This psychologist often is at opposite poles regarding social issues
with me.  But we are very close when it comes to criminals and the death
penalty.

The reason he feels SO strongly in throwing the book at violent
criminals is what he hears and has seen in questioning individuals like
these in determining their fitness to stand trial.

Whenever your read of a woman's body being found in the desert, 9 times
out of 10, the papers will never tell you what was done to the poor
woman's body while she was still alive, he says.

He relates what it feels like to listen to a monster tell in a
lighthearted manner, how he and his friend took turns hitting a
screaming girl trapped between them in a car with a beer bottle over and
over trying to make her shut up as they drive her out into the desert in
the dead of night.

Despite his liberalism, he HATES the ACLU with a passion because of what
he has seen.