How do you feel about Capital Punishment (ie. the death penalty)!!

[Laize]

I don't think the death penalty is a deterrent. I don't think it needs to be a deterrent. I think our criminal justice system should deliver justice. Plain and simple.

Rehabilitation for those who can be. Life sentences for those who can't.

The prison system in Norway works wonders for them. Good for them.

I, however, have no desire to coddle criminals.

[Purlina]

Why are defendants with a low budget ($300,000) for defense attorney's twice as likely to be sentenced to death when compared to those with more money ($620,000)?

BTW trial costs are the major reason why executions cost so much.

[Cerus]

Wow. This garbage hit 12 pages quick...

So, the primary arguments AGAINST capital punishment seem to be:

1) You cannot be 100% sure of someone's guilt.

2) What if you execute someone and find out later you were wrong?

3) Prison sentences can be reversed. Death cannot.

All three of these are really very similar, but let us put a slight spin on each. I'm not changing the context whatsoever, just flipping the coin (or looking at the Yang):

1) You cannot be 100% sure of someone's innocence.

2) What if you choose to free someone who was guilty and they kill someone else?

3) The innocent person could be killed in prison or could die of old age if NOT reversed. And if it is reversed at some point, was it any less wrong to convict them in the first place?

I have to ask - what is the problem with death? People are dying everyday by the thousands. Maybe not next door, maybe not in your city, but the world is losing people for countless reasons. African nations and middle-eastern nations are constantly at war. We have to be realistic when we look at the human race and say "We are a war-like species". We are barbaric. We've become more civilized over the centuries, but we will always be barbaric at the core. Murders are commited everyday for exactly this reason.

Now my opinions of the reasons stated above:

1) You ABSOLUTELY can be 100% certain of someone's guilt.

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Lee_Loughner

- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anders_Behring_Breivik

There is no "alleging" in these cases. They did it. Period. And these are just two of the recent ones. There are many others out there. Capital punishment would always (I would say "almost always" personally) be reserved for cases such as these. If there is doubt for the conviction, then putting people to death is certainly risky.

2) This is trickier, but it just sounds like a cop out to me. This relies more on our justice system being improved to make more accurate calls. The first change that needs to happen is any and all evidence should be required as admissable, regardless of how it is obtained. There have been countless cases of evidence being inadmissable due to the nature in which it was discovered and numerous others where evidence failed to get turned over, etc. This kind of shit needs to stop. Evidence is evidence and is vital to making a proper decision.

3) Before being exonerated from Death Row, the average time spent there was 9.8 years according to DeathPenaltyInfo. That's quite a bit of leeway before putting a needle in their arm. How much time do you think they should have to enter new evidence? Again, it's a justice system issue, not one for capital punishment. If you have something to say or evidence to speak of, get it out there before the trial is over.

Also according to that website, over 1000 people have been put to death in the U.S. since 1976. Only a handful of those (less than 20) seem to have had strong evidence of innocence. Granted, we don't have much knowledge on how many of those executed may have actually been innocent, but either way the statement "many, many innocent people have been executed" is just bad form and incorrect.

-Judge

You cannot be 100% certain 100% of the time - that is the point. A motto of our justice system is that it is better for 10 guilty men to go free than to let one innocent man go to prison. You speak of evidence and that if it exists then it needs to be brought forward before the trial is over. Do you know how many people who have gone to prison because they couldn't afford a good lawyer?

Bottom line is that if even a single innocent human being has been put to death then that is a FLAWED system and should remove capitol punishment from the table. What if it were your friend, loved one etc who was murdered by the government? Would you feel the same way? I doubt it.

[Maneo]

I just find it interesting when states such as Texas are so anti-abortion but so pro-death penalty.

To be fair though you could say the reverse.

Those states (individuals) that are pro abortion and against the death penalty

I guess its all about timing

[Purlina]

To be fair though you could say the reverse.

Those states (individuals) that are pro abortion and against the death penalty

I guess its all about timing

What?

The argument for pro-choice is that before your born you don't qualify as a human. Criminals are still technically human beings.

[Viperdream]

It's something good in my opinion.

However, when someone gets executed that was innocent. Then it's of course wrong.
But with the current technology we have today, it's quite hard to be wrongly accused.

And then again. Why would it be more cruel to kill someone than putting him in a cell for the rest of his life?

But everyone does deserve a second chance. People shouldn't get executed after killing one person (even though I know that just killing one person is already bad enough).

[Deleted]

Capital Punishment never solved anything and never will solve anything.

Criminals need help and I think they should get it. It sickens me when I read stuff like "Well... This costs money and these people don't deserve to be helped". Everyone deserves treatment with dignity.

Capital Punishment IN MY OPINION is murder under government protection.

[Glow88]

I support the death penalty.

Frankly if a person is stupid enough to commit a crime that would warrant the death penalty being an option then I see no reason to protect them from it. We are all born with free will and we should all have to be held accountable for our actions if we are proven sane. Holding people in prison for life without parole ends up costing the state (and as a direct consequence the law abiding citizens) to pay for their meals and other living necessities.

People would be less likely to make mistakes if they were held accountable for their actions.

[Brubear]

Do, you say that killing anyone is unacceptable, regardless of the murderer having killed themselves, maybe even multiple murders? Really...? Really?

Execution of them -prevents- them from causing even more harm! The victim's family, friends are suffering. They have demoted themselves from 'human being' status, so they don't deserve the courtesy of being let alive after what they did.

It does -not- mean that it should be flung around like confetti, it should be used for proven, irredeemable offenders. Not that BS 230 years or whatever in prison.

So does locking them up in solitary confinement. They can't harm anyone else but themselves. Many would argue that is a far worse fate than death.

