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I will admit, like Socrates and Aristotle and Plato and some other philosophers, that there are instances where the death penalty would seem appropriate.

I believe in the death penalty.

I think in some instances that the death penalty is required.

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.

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

Personally I am very much against the death penalty for several reasons.

The death penalty is becoming a way of life in this country.

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

Had it not been for slavery, the death penalty would have likely been abolished in America. Slavery became a haven for the death penalty.

If the Old Testament were a reliable guide in the matter of capital punishment, half the people in the United States would have to be killed tomorrow.