If violence doesn't solve anything then what is the purpose of capital punishment?

Question

TKD, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

Nice try, though.

Chester - so does that mean tha the person who flips the switch next to the electric chair should dlie for killing the criminal?

Lib, no I think that baby killers should be subject to the death penalty. Notice the "if"?

Bellatrix, parents try to convince kids that it doesn't all the time.

Answer 1

Given the nature of capital punishment in America, it can hardly be called violent. But capital punishment serves to let people know that capital crimes will not be tolerated.

Answer 2

Lets bring some facts to this discussion.
We should make up our minds about the death penalty using common sense based on the facts.

The death penalty is not a deterrent. Homicide rates are higher in states that have the death than in states which do not have it. Most people who commit murder do not think they will be caught (if they think at all.)

The death penalty system costs much more than a system that does not have the death penalty. Much of these extra costs come way before the appeals begin. This money ought to be spent on crime prevention methods of proven value- including more and better trained police, and more sophisticated police methods and for victims services, which are underfunded.

Over 120 people on death rows have been released with evidence of their innocence. In the majority of these cases, the evidence was not DNA, which is not often available. More often, the problem is one of mistaken eyewitnesses. After an execution, the case is closed. If the wrong person was executed the real killer is still out there.

The death penalty is racially biased, but not in the way you may think. A defendent is twice as likely to face the death penalty if the victim was white than if the victim was non white.

More and more states have life without parole on the books. It means what it says and is no picnic to be locked up for 23 of 24 hours a day, with no hope of anything else.

The death penalty can be very hard on the families of murder victims. As the process goes on they are forced to relive their ordeal in the courts and in the media. Life without parole is sure and swift and rarely appealed.

We do not excuse brutal crimes by depraved criminals. They should be severely punished. We should decide how to do this using common sense, based on the facts

Answer 3

Wrong premise. Violence does solve things. Otherwise, no-one would use it, not even the bad guys.

We all have clear examples of how violence is deterimental to society, so no need to recount them here. But we tend to forget (somewhat conveniently) cases where violence is a good solution (and therefore does solve something).

For example:

Cops shoot an armed robber
Wars stop despotic dictators (WWII)
Arrests (many of which are violent) get bad guys off the street
Fighting back against a school yard bully
Wars for independence or against slavery (ie American Revolution, Civil War)

So now the Death Penalty decision cannot be based on whether violence CAN solve something, because it can and does. Now the decision is whether the Death Penalty is a form of violence that is beneficial to society. But that's an answer to a different question.

But given that the last person DP'd in California was put to death after organizing the deaths of three people (two teenagers) while serving a life sentence (commuted from a previous DP sentence), I'd say the death penalty serves a purpose.

Answer 4

Actually, it is not violence,
violence is an act against the society, or community prohibited by law.
Force, is an act to right a wrong. So pulling the switch is using extreme force. A cop can wrestle you to the ground to put cuffs on you, that is a force to enforce a law prohibiting an activity, for example. A cop can use a sheild and a weapon, if necessary too, and that is a force to right a wrong.
Death sentence is a force...extreme force used to right and extreme wrong.
Vigilanté Justice is unauthorized force, which is still not violence.

Answer 5

Hi I'm going to try to answer your question in the way my dad has expressed his views on this subject. My dad works for the police investigating cold cases and has put bad people away where they have received the death sentence. My dad is very open minded on this subject and we talk a lot about lots of different things; even things that my mom thinks are inappropriate to share with his princess (that's me daddy's little princess). A lot of times he tells me not to mention to mom that we talked about one subject or the other. Here are some of the things he's said about capital punishment.

1. Sometimes the victim's family feels better knowing that the bad person is getting the death sentence.

2. As other people said in the answers given; my dad says that sometimes the criminal justice system will let a person out of jail because of aspects of the law I don't completely understand but he's talked on length about them. If the person is given the death sentence than that usually means all his lawyer can do is get him a life sentence in jail and not a sentence that will see him eventually out of jail and able to kill another innocent person.

3. What if the bad guy escapes from jail and kill someone else. It may be better for society if that person can't escape.

4. Now here's the reason NOT to have capital punishment. Because of unethical police officers (yes my dad says they exist and he's gotten in trouble where he works for not going along with that) an innocent person could get convicted of a crime they didnt committ because of a police officer who lies or ignores evidence that could help prove the person is innocent. My dad is VERY ethical because we are Jewish and our religion says that an unethical person has not share in the world to come. My dad told me that the bible says that everything we do carries a price. Sometimes the price is exacted in this life with a person who suffers severe pain in old age for the bad things they did to others in their youth or by not going to heaven. My dad is rewarded for his ethical behavior in this life by having a wonderful daughter and son and wife who love him and make his life at home a paradise on earth (most of the time anyway lol lol)

I hope that answered your question.

Answer 6

who decided that violence doesnt solve anything? there is a difference between killing an innocent person, and killing someone who has committed a crime. the purpose is to deter others by making them afraid of the penalty, and to save the unaffordable amount of money it costs to keep someone living in jail with food, books, tv for 50, 60 years. it keeps the worst criminals from having a wife visit them in jail, from writing books or meeting people in jail who they could influence or inspire. and their deaths are not violent. they get to sit in a nice bed and get some injection and go to sleep. obviously not the nice death their victims probably got.

Answer 7

Whoever said that violence doesn't solve anything is denying a very basic fact of life. Violence puts food on the table (hunting & fishing) protects life and property (shooting the armed robber who has a gun in the bank), and accomplishes things that diplomacy cannot (American Independance, Preventing the secession of the Confederate States of America from the union, etc.)

Answer 8

Capital punishment isn't violent. It's a very peaceful way to die... Capital punishment is simply euthanasia.

Violence is: (according to American Heritage Dictionary)
vi·o·lence (vī'ə-ləns) Pronunciation Key
n.
Physical force exerted for the purpose of violating, damaging, or abusing: crimes of violence.
The act or an instance of violent action or behavior.
Intensity or severity, as in natural phenomena; untamed force: the violence of a tornado.
Abusive or unjust exercise of power.
Abuse or injury to meaning, content, or intent: do violence to a text.
Vehemence of feeling or expression; fervor.

Answer 9

A person who has shown the propensity for killing others should be removed from the planet in order to assure that innocent law abiding people are safe to live their lives. I bet you think its OK to abort a baby though huh?

Answer 10

Your first statement is flawed. Violence does indeed solve things..permanently.

But the purpose of capitol punishment is simply to remove any further threat posed by that individual. People see no problem with putting a rebid dog to sleep because it can never be "cured"...same theory with serious criminals..

Answer 11

Accountability. Killing people in war should not be accepted unless we practice what we preach at home. The "moral superiors" in the E.U. that oppose capita; punishment include NATO members who have killed young men in uniform who committed no crimes. THAT IS HYPOCRISY!
(apologies to Iceland, Sweden, Finland, and Switzerland)