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I am against the death penalty.

My objection to the death penalty is based on the idea that this is a democracy, and in a democracy the government is me, and if the government kills somebody then I'm killing somebody.

I am not a proponent of the death penalty, but I will enforce the law as this Congress gives it to us.

I support capital punishment. But let's be clear: It's a decision for each state to make.

As long as you have capital punishment there is no guarantee that innocent people won't be put to death.

I'm actually really opposed to the death penalty.

I don't want to put one innocent person to death to put 99 that are guilty to death. So philosophically I'm a tooth-for-tooth guy, but the reality is the death penalty as public policy is flawed.

Opponents of capital punishment argue that the state has no right to take a murderer's life. Apparently, one fact that abolitionists forget or overlook is that the state is acting not only on behalf of society, but also on behalf of the murdered person and the murdered person's family.

But I'm not pro death penalty. I - I'm just anti the notion that it is not a matter for democratic choice, that it has been taken away from the democratic choice of the people by a provision of the Constitution.

The death penalty is ineffective as a deterrent, and the appeals process is expensive and cruel to the surviving family members.