ive noticed here in the U.S. people are soft on the death penalty, why dont they shoot people, or put to use the electric chair which my past family members built, now they just put these terrible people to nap time with lethal injection?..
2007-02-24 17:53:21 · 10 answers · asked by Adam 2 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
I agree, we have gone soft. While lