The brief committee discussion yesterday was a preview of the arguments likely to eat up hours on the Senate floor next week. Keeping capital punishment entails the "real risk that we will execute an innocent person," said Sen. Jamie Raskin, a Montgomery County Democrat.
But proponents of capital punishment said they still believe in the deterrent power of the penalty, particularly for prisoners already serving life sentences. "The thing that keeps haunting me is the person serving a sentence of life without parole," said Sen. Norman Stone, a Baltimore County Democrat. "He or she can become a designated killer in prison" and face no further penalty, he said.
A recent survey found that a majority of Marylanders support the death penalty, but the level of support has decreased in recent years. Since capital punishment was reinstated in 1978, five men have been executed and another five remain on death row.
