This legislation is long overdue. Putting people to death as punishment is wrong on so many levels. Not only is it more costly than life in prison and unequally implemented, it is irreversible. We have mistakenly put people to death before. And that doesn't even get into the question of morality. Do we really have the right to take the life of another as punishment?

I'd rather see that person be locked up for the rest of their life.

@1 Amen. Just look at the Central Park 5. Trump took out a full page ad calling for their EXECUTION.

Judges and juries are prone to error.

When a trial results in an innocent person convicted, if they are incarcerated, some attempt to right the wrong can be made once the error is discovered. Nobody can give the wrongly damned their years lost back, but they can be compensated monetarily, in hopes this will ease their pain upon release.

You cannot, however, restore the wrongly condemned if they have been murdered by the state. Once dead, there's no going back, no "whoops!".

It is inherently unethical for the state to murder its citizens. Even if guilty, murdering them does not 'correct' their behavior, it does not 'reform' them. How are you going to reform the dead?

If the language we use "Department of Corrections" or Penitentiary- a place where one does penance- means anything at all, we must not murder those convicted under our custody.

It seems so insane to me that one would even have thought about legally murdering the incarcerated to begin with. What purpose does it serve?

I do, however, fully support deporting Tim Eyman. Unreservedly.

@1: Agreed. As do most true conservatives.

It doesn't work. If a guy can admit to killing 6 people (Carnation killer) and not get the death penalty, then when is it supposed to work? Yes, abolish it.

Only an asshole would abolish the death penalty for purely fiscal reasons.

Has anyone ever noticed how damn sexy our Governor looks when he's standing up there being all ethical and shit?

I mean, I'm attracted to his policies. Of course, its just his policies. His long, stiff, hard policy on... sorry, I got sidetracked there.

Jay Inslee should be thinking about the White House. Obama's pretty, Inslee's pretty.... after four years of a man who resembles an orangutan in there we're gonna need to bring back the pretty.

I'm not saying I vote with my dick, or anything. It's really difficult to hold a pencil with my cock, although I have tried. It was a little easier when all I had to do was hit a lever with it, but that's beside the point. Or it was. Anyway, Inslee's looking pretty good lately :)

I think it should be left to the family of the victim.

No rational person thinks capitol punishment it is a deterrent, therefore it must be retribution... and I have no problem with the family collecting their pound of flesh, should they so desire.

@9,

I'm reminded of Mafia films, like the Untouchables, Goodfellas, stuff like that. Or family feuds like the Hatfield and McCoy thing.

You know, sometimes whole countries get in on the act, too. The Greeks and the Turks have split Cyprus in half because of an ancient rivalry. The Israelis and the Palestinians seem to be acting one out thats been taking place since before recorded history began. The Serbs and the Croats, too. Then there's the Troubles of Northern Ireland. The tension between the Russians and the Germans. The Romanians and the Hungarians.

Thats all retribution, too. Its all a pound of flesh taken from one side and then taken by the other.

Do you think that's okay too?

"The Death penalty is a lot like the McRib, when you can't have it sometimes it seems attractive. However, when your face to face with it you find your self asking, MY GOD, what kind of a society would permit this?"

-John Oliver

@9: NO.

@10

Yes. I have no problem with retribution.

When I first moved to Washington in 1983, the very first friend I ever had was brutally raped and murdered by a psychopath named Brian Keith Lord. He kidnapped her, then raped her repeatedly and then bashed in her skull with a claw framing hammer.

They found her body in a ditch about 300 yards from my house. She was only 16.

I sat with her family at his trial and saw firsthand what this did to them. So, yeah, I think retribution should be left to the family. I'd kill that motherfucker myself if I had the chance, then I'd have a beer and sleep like a baby.