What is your view on capital punishment?

Answer 1

Too easy of an out. I am against it. First too many mistakes and second life without parole is harsher.

Answer 2

I had to do research on this subject while I was in college. It is understood that capital punishment is not effective in any way. The research I did was with scholarly articles.

My view on capital punishment is:
- it is not effective
- it is not justified
- it is brutal and hypocritical

Actually capital punishment has severe negative consequences instead of benefits. It can reinforce negative behaviors instead of stop them and it can hinder attachment.

Capital punishment isn't typical. This type of behavior was introduced with colonization and cultural genocide in countries around the world. There are more effective forms of punishment or correction used by Indigenous peoples in many nations.

Answer 3

I strongly support capital punishment for violent criminals, meaning for rape, murder, armed robbery, and kidnapping. Here is why:

1. Historically, all cultures have condoned capital punishment, and FAVORED it under many circumstances. No reason to change that.
2. Pretend you were raped, or your loved one brutally murdered, or something of the sort. Would you not want justice done to them? Or would you let them sit in jail for a little while and then walk free?
3. Criminals easily get out on parole these days, and a large portion of them violate parole. Recidivism rate (repeat criminal behavior) is more than 60% in the United States. By killing those criminals, we will save future victims as well.
4. Life imprisonment is a drain on resources. Tens of millions of taxpayer dollars are going towards facilities for criminals. These criminals even have higher health care than the average American. And guess what? It's free. The person rapes you, and then you pay for his food for the rest of his life. WTF.
5. To those who say capital punishment is inhumane, isn't life imprisonment even worse? Little to no contact with the outside world, little contact with family, lifelong stigma, and the knowledge that you will eventually die surrounded by people that look at you and begin filing paperwork to fill your cell with someone else?

Basically, capital punishment may sacrifice one life, but it eventually helps save hundreds of others directly. The severity of capital punishment will also discourage crime.


At anyone saying we should let them suffer in prison, our money is going to their programs. That's the problem. They're suffering at our expense.

Answer 4

I believe in forgiveness and in second chances, if the criminal himself / herself feels repentance. But I've also seen people who've taken hundreds, maybe millions, of lives and shown no remorse, no sadness for what they've done....like that Oklahoma bomber or even Saddam Hussein. For such extreme cases, I totally support extreme punishment.

But sometimes I wonder if death is too easy a punishment. Would it be better to leave them in total isolation? Complete loneliness could, I suppose, be harsher than death. But then the state bears the cost of keeping them alive, so economically, capital punishment makes better sense.

Answer 5

In America it is not used often enough. For the truly heinous crimes like rape of babies or children or brutal sadistic murders the more capital punishment the better. What harm does it do? None. In Calif. the standard average wait time is over 20 years far too long.

Answer 6

I'm sort of torn about it. Economically it makes more sense than keeping prisoners for life. And of course the punishment does fit the crime, so I don't find it morally wrong. However, there's been alot of prisoners who were later proven innocent with new evidence, and what if it's too late by the time you've already killed someone to find out they're innocent? So, I'm torn. I'd make a terrible politician.

Answer 7

For certain heinous crimes, it's fitting punishment. It's a guarantee that the convicted person will never again commit any more crimes.

If our criminal justice system worked properly, there would be no need for it. But there is always a chance for dangerous people to be released from prison.

Answer 8

I have mixed feelings about this especially in recent times when DNA has been used to prove the innocence of people incarcarated for their crimes. Imagine if these people had been executed. However, my first reaction when I hear about particularly heinous crimes against children, the elderly, is that the person(s) should not be allowed to live.

Answer 9

Clean up the legal system first. My God - the rotten lawyers routinely weed out jurors if they have one ounce of sense, brightness or awareness, and the ones that make it onto a jury are either not informed or are ill-informed concerning their rights.

Answer 10

When justice is improved and "beyond a reasonable doubt," is exactly that, I want to see an express lane installed.