[DanaC]

**Hands Yelof a guinness and a Camberwell carrot**

I've found that many death-penalty opponents change their tune when someone close to them is murdered.

.....except in Europe where many of the families of murder and rape victims dont change their tune. They usually start wanting life to mean life. We are just as prey to violent crime we fear the murderer and the rapist just as you do, European parents face the demons that lie in wait for their children just as much as american parents.

I don't want to risk becoming a victim of a crime, or someone in my family becoming a victim, because a defendant was given a slap on the wrist, got out early because of time served

No indeed. Nobody wishes to invite risk into their lives. Personally I dont want to risk getting falsely accused and convicted or any of my loved ones getting falsely accused and convicted in a legal system which allows for my and any other citizen's death. Nor frankly would I be thrilled at the idea of a loved one of mine losing control or becoming psychotic and finding themselves on deathrow for a moment of madness......In fact....given that any one of us could find ourselves related to someone who has committed a terrible crime, i dont much like the idea that if such a thing were to happen the state wold have the right to kill my loved one, no matter what they have done.

As a citizen I expect to see those who have committed serious crimes brought to book and placed somewhere secure until such a time as they are no longer a risk to society. If that means they never get out then thats unfortunate. ....

I do not wish to live in a society where anybody, be it the criminal with murderous intent or the High Court , has the right to kill me.

The murderer steps beyond society's bounds when he kills another ....and that is not to be tolerated. But he and I are the same animal. I walked my road and it brought me to the place I now sit. S/he has walked a different road and I cannot say with utter conviction I would have walked that road and not ended it at the place they find themself.

So....in a way my stance against capital punishment is not just a poltical one....On a purely selfish level I feel safer ( for me and my loved ones) in a society that doesnt have the right to take my life for any reason.