Do you believe in capitol punishment? What are your reasons for or against it?

Answer 1

No, I do not.

If we had capitol punishment here in Britain we might already have executed a few people who were acquitted several years later.
Also, why is it assumed that capitol punishment is worse than life imprisonment (and I mean life). Some prisoners commit suicide in prison.

Another problem with capitol punishment is that the condemmed person's family probably suffer as much as they do.

Leaving aside the religious arguament that "though shalt not kill)
I do this, not because I do not believe in it, but because you could go on writing for ever about the morality of it.

You have to remember also, that the state is carrying out executions in cold blood. The murderer may have had some reason for doing what he did, no matter how twisted. Also, on a personal level, what does it say about the person/persons who are prepared to kill other people as part of their job, and no, it is not the same as the military doing it.
Please don't give me the response, "It's my duty" or, "somebody has to do it. You are operating on a personal level when you are doing a job.

I find it particularly distasteful, when executions are turned into circuses, as in th US. If you have to execute people, I am sure that the state can be trusted to do the job without about two hundred and fifty Madam la Farges' looking on. At least the person should be allowed to die with some sort of dignity. Whist I am on this subject, let me also say that I am disgusted and appalled that some women seem have been directly involved in carrying out executions. Particularly because women tend to personalise things more than men. I have to wonder what their real motivation is, because it is nearly always men that are executed. Please don't give me "it's only a job" or equal opportunities stuff.

Finally, I would like to set a little test for those who, from afar, think that they believe in capitol punishment.
Would you be personally prepared to carry it out? Would you still believe in it if it was a member of your own family. Would you be prepared to carry it out yourself in those circumstances.It's easy letting someone else carry it out, particularly when you don't know the condemmed.

There aren't any good reasons for capitol punishment, except that it saves the cost of keeping the prisoner in jail.

Finally, I am not a soppy liberal, I think that life should mean life.

Answer 2

I'm not exactly sure what "capitol punishment" is. Therefore, I shall make up my own definition: capitol punishment is a caning while in the United States Capitol, hence the name. The most famous capitol punishment took place on May 22, 1856. Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusettes had, several days past, given an inflammatory speech regarding South Carolina, including ad hominem attacks against its senator, Andrew Butler. On the 22nd, Butler's cousin Preston Brooks, a Congressman from S. Carolina, entered the Senate chamber and mercilessly beat Sumner with his cane.

In this instance, I do not believe in capitol punishment, although it is a rather humorous circumstance in retrospect.
(As an entirely unrelated aside, however, I do think that capital punishment should, at times, be employed.)

Answer 3

I've answered this question before, but I'll gladly restate it here. Here are the pros and cons.
In a nutshell:

Pros: Helps to eliminate murderers/rapists/pedophiles. Reduces population of multiple time losers in prisons rather than rewarding them with a lifetime of free food and shelter paid for by the taxpayers. Reduces need for taxpayer-funded "rehabilitation programs" where the offender is "rehabilitated", then released to kill/rape again. Improves the gene pool. Serves as a deterrent to future criminals (and yes, it does work in other countries despite what liberals have said to the contrary, and there are statistics to back it up).

Cons: None except the huge supply of scum who deserve it. Occasionally an "innocent" person is put to death; but historically in the US the number of cases like that is very small, less than 1/10 of 1 percent...and with improved DNA technology this number is fast approaching zero. I put the word "innocent" in quotes because as a rule, if you are in the system, you aren't totally innocent... even if you aren't necessarily guilty of murder. Let's say the guy didn't KILL the kid, he just participated in the torture and rape part. If he's 'mistakenly' put to death don't you think he got what he deserved anyway?

Even though there will always be some idiot out there willing to see if he can "get away with it", capital punishment is the single most effective crime deterrent available, despite what bleeding-heart liberals might think.

It is a proven fact that for every rehabilitation success story, which the liberal media glorifies at every turn, there are 1000 failures where the offender repeats the crime. Offering someone life in prison in today's justice system means offering them a life of free food, shelter, medical care, education, and the ever-present chance to escape and do it again. The death penalty insures without a doubt that they'll never do it again. Enough said.

Answer 4

I believe that the justice system has a whole lot of kinks to work out before putting someone to death. Yes, if they stay in jail the rest of their lives we pay for it. Then there is the child molesters that do not have a chance (99%) of the time to even make it to their hearing. Believe in capitol Punishment? YES! Yet the fact of the matter is... it doesn't necessarily need to be or done by the government to take place.

Answer 5

No I don't believe in Capital punishment - as Gandhi once said "An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind'.

It will certainly not repair the damage done. And in any case, it will show that we are no better than the person who has committed the crime. For who are we to decide whether the criminal lives or dies, and if he dies, how? In my worst moment, when I hear of a really sad crime (like child molestation/ killing) I often wish the perpetrator dead, but then I am no better than him, in this case.

I would rather a severe punishment is meted out to the criminal - like a harsh sentence which was gives to Zaccharias Moussaoui where he will spend the rest of his life in absolute isolation with no contact with any other human being

Answer 6

Yes as people treat the law as a joke because they can get away
with most things.You have to wait for some one to attack you with a knife before you retaliate.If you are harassed by yobs
smashing your property and the police don't do nothing the minute you let rip and some one gets hurt you are in jail. Tony
Martin was a classic case of this and finished up in jail.People
who kill innocent defensive children like in the Soham murders
should be hung and perhaps the police would have more respect if the penalty for killing a police person was also death.

Answer 7

I strongly believe in capital punishment. I wish that I could give you a new way to look at it, but I can't. I think that this life is for living. I think that if a person kills for personal gain (which only means for personal gain). I believe that you then lost the value of life. I don't think that the person should even have the right to sit in a cell. In fact, I wish that as soon as they were found guilty that the convict would be lead outside and shot.

Answer 8

No, taking a life for a life is not justified in this day and age. Although I am for strict punishment and resent having to pay for people who sometimes have a better life than many who work. I think that people who commit a serious offence (rape, murder, paedophilea etc.,) and continue to do so, should be used as guinea pigs for the medical profession, to help find a cure for terminal diseases such as HIV, AIDS, Cancer using them. At least they would be doing something good to repay all the bad they have done.

Answer 9

I believe in it because it's real and it happens....much as I believe in peanut butter.

Do I agree with it? Yes

Why? Because when it comes down to it 99.9% of people fear death. I'd say the number of people who fear a lifetime of buttrape is fewer than that percentage. I honestly believe that capitol punishment should be applied to sex offenders. If you rape someone or molest a child, their life will never be the same. So why should the rapist or child molestor get to go on living??

Answer 10

I am not really for capital punishment. The reason being is because it's really sad. Death is bad enough as it is and the process of putting one to death just makes it that much worse. However, I have never been in a situation where a loved one was killed/murdered and the killer was put to death. I'm sure that would influence my thoughts on capital punishment.