war.)

[bicentennial_baby]

27. Yeah, but he wasn't in the Senate, so that doesn't really count

It's a nice sentiment though. :)

[MannyGoldstein]

29. When Most Americans Were For The War, Obama Spoke Out Against It

Not a trivial thing for a politician to do.

[MannyGoldstein]

25. Very Unfortunate

I'm surprised.

[Proud2BAmurkin]

33. I was surprised too. I'm against it but don't hold it against a candidate but thought he was against

:shrug:

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

26. You're taking that out of context.

For shame.

[TwilightZone]

36. Here's the entire quote:

Some heinous crimes justify the ultimate punishment
While the evidence tells me that the death penalty does little to deter crime, I believe there are some crimes--mass murder, the rape and murder of a child--so heinous that the community is justified in expressing the full measure of its outrage by meting out the ultimate punishment. On the other hand, the way capital cases were tried in Illinois at the time was so rife with error, questionable police tactics, racial bias, and shoddy lawyering, that 13 death row inmates had been exonerated
Source: The Audacity of Hope, by Barack Obama, p. 58 Oct 1, 2006

From http://ontheissues.org/Barack_Obama.htm

That isn't exactly a resounding "no".

[goldcanyonaz]

28. Glad you brought this up, appears that some of his supporters had no idea what his position was.

:shrug:

[DemocratSinceBirth]

30. Not Exactly A Supporter But I Read His Book

It's sitting next to Living History...

[ProSense]

31. Obama is far more progressive on this issue than Edwards and Clinton

Obama

Clinton: Require DNA testing for all federal executions.

Edwards: Death penalty OK despite flaws, on state-by-state decision

[Proud2BAmurkin]

35. make sure you execute caged people as fairly as possible

I don't put that in the progressive category. Still any Democrat is better than any REPUKE.

[ProSense]

42. It's far more progressive than Edwards who supports the death penalty. n/t

[Bishop Rook]

32. It's sad to see

Granted, his position is far, far better than your everyday Republican's, or even your everyday Democrat's--in that he recognizes the system is flawed, that innocent people are still put to death, and that it does nothing to deter crime.

But well, as a friend of mine once put it... "It's not that I oppose the death penalty because I don't want an innocent person to be executed. I oppose it because I don't want a guilty person to be executed either." Its effectiveness as a deterrent, its track record of putting innocent people to death, the cruel ways in which they die, all of these are secondary issues. The primary issue is that the government should not be in the business of killing people who pose absolutely zero risk to anyone but themselves.

[Disturbed]

38. Death Penalty Policy By State

STATES WITH THE DEATH PENALTY

Alabama
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Indiana
Illinois
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maryland
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Mexico
North Carolina
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Virginia
Washington
Wyoming

ALSO
- U.S. Gov't
- U.S. Military

STATES WITHOUT THE DEATH PENALTY

Alaska
Hawaii
Iowa
Maine
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
North Dakota
New Jersey
New York
Rhode Island
Vermont
West Virginia
Wisconsin

ALSO
- Dist. of Columbia

[Bishop Rook]

43. Yeah...? (nt)

[defendandprotect]

39. Wow!! Who else does??? That's not good for Obama . . . !!!

[Nailzberg]

44. Everyone does but Kucinich...!!

[no name no slogan]

41. I think it says a lot if it takes this much research to find out

It goes to show how much emphasis we put on form over substance these days