Of course I'm against death penalty for many reasons but what amazes me most about the US system is the extremely long delay between the crime and the final death penalty. This delay is longer than the usual 'life' sentence in Germany.

Youths (up to 18, or even up to 21 in some cases) get at most ten years even for the most brutal of crimes. Adults get most times a life sentence for murder which is under review after 12 to 15 years. In normal cases (not a particular brutal murder and not a multiple murder) the offenders come free after 12 to at most 20 years. Of course, if the person still is considered dangerous or if the murder was exceptionally brutal (let's say at the end of a prolonged rape and torture) 'life' can mean life, but even in thes cases, the murderer would come out when being really old and unable to do any physical harm.

The US system ensures that the murderer lives in prison about as long as 'life' would be in many countries of Europe. Then, finally, when he has had enough time to really become a different and probably better person and even truly rues what he has done and is no longer any real threat, then is the perfect moment to finally kill him.

Wolfgang