American voters occasionally elect a reactionary president such as Ronald Reagan, and they occasionally elect a progressive like Barack Obama. Nevertheless, the vast majority steadfastly clings to the concept of revenge as the basis for American justice system. Support for capital punishment has remained stable at 60 percent and even higher for the past four decades.
Ronnie Lee Gardner awaited execution on death row for 25 years; in Germany, as a convicted murderer, he would probably have long since been set free. The debate in the United States, however, turns predominantly on irrelevant questions about whether lethal injection is humane or death by firing squad barbaric.
Obama, who is not personally against capital punishment, is familiar with the unforgiving nature of his countrymen. There exists a deep conviction that murderers have given up any right to return to society, which is why many death penalty opponents settle for life imprisonment as an alternative. The principle holds true for the United States as it does elsewhere: politicians can only do away with the death penalty if they ignore the will of the people.
There are 6 billion people on this planet. We have no need to keep the troublemakers & murderers alive, they waste my air with each one of their unnecessary breaths.