Why are Texans pro death penalty? (Houston, West: crime, university, tax)

[iPwn]

Is revenge just part of the culture there? Is it a left-over of the Wild West mentality? Is it their type of Christianity?

[Alphalogica]

(I actually live blocks away from the Walls Unit).

I know for a fact the CJ dept. at Sam Houston State University has done extensive research on this issue, and just about any topic imaginable relating to Death Row/Executions in Texas. They frequently poll Texans on how they feel about capital punishment.

I personally think a lot of it is the so-called "Wild West mentality." I would also like to think of it as something that has political roots, but then again, I know of fairly liberal Texans who support capital punishment.

[catman]

I'm a fairly liberal Texan in some ways, and I'm for capital punishment in some cases, although I think it's used too often. It should be reserved for the worst of the worst. I don't think "Wild West mentality" ('git a rope') has that much to do with it.

[iPwn]

I guess Texans probably in reality aren't that much bigger fans of it than people from other states - we're talking like 65% of Americans as a whole and maybe 75% of Texans.

[Metro Matt]

Do you want your tax dollars spent keeping a prisoner up for the rest of his life who raped & murdered a little girl? I sure as hell don't.

[Canine*Castle]

I'm not a Texan even though I live here and I'm pro death penalty. Metro Matt said it well.

[Bulldawg82]

Some people just need killin' . . . Well said Metro Matt.

[sbrobbie]

Here is the thing, we all have heard of instutionalized, eventually conficts do not know any way of life other than prison. They are a revolving door to the system and keep doing things on the "outside", to get back in. If we had the death penalty, perhaps some conficts would not become conficts, the price of a criminal world would be too high. They had hangings at the courthouse for a reason, to put fear in those whom thought a life of crime was for them. I do not live in Texas, I am originally from Chicago, and I think we were once a free country, and each state has its own culture, and it is not for us to judge.

[TexasHorseLady]

What Metro Matt said. Plus, some people, whether you'd like to believe it or not simply cannot be and do not want to be rehabilitated, which should be the purpose of incarceration. Have a few cases of murderers released on probation and then murdering some other innocent or innocents, and you might get the picture.

This has nothing to do with "revenge" or a "Wild West Mentality", or even religion.

[Cowboybootnut]

I'm with Ron White (the comedian), we need an express lane for the death penalty.