What are som thoughts on capital punishment?

Answer 1

It's not reversible if you get the wrong person convicted and it's a punishment that would otherwise be murder which we generally regard as pretty extreme. Two wrongs don't necessarily make a right, turn the other cheek, etc.

Answer 2

I think that people should make up their minds about this issue using solid facts. Here are just a few. All are verifiable and sourced-

Re: Possibility of executing an innocent person
Over 120 people on death rows have been released with evidence of their innocence. Many had already served over 2 decades on death row. If we speed up the process we are bound to execute an innocent person. Once someone is executed the case is closed. If we execute an innocent person we are not likely to find that out and, also, the real criminal is still out there.

Re: DNA
DNA is available in no more than 10% of murder cases. It is not a miracle cure for sentencing innocent people to death. It’s human nature to make mistakes.

Re: Appeals
Our appeals system is designed to make sure that the trial was in accord with constitutional standards, not to second guess whether the defendant was actually innocent. It is very difficult to get evidence of innocence introduced before an appeals court.

Re: Deterrence
The death penalty isn’t 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: cost
The death penalty costs far more than life in prison. The huge extra costs start to mount up even before the trial.

Re: Alternatives
48 states have life without parole on the books. It means what it says, is swift and sure and is rarely appealed. Being locked in a tiny cell for 23 hours a day, forever, is certainly no picnic.

Re: Who gets the death penalty
The death penalty isn’t 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
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.

Opposing the death penalty doesn’t mean you condone brutal crimes or excuse people who commit them. According to a Gallup Poll, in 2006, 47% of all Americans prefer capital punishment while 48% prefer life without parole. Americans are learning the facts and making up their minds using common sense, not revenge.

Answer 3

Capital punishment serves no utility whatsoever, it is not effective in stopping the behavior. I think that capital punishment is just an emotional punishment to make the offended party feel like there was justice for the wrong that was done to them.

Answer 4

The death penalty is punishment for our worst offenders. Prisoners are given hundreds of chances to prove their innocence. Recently, there was a guy in Texas who was let off death row after being there for 33 years. Not because he was innocent, but he was given enough chances before he died to show that he was retarded. He and friends killed a young couple who were out on a date. He and his buddies raped the girl, then stabbed her and her date.

Call me a bad person, but I have little sympathy for this man who elected to act like an animal and take the life of innocent, young people.

People always refer the the 8th Amendment that talks about cruel and unusual punishment. Well we got rid of hanging, firing squads, the electric chair and the gas chamber because of the 8th Amendment. Call me a bad person, but if a person makes the decision to take an innocent life, while he's committing a crime (capital murder), then I honestly think he has surrendered his right to live.

Those who argue against the death penalty would not feel so charitable if their own wife, mother or child was robbed, raped and murdered. I am in favor of the death penalty. These bad people deserve all they get.

Answer 5

According to Christian belief, even the most depraved criminal can achieve redemption through meditation and penitence. So Christians should not support capital punishment.

Answer 6

The big thought is,"What if evidence not available at trial, or suppressed by the prosecution, surfaces after sentence has been executed?" No commutation of sentence would be available...

Answer 7

Me believes that we (as human beings and Sasquatches) have no right to take anothers life. The right to claim anothers life ends with God alone. Not mankind!

Just my opinion as you asked!

The Ol' Sasquatch Ü

Answer 8

Kill a child = Fry
Kill a cop = Fry em twice
rape a child........turn em loose in the general population....they will take care of the death penalty

Answer 9

i hate punishment but what is capital punishment.... punishment is rude u cant go to dances.

Answer 10

The dead penalty is the Hammurabi code in action.
Simple as that.