• Sarah Palin is a supporter of capital punishment.

• She said that in case the legislation passed a death
penalty law on capital punishment she would sign it.

• "Feeling safe in our communities is not something which
we can compromise on therefore there is the need for policing in
all its forms, the court system, prosecutors and corrections,"
Palin stated in support of the death penalty while Governor of
Alaska.

• She opined that it was the right of the people to be
sure that any person who rapes and murders a child or kills an
innocent person in a drive by shooting does not do it again.
Therefore capital punishment is required to ensure safety and law
and order.

• The state of Alaska had abolished Capital Punishment in
1957. When she took over as governor, Sarah thought it apt to re
instate the death penalty in the state.

• During a debate before the Alaska gubernatorial primary
she said that she was in favor of capital punishment in
especially heinous cases such as the rape and murder of a child.
Her exact words were "My Goodness, hang them up".
		

• Obama once opined that the system of investigating and
prosecuting capital crimes was so flawed that the nation should
declare a moratorium on executions, like the one imposed in
Illinois.

• He made a statement in 2004 saying that he supported the
death penalty for certain crimes though he does not support how
it is administered.

• Obama seems to support capital punishment in certain
cases where it is considered absolutely essential. This he
attributes to cases where the crime committed is so outrageous
that the law has no other way to show its outrage except to carry
out the ultimate punishment. As examples he listed mass murders,
the rape and murder of a child etc.

• Obama made a significant effort to establish mandatory
taping of interrogations and confessions. Obama firmly believes
that no innocent victim should end up on death row and at the
same time no guilty person should go free. He made all attempts
to get the bill on the said issue approved, and his state
Illinois was the first to require taping by statute.

• Obama voted no for mandatory killing of gang members who
kill cops.

• In his book 'Audacity of Hope' he says he saw little
evidence that the death penalty is a deterrent.

• Death penalty opponents have a hope that Obama will lend
a sympathetic ear to them despite his support for the limited use
of executions. Their hope is that he will use more safeguards in
Federal cases and eventually spare some prisoners.