When will the death penalty be regarded as a brutal, unjust thing of the past?

Question

Like in Europe.

Answer 1

when murder isn't considered brutal and unjust.

Answer 2

When I read all the informed answers to questions about the death penalty, I am somewhat optimistic. We must continue get out the facts. Many answers show that more and more people know that:

1. The death penalty is not a deterrent. In fact, states with the death penalty have higher murder rates than those that do not have it.

2. The system makes mistakes. Over 120 people have been released from death rows with evidence of their innocence. There are 4 cases where it is highly likely innocent people were executed. In one case, there may not even have been a murder, in another the local prosecutor has opened an investigation into the case, citing her doubts that the right person was charged. Once an execution takes place the case is closed. If an innocent person was executed that means the real killer is still out there.

3. The system is racist in the sense that it is the race of the victim which matters. A defendant is twice as likely to face the death penalty if the victim was white than if the victim was non white. (Baldus study, see testimony of Baldus at the Senate Judiciary Committee, www deathpenaltyinfo.org)

4. The cost of a system with capital punishment is many times greater than that of a system that does not have it. And a huge part of these costs has nothing to do with appeals. A death penalty trial is really two trials, the guilt phase and the sentencing phase. Money saved by not resorting to capital punishment should be used for victims services, which are always underfunded.

5. People suffering from severe mental illness face the death penalty and have been executed, some after being forced to take anti psychotic medication to make them sane enough to understand what is happening.

5. More and more states have life without possibility of parole on the books and Americans are realizing that it is a better sentence than death and that it does not risk killing an innocent person.

6. A death sentence can be very hard on the families of murder victims. As the appeals process goes on, necessarily, so we can be as sure as possible that the prisoner is truly guilty, the families are forced to relive their ordeal in courts and in the media. Sentences of life without parole are sure and swift.

We will have to wait until Americans regard the death penalty as brutal and unjust. In the meantime, people need to learn the facts about the death penalty. Abolitionists need to make it clear that opposition to the death penalty does not mean that we condone vicious crimes. Opposing the death penalty does not mean we believe murderers should go free. Life without parole is certainly no picnic and it leaves a margin for error. Cries for vengeance will always be with us, but we need to apply common sense instead, talking about the facts and leaving the moral arguments to religious leaders.

Answer 3

Where are you talking about that happening? South America? Central America? The UAE?

Answer 4

In Canada we don't have the death penalty.And it's a concept I wish all countries would adopt.

Answer 5

Hopefully NEVER

Answer 6

Why would someone want to save vicious murderers, rapist, and pedophiles?

Answer 7

I don't think it will ever happen ! Not in my lifetime anyways !

Answer 8

When citizens quit killing each other.

Answer 9

Who knows...........we are too conservative and brainwashed here in the U.S. or should I say Texas.

Answer 10

never will