Candidates on the Issues: Death Penalty

By The Associated Press

The Associated Press chooses an issue three times a week and asks the presidential candidates a question about it. Today's question and responses:

DEATH PENALTY: Do you support the death penalty?

Democrats:

Carol Moseley Braun: "In the Illinois General Assembly in 1984 I proposed a death penalty moratorium, 15 years before one was enacted. The death penalty is racist in its implementation, and is too often a revenge response. As Dr. (Martin Luther) King once said, 'an eye for an eye will simply leave us all blind.' Over 50 percent of inmates facing the death penalty are African-American or Hispanic, despite the fact that these minorities together make up only a quarter of our entire population. As a United States senator, I fought to allow statistical data on race to be heard at death penalty appeals. As president, I will work to establish a moratorium on the federal death penalty."

Wesley Clark: "I believe the death penalty should be available for the most heinous crimes. At the same time, I am concerned about reports of mistakes on death row, and errors and unfairness in our criminal justice system. The death penalty is too often applied in a discriminatory and uneven way. If we are to carry out the ultimate penalty, it must be with the ultimate safeguards."

Howard Dean: "I believe the death penalty should be available for extreme and heinous crimes, such as terrorism or the killing of police officers or young children. But it must be carried out with scrupulous fairness."

Sen. John Edwards: "I believe the death penalty is the most fitting punishment for the most heinous crimes, and I support it. But we need reforms in the death penalty to ensure that defendants receive fair trials, with zealous and competent lawyers, and with full access to DNA testing. I co-sponsored the original version of the Innocence Protection Act in order to advance these goals, and would consider additional measures to ensure that death sentences are imposed only on the guilty, and only after fair trials."

Rep. Dick Gephardt: "I support the death penalty for heinous crimes, but I also believe we have the responsibility to ensure that it is enforced in a manner that is fair and just. As such, I have opposed efforts to deny capital defendants access to appeals and the use of statistics on the race of death row inmates at trial. We must use the latest technology such as DNA testing, and we must provide the necessary funding to ensure that capital defendants have access to competent legal counsel. I have supported bipartisan legislation that would accomplish both these goals, and I will work to make it the law of the land in a Gephardt administration. I would also support a thorough review of the federal death penalty to ensure that its enforcement is free from discrimination."

Sen. John Kerry: "I oppose the death penalty other than in cases of real international and domestic terrorism. We know we have put innocent people to death; 111 innocent people have already been released from death row. As president, I'll enforce the law but I'll also have a national moratorium on federal executions until we use DNA evidence to make sure those on death row are guilty."

Rep. Dennis Kucinich: "I oppose the death penalty and would ban it. Ninety-eight percent of defendants sentenced to death have been people who could not afford their own attorneys. One death row inmate is found innocent for every seven executed. African-American defendants are more likely to receive death sentences than others who committed similar crimes. And the death penalty does nothing to deter crime that can't be accomplished at least as well without it."

Sen. Joe Lieberman: "I have long supported the death penalty for the most egregious crimes and terrorists, and I still do. I also believe that the death penalty must be applied fairly. That means we must ensure that people accused of capital crimes and subject to the death penalty have adequate legal protections, including the right to DNA testing and first-rate legal counsel, which is why am I a co-sponsor of legislation that would strengthen these critical protections."

Al Sharpton: "Unilaterally opposed and unequivocally under any circumstances."

Republican:

The Bush-Cheney campaign says President Bush  will begin participating in the weekly issues survey in February.