Yes, I personally feel that intentionally taking the life of someone is something that we, as a society should avoid if at all possible. If there are steps we can take to prevent loss of life, we should take them.

I went with the first definition from the first dictionary website that came up on Google (dictionary.com) I did not cherry-pick my definition. But I'll use your definition. Under US Federal law murder is the unlawful killing of a human being with malice aforethought. Therefore, the only reason that capital punishment is not murder within the US is because we said it's legal. That definition fits the bill of murder in any country where capital punishment is not legal. So, it's only murder if someone else does it. If we do it it's okay. Tell that to Cameron Todd Willingham, I'm sure he appreciates the clarification.

*EDIT* In other words, it's government-sanctioned murder. Is that a more acceptable way to phrase it?

Here are some more reasons why I am opposed to capital punishment.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barry-..._b_272327.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameron_Todd_Willingham

http://lubbockonline.com/stories/062...97196667.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Cole

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/12/16/...ion/index.html

[krzysko13]

Tax payers paying for the long (even above 40 years) life of serial rapists/killers/child molesters in jail, that's just wrong.

[Deleted]

It's all fun and games until the wrong person is killed.

What a horrific situation for those involved. An officer comes to your door tomorrow and tells you that you're under arrest. Next thing you know you're being charged with murder and it wasn't even your fault. You're going to be killed. Your wife and kids are besides themselves with anguish and none of you can do anything about it. The day comes, you're histerical but you are killed. Your family are destroyed. Then they find out after they killed the wrong person. Everybody involved will now be involved for the rest of their lives - mentally.

Best to avoid a situation like that. I think our societies are way too comfortable as they are anyway. You look at the East - Some areas will stone you for holding a woman's hand (Just an example of how far out minded East and West are - and I'm not implying there's a right or wrong.) where as we over here have strict laws that control the way our officers handle people when arresting and such.

Not only that but people can get crazy too. Like uncontrollable rage, if you kill someone you feel it then sure, but once the rage is gone you'd probably begin to wish it had never happened. Thats why we have laws that state people were not in complete control of themselves and stuff.

[themightysven]

I would much rather have life imprisonment (no parole, in solitary) in these cases instead of the death penalty.
1. if they're wrong (and I live in Texas where there have pretty clearly been people misexecuted) there's no way to undo the damage.
2. the standard for conviction is not high enough. (reasonable doubt, shouldn't it be absolute certainty?)
3. it brings the citizens of the state/country down to the level of the murderers.

[ugotownd]

I'll bet 95% of the people in this thread have never suffered a lose that would result in a person even receiving a death penalty. Tell me after a convicted pedophile that was released rapes and murders your 5 yr old little girl how your views change. I was not really in favor of capitol punishment till I lost my daughter now Im completely for it.

[Purlina]

I'll bet 95% of the people in this thread have never suffered a lose that would result in a person even receiving a death penalty. Tell me after a convicted pedophile that was released rapes and murders your 5 yr old little girl how your views change. I was not really in favor of capitol punishment till I lost my daughter now Im completely for it.

Sorry for your loss.

But how would you feel if a loved one was executed for a crime they didn't commite?

[Brubear]

I'll bet 95% of the people in this thread have never suffered a lose that would result in a person even receiving a death penalty. Tell me after a convicted pedophile that was released rapes and murders your 5 yr old little girl how your views change. I was not really in favor of capitol punishment till I lost my daughter now Im completely for it.

I'll bet that 99.99% of the people in this thread have never lost a person who was wrongfully executed.

Imagine how you feel, now imagine that your daughter was taken from you in the name of justice. Imagine it was done by the government. How hard would that be? How would you handle that?

Understand that I am in no way trying to diminish your feelings or say in anyway that what you went through is not something I would wish on even my greatest enemy. It is something that I personally have not experienced and I can't even imagine just how painful it would be.

However, I can also understand that I can't even imagine how hard it would be to fall on the other side of the coin and have someone I love to be wrongfully executed.

That is why I will go with life in prison over the death penalty every day. Because you can prevent what you went through with life in prison, you can't prevent what Cameron Todd Willinghams family and friends went through with the death penalty.

[Zecora]

Entirely against Capital Punishment. Not only is it a barbaric practice that lowers those who use it to the level of the murderers themselves, but we have seen time and again how fallible the justice system is. You can release and compensate a wrongly imprisoned individual...you can do nothing once someone has been executed.

[eriseis]

I have to ask - what is the problem with death? People are dying everyday by the thousands. Maybe not next door, maybe not in your city, but the world is losing people for countless reasons.
-Judge

Doesn't this invalidate your whole argument and make murder ok?

[Borzo]

I'll bet 95% of the people in this thread have never suffered a lose that would result in a person even receiving a death penalty. Tell me after a convicted pedophile that was released rapes and murders your 5 yr old little girl how your views change. I was not really in favor of capitol punishment till I lost my daughter now Im completely for it.

With all due respect... Imagine if they came and charged YOU with the murder and rape of your lost daughter - then shamed, humiliated, and convicted you in public for all to see - and then executed you.

It wouldn't get your daughter back. The rest of your family would be even more destroyed than they already were. And to top it off, you'd be irreversibly dead. And after all this, the real criminal would still be out free to do it again.

[Catta]

You assume that the murderer in question (assuming total, 100% undeniable guilt) should have rights as a human being, after having taken away the life (and violating the rights of) another human being.

i think the thing about unalienable rights is that they are... unalienable...

[Borzo]

i think the thing about unalienable rights is that they are... unalienable...

Right. It depends on how you view "rights"...

Does society give you rights (that they can then take away)? Or do you think rights are something that can NEVER be taken away?