The death penalty was under heavy attack in the courts and in public forums, and polls indicated that it was the issue that most sharply divided liberals from conservatives. Messrs. Buckley and Allen begin by discussing why this should be a touchstone issue, and progress to considerations of whether the death penalty in fact deters, and whether, even if it does, it can be morally defended. SA: "I think there are probably various reasons why conservatives generally favor capital punishment. I think one of them may be so obvious there is the traditional risk of overlooking it, and that is simply that it exists and that it has existed for a long time."Episode 004, Recorded on April 11, 1966