Should America abolish the death penalty?

Question

Should America abolish the death penalty?

Answer 1

No! we need it here in the UK too

Answer 2

The only reason a 'civilized' country has death penalty is to be cheap, cost's too much to keep them alive.The amount of time prisoners spend on death row is excessive I think it should be elective.
I.E. no chance of parole so you get to choose if you have lethal injection or stay a burden on the state.
life imprisonment should mean exactly what it says.
Death penalty is not a deterrent
In a 'Christian' country there should not be a death penalty, either you believe or you don't, there is NO MIDDLE GROUND, just for the 'Christian' hypocrites out there

Answer 3

The death penalty is a draconian punishment that should be reserved for the most evil and vile villains in our society, the ones that will continue to be a danger and threat even in jail.

John Wayne Gacy was one such criminal, a horrible serial killer and psychopath. One a recent Discovery Channel show a renowned psychiatrist rated him as one of the most evil killers he had ever seen. He was executed in Florida and will never be a threat again.

Charles Manson still lives in prison. He is still as crazy as ever and preaching hate and violence. He even had a Nazi symbol carved into his forehead. If he ever got out he would try to rebuild his ‘family’ and lead it on another killing spree. He has so many life term sentences against him that he will never leave jail, but as a member of the federal prison systems I have to keep supporting that “dirty word” son of a “dirty word: for the rest of his life. He has spurned every advantage that society is willing to supply and continues to want to strike out at it. Why should we continue to support him? It’s like keeping a rabid dog next door. You have to continue to feed it until it dies, and if it escapes it will wreck havoc on society. The only humane thing to do with it is to put it out of his, and our misery.

I live in a death penalty state, a state that uses its death penalty too often. When a person kills another or even a few. Then the crime is serious and they should be treated harshly for it. But, are these people a continuing threat to society? Often the reason for the attack was family (you only hurt the ones you love). If so then the person should be allowed to live. Yes, they should live in jail, and suffer a few life terms, but they should not necessarily be killed. I think the death penalty should be reserved for the truly heinous crimes, like torture killers, cannibals, mass killers, and serial killers. These people should never be allowed out, and the risk of keeping them in jail is just too great. So after the appeal process has been exhausted they should be killed. It is the best thing for society.

In the movie “Silence of the Lambs” Hannibal Lector proved just how dangerous he was, and keeping him in jail was very difficult. In fact when he broke out of jail, one of the first things he did, after killing his guards, was hunt down and kill his former jailer. Hannibal “the Cannibal” was a continuing threat to society, and dangerous to keep in any jail. He was a prime candidate for the death penalty, and his type of criminal was the reason that law was written.

Some people say that the death penalty is no deterrent to criminals. Many criminals don’t expect to get caught and a lot of people who would be eligible for the death penalty don’t care, or start killing more often so they can get caught. The death penalty doesn’t seem to slow these people down. That may be true, but it sure slowed down John Wayne Gacy. He will never kill again. If Charles Manson gets the chance he will. Hannibal Lector was a real person, a real killer. He would also continue to kill until he is caught again, and as he proved he is a continuing threat to society. If he has executed then at least that threat would be ended.

Other countries don’t like the US because they have they still have the death penalty. Some countries like Canada and Mexico will not extradite a person if they can expect to face the death penalty. So the death penalty makes the US unpopular, but for some crimes it is necessary. I just think that too many people are too quick to apply it.

Answer 4

Hell No...It's the only appropriate penalty for the cold blooded murderers, I hope all the countries were like America when it comes to fighting serious crime.

Answer 5

No, they should speed up the process. A person on death row should not spend 20 years there.

Answer 6

No way they should bring back the electric chair televise it on tv show people what it looks like to be electricuted. make an example out of some body that killed someone. maybe just maybe people will stop killing people when they see what can happen to them when they do! people kill people now days just for too do it to be cool .they dont mind going to prison all there friends are there!

Answer 7

**** no!! Some people deserve to die...if they take away this penalty the people that are scare of justice won't be that scare anymore

Answer 8

Yes, there are only a few countries left who have it. Us, Iraq, South Korea...someone notice anything wrong here?

Answer 9

Yes. Simple question, simple answer.

Answer 10

Definitely no. It fits the serial killers.