What is your opinion on the death penalty?

Answer 1

You have a lot of good answers, but some are mistaken. You should make up your mind based on verifiable and sourced facts.

Re: cost Dootronomy is wrong here)
The death penalty costs far more than life in prison. The extra costs begin even before the trial.

Re: Possibility of an error (“Shadow of a doubt”- Wolfsburg should rethink this.)
DNA evidence is available in no more than 10% of all murder cases. It is no guarantee that we will never execute an innocent person. It is human nature to make mistakes. Also, the appeals process is not designed to revisit questions of innocence, only to look at whether the trial was fair and in accord with constitutional standards. Innocence is not grounds for an appeal.

Some other facts-

Re: Possibility of executing an innocent person
Over 120 people on death rows have been released with evidence of their innocence. If we speed up the process we are bound to execute an innocent person.

Re: Deterrence
The death penalty is not a deterrent. Murder rates are actually higher in states with the death penalty than in states without it. Moreover, people who kill or commit other serious crimes do not think they will be caught (if they think at all.)

Re: Alternatives
48 states now have life without parole on the books. Life without parole means what it says. Being locked up in a tiny cell, 23 hours a day, with nothing to look forward to, is no picnic

Re: Who gets the death penalty
The death penalty is not reserved for the “worst of the worst,” but rather for defendants with the worst lawyers. When is the last time a wealthy person was sentenced to death, let alone executed??

Re: Victims families
People should know that the death penalty is very hard on victims’ families. They must relive their ordeal in the courts and the media. Life without parole is sure, swift and rarely appealed. Some victims families who support the death penalty in principal prefer life without parole because of how the death penalty affects families like theirs.

Last of all, opposing the death penalty does not mean a person condones brutal crimes or excuses the people who commit them. People should make up their minds using common sense based on the facts, not revenge.

Answer 2

Death Penalty is an illogical punishment.

With death penalty, you kill the person who committed the crime, but that would not undo his evil or replace the thing which has been lost. The dead will still be dead, the raped would still be raped. Nothing changes.

I think the more logical punishment is to place the person to permanent slavery to whomever he sinned against. That way, the criminal can return the value he has taken, and he gets to keep his life, only this time he would sure wished he had died instead.

Answer 3

I do not like the death penalty. I also do not approve of abortion. This makes me a true right to life person. If it were up to me a person found to be guilty of murder would be sentenced to serve life in prison without the possibility of parole. This would mean this person would never live in the outside world again not for any reason never. I don't care if they are so old and senile that they need a caretaker. They stay in prison. People who kill and rape children are a special case. I would sentence them to life without parole but I would make sure they were in the general population in prison and that the other prisoners knew why they were there.

Answer 4

Frank,

While it seems that the majority of the world look down on the practice, I think the death penalty has a place in U.S. society.

What's bugging me about the entire process is that there've been many people found innocent of crimes when modern forensic techniques were applied to evidence that was not available when some folks were incarcerated.

You can't un-kill someone.

So, in that line of thinking, I say that if someone was to be found guilty of a capital crime nowdays, and the investigation utilized all the modern techniques available to link evidence to the accused, not within REASONABLE doubt, but without A SHADOW of doubt, I think that society will be able to accept putting these people to death. I don't think REASONABLE applies to death penalty cases...if I were to be tried under those circumstances, I would not find REASONABLE doubt good enough...would you?

Now, there are plenty of folks in prisons waiting for execution, and some have been there for decades. In those cases, I would move to re-open the investigation and look at everything through today's eyes to make certain that they got the right person. In cases where evidence has been lost or destroyed, I would commute the sentence to life in prison with no possibility of parole...'cause you can't 'un-kill' someone, right?


ADDED 2/2/07 @ 0636 EDT:

janice...I respect your opinion, but informing the general population about an inmate that's convicted of sexual crimes against minors is tantamount to giving him/her the death sentence.

I don't see how you could stand by what you said if you're going to seek justice in that manner...in all, you're suggesting that those who rape and kill kids should die, but not at the hands of the State. How is this right in your view?

Added 2/2/07 @ 1339 EDT:

Susan, you make some very good points...your ideas were written in a way that were easily understood and you did not try to bamboozle anyone with arcane facts.

However,

I stand by what I wrote where, in capital punishment cases, I do not believe 'reasonable' is good enough. The technology we both speak of is available to all...making use of said tools, while at the outset may seem expensive, the costs are marginal when the alternative is to send an innocent person to the execution chamber. As a society we have the responsibility to DO better than 'reasonable'. I think if any one of us were to (God Forbid!) be accused of capital murder, we would not want anything less for ourselves.

I also do not think that capital punishment is about deterrence, or to make the victims feel better with an 'eye for an eye' sense of justice. I think it's the ultimate expression of taking responsibility for one's deeds. My opinion...there are crimes committed that are truly unexcusable...to those who freely commit said crimes, some States dictate that those who do the crime should not have the right to mercy, or to draw breath. Until public opinion changes (don't see it happening anytime soon), capital punishment will be part of the social landscape.

Answer 5

Only sociopaths are in favour of killing convicted criminals.

There are plenty of valid arguments against legalized state murder (LSM, often mislabeled the "death penalty"), but the clowns who are in favour of LSM argue in circles the way a dog chases its tail.

First, life in prison cheaper than LSM. The costs of retrials and appeals is far more expensive than the annual cost of keeping someone locked up permanently. Even if you can get that point into their thick heads, they pro-LSM types will say, "Okay, then fewer appeals".

Second, fewer appeals means more innocent people are executed. If people can't challenge their convictions, innocent people may not have the opportunity to overturn a wrongful conviction of which there are many causes:
- inadequate defence (the Legal Aid budget for capital murder cases is the lowest, thus the poor - usually blacks - get the worst representation at trial)
- corrupt judges/prosecutors/police who hide or fabricate evidence and manipulate or intimidate witnesses
- ridiculous and outdated laws that preclude appeals (in some states, there is a 30 day limit on presenting evidence for an appeal; if the actual murderer was found on day 31, he confessed, and DNA proved he was the killer, the wrongly convicted person would STILL be LSMed)
But even if you get that through their thick heads, the pro-LSM types would still come up with another idiotic argument, that "No innocent people have been executed".

Third, innocent people ARE executed. Frequently. As of February 2 2007, 194 innocent people have been freed from convictions for crimes they did not commit, and those are only the ones who had DNA evidence prove their innocence.
http://www.innocenceproject.org/
One has to wonder how many hundreds of innocent people were railroaded into rushed convictions and executions because of racism (most who are LSMed are black) Even in recent years, clear evidence proving the innocence of the accused was no barried to them being LSMed; more recent cases include Stan Faulder (executed because of time limits on appeals, and not guilt) and Cameron Todd Willingham (faulty evidence and a zealous persecutor - oops, prosecutor).
http://www.ccadp.org/stanleyfaulder.htm
http://www.truthinjustice.org/willingham.htm

But even if you can get that point into their thick heads, they pro-LSM types will say, "Well, life in prison is more expensive than execution...".

Legalized state murder does not prevent crime, it only stops one person from killing, and that's only true IF they actually convict the guilty party. With or without the truly guilty, LSM is bloodthirsty revenge, a desire and trait long associated with sociopathic behaviour. Being "glad" to see someone LSMed is on par with killing animals for fun and molesting children.


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Answer 6

There should be a death penalty in all states.... Murder, rape, and worst of all baby rapers are not productive to society..... and there is no need to pay money to house these evil people..... Oh some people will say there are innocents that go to prison and get put on death row....... That's bull...... it's probably about 1 in a million that are actually innocent..... for those who support letting murderers and rapists loose in our streets then you shouldn't expect support from people when one shows up on your door step.

Answer 7

i think th edeath penalty is also a good idea people cant kill some one and then be looked after for the next 50 years by the state

Answer 8

Whats the point in even having the death penalty
and not using the bloody rule... All those murderers,
rapist,child molest era's, those sick F.U.C.K.E.R.S in the
world who are in jail, sitting on there asses and getting fed
by the tax payers like myself ... I'm sick of it!!

But death but electric chair,and lethal injection is to soft
a punishment, They should make all the prisoners gladiators
and they fight to the death every Friday night... And the winner
at the end of each week get a better weapon or better Armour..

That would be sweet, you could bet on them, I mean imagine
old Saddam in Old Iraqi Armour fighting Osama Bin Lardon if
they caught him. It would be bigger than the Super-Bowl ...

ESPN is proud to bring you this Gladiator Super Bout ,, in the
dusty rags from Iraq is Saddam and with the tea-towel
around his head Osama.....and the crowd goes wild....

" That would be pretty cool"

Answer 9

death penalty should be abolished in all cases, everywhere.

Answer 10

Hmmmm you kill someone for killing someone...does that not make you next in line to be killed.....(And heaven fobid you find out later the poor guy was INNOCENT. That happens TOO often.......)