TOP OF MIND: With early voting underway: Do you plan on voting this week, and for whom?

Top of Mind is a weekly question about an issue affecting New Mexicans.

LAST WEEK’S QUESTION

Following the controversial Missouri execution of Marcellus Williams, questions regarding capital punishment resurface. Should the U.S. ban capital punishment in favor of different, harsher punishments on certain crimes or should N.M. reconsider reinstating the death penalty?

“We align ourselves with the most violent countries in the world, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Iraq and North Korea, by retaining the death penalty. We should join Europe in abolishing it. Life imprisonment without parole relieves the courts of decades of appeals and ensures that no more innocents are killed.”

— Faith Hart, Albuquerque

“There is nothing harsher than capital punishment and for our most heinous crimes it should be back on the table. It never should have been abolished in N.M. We warehouse severe offenders via life sentences and pay a high cost with taxpayer money. If they kill a prison guard, the sentence remains same.”

— Dave Coulie, Albuquerque

“Capital punishment should be applied to all criminals committing heinous crimes against all citizens. To all those against capital punishment, medical science is loaded with various drugs to painlessly end the life of animals and humans alike.”

— Harry Hart, Albuquerque

“Life in prison. Give them a reason to ponder why they are in solitary confinement. No special treatment.”

— Juan N. Valdez, Albuquerque

“The U.S. should not ban the death penalty and New Mexico should also reinstate the death penalty. The only thing harsher than the death penalty is the agony that the families of the murdered victims have gone through. The land of disenchantment is too lenient on all forms of crime.”

— Kenneth Turner, Bosque

“No N.M. death penalty. Remember, we almost killed four innocent men. In 1974, they were sentenced to death in Albuquerque. They were on Death Row in Santa Fe awaiting the gas chamber when, unexpectedly, the real killer confessed to the murder. They were released 31 months after their arrests.”

— Edwin Macy, Placitas

“No punishments should be taken off the table. In can be appropriate in some egregious cases. Ideally, it would be used sparingly with adequate safeguards. Crime should be attacked aggressively and punished with certainty. Surely, this most basic service can be improved.”

— Mark Yarnelle, Albuquerque

“If you’re dead, you don’t need to be fed, clothed, housed, watched and best of all: you don’t re-offend.”

— Stewart Burgess, Albuquerque

THIS WEEK'S QUESTION

With early voting beginning this week at county clerk offices and via absentee ballots: Do you plan on voting this week, and for whom?

Submit your response at: https://www.abqjournal.com/site/forms/online_services/top_of_mind/

Responses must include your name and city of residence to be published.