The death penalty may have cost three innocent people their lives. From The New York Times’ story on Frazier Glenn Miller, the anti-Semite who killed three people in Missouri:
In recent years, Mr. Miller has also been a devoted pen pal to incarcerated white supremacists, among them Joseph Paul Franklin, a convicted murderer who was executed in Missouri in November. Ms. Beirich, of the law center, said that Mr. Miller was very close to Mr. Franklin, whose birthday was Sunday, the day of the shooting.
More: Lest I be misunderstood, Miller is of course 100 percent responsible for his actions. He, not the death penalty, killed three innocent people. But this hatemonger had somehow made it to the age of 73 without killing anyone. Then the state of Missouri took the life of his friend. Who knows what effect that may have had on his twisted mind?
It is beyond dispute that states with the death penalty also have the highest murder rate. And some research suggests that’s no accident, as the potentially homicidal are more likely to identify with the executioner than the condemned.