The Debate over the merits of capital punishment has endured
             for years, and continues to be an extremely indecisive and
             complicated issue. Adversaries of capital punishment point to the
             Marshalls and the Millgards, while proponents point to the Dahmers
             and Gacys. Society must be kept safe from the monstrous barbaric
             acts of these individuals and other killers, by taking away their
             lives to function and perform in our society. At the same time, we
             must insure that innocent people such as Marshall and Millgard are
             never convicted or sentenced to death for a crime that they did not
             Many contend that the use of capital punishment as a form of
             deterrence does not work, as there are no fewer murders on a per-
             capita basis in countries or states that do have it, then those
             that do not. In order for capital punishment to work as a
             deterrence, certain events must be present in the criminal's mind
             prior to committing the offence. The criminal must be aware that
             others have been punished in the past for the offence that he or
             she is planning, and that what happened to another individual who
             committed this offence, can also happen to me.
             But individuals who commit any types of crime ranging from
             auto theft to 1st-Degree Murder, never take into account the
             consequences of their actions. Deterrence to crime, is rooted in
             the individuals themselves. Every human has a personal set of
             conduct. How much they will and will not tolerate. How far they
             will and will not go. This personal set of conduct can be made or
             be broken by friends, influences, family, home, life, etc. An
             individual who is never taught some sort of restraint as a child,
             will probably never understand any limit as to what they can do,
             until they have learned it themselves. Therefore, capital
             punishment will never truly work as a deterrent, because of human
             nature to ignore practised advice and to self learn.
             There are those wh...