for or against capital punishment?

Question

personally, im against the death penalty. i think it's borderline barbaric for a civilized society to take the life of its people.

please dont give me the saving taxpayers money excuse. that just makes people sound disposable and you sound like an inhumane asshole

really....did someone just say that if we didn't have capital punishment, than civil war will break out?? got news for ya, slick. civil war in the middle eats has exactly 2 things to do with the death penalty : jack and ****. give me a freakin break.

Answer 1

I am strongly against the death penalty... here's why:

1- I think it's extremely cruel, barbaric and unfair to kill another human being.
Who are we to say if someone else deserves to live or not? Why are we so quick in taking life away, knowing that we will never be able to bring it back?
Nobody deserves to die. Period.
2- It's not justice, but simple barbaric revenge. Justice is supposed to be all about harmony and retribution, about redemption, about understanding and "fixing" our mistakes, not about dealing even more harm. Violence and resentment only creates more violence and more resentment.
3- It has not been proven to be an effective deterrent. In fact, countries with the death penalty often have higher crime rates that countries without it.
4- It's a half-assed way of "solving" things.
Instead of looking at the root consequences of crime (poverty, poor education, psychological conditions, bad childhood upbringing, etc.) and attempt to solve them, the death penalty simply tries to eliminate the symptoms, leaving their causes intact.
Crime is not a disease in itself, but a symptom that something else is wrong in society. Countries with high social inequality, high levels of poverty, low levels of education and very violent societies always have higher criminal rates than those societies that are more equal and better educated.
The real way of solving crime is through rehabilitation, psychological research and counseling efforts, as well as through the progressive elimination of the root causes of crime.
To simply make the criminals "dissapear" without addressing the causes of crime is like taking painkillers and not going to the doctor to take the bullet you have stuck in your shoulder. Sure, the pain will go away temporarily, but in the end, the wond will get infected and you'll die anyhow.
5- Everybody deserves a second chance. As simple as that.
The truth is that we do not live in a fair world, and while crime can never be condoned, we can understand its causes.
The problem is that we keep seeing "crime" as a voluntary choice, while in fact we should be seeing it as the result of a series of involutary events of other root causes that end up causing such resentment and pain on the individuals. (poverty, inequality, difficult childhood, bad upbringing, poor education, etc.).
Crime should not be seen as the fault of the criminal alone, but as the fault of the whole society for giving up on him.
We should never give up on any human being, everybody deserves a second chance.
6- To provide the State with a legal way to kill you is just plain dangerous.
Very often, the death penalty is easily abused by dictatorships and/or weak democracies, as an excuse to eliminate political opponents, dissenters, or simply plain "undesirables".
Such examples can sadly be found all around the world, all around human history.
From the Chinese government using it's "anti-terrorism law" as an excuse to kill Ughiur and Tibetan independence activists, as well as other political dissenters, to countries like Pakistan or Nigeria, to the US unfair imprisionment and framing of activists like Mumia Abu-Jabal or Leonard Peltier, the death penalty ends up being nothing more than an excuse for opressive states to eliminate those who dissent or defy the established social norm.
7- Human justice is not perfect. Sometimes the criminal justice system commits mistakes when judging people.
If human justice is not perfect, that means that there is an error margin. And if there is an error margin, that means that innocent people might get killed while guilty people might get away with crime.
Who are we to judge who deserves to live or die, if our justice is flawed?
If a rich person that can pay himself a kickass lawyer has a greater chance of getting away with crime than a poor person that has to rely on an underpaid district attorney, isn't that unfair?
Since human justice is far from perfect, we have no right to decide who lives or who dies. In such system, if our justice makes a mistake, the price to pay is just too damn high.


I seriously recommend all death penalty supporters to watch the movie "Dead Man Walking", staring Sean Penn. That movie really makes you understand that criminals are still human beings after all, and that they also have families and loved ones that will suffer with their deaths.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112818/
Why give up on people?

Answer 2

I believe in the death penalty 100%. I work in a jail, we spend over $25000.00 for just toilet paper, we have an 80% turn around rate meaning 80 out of every 100 inmates come back at least 2 more times. Why should we keep an inmate alive that is facing a life sentence. Which would you rather spend money on supporting rapists of children or getting the homeless off the streets. I have noticed that people who say they are against the death penalty are willing to kill someone who is raping or sexually abusing their children.

Answer 3

You are right that it is barbaric, but many things in life are barbaric. If the state carries out the punishment, then the people will not turn against each other to "take care of business" as they are in Iraq with Sunni against Shia, in a civil war. Victims families should not to have to engage in any kind of revenge. So capital punishment provides a necessary (and barbaric) outlet for the rage of the victims' families.

Answer 4

Against. I think ultimately it is up to the Big Guy upstairs to decide.

Killing someone (although I can understand how tempted one could be with some really barbaric people) because they killed is kind of a oxymoron.

Somebody once posted a good comment. It was along " So many people are pro-lifers, the kid is not wanted, will grow up completely deviant, will kill.........and then will be executed by the same people"..the phrase was much better than that but it made a good point I think.

Answer 5

I absolutely believe in capital punishment. My father has been in jail for most of my life for murder. He says that he just scraped his way out of the death penalty. The way I see it, if u take someone elses life for absolutely no good reason (e.g. self defense or defense of a loved one) you should be punished accordingly. I don't wish anyone dead, but we can't just have these people sitting around in jail getting better treatment than they deserve. It would be hard for me if my father had gotten the death penalty, but I would also take comfort in knowing that he couldn't be paroled with the possibility that he could kill again.

Answer 6

Against the death penalty. I do not believe that anyone has the right to take the life of another human being.

Answer 7

I think that if someone is caught in the act or proven guilty should instantly be shot with an ak. It would lower the crime rate with a few good examples.

Answer 8

I am totally for capital punishment. It would save tax payers money by just executing them instead of paying $40,000 a year to keep them in prison.

Answer 9

oh i would have to say down here in Texas we are putting in an express lane for capitol punishment so if enough of these heathens are put to death maybe it will send a message to the rest of the perverts, rapist,murderers etc. heeeeee hawwwwwwwwwwww

Answer 10

Against.

It's barbaric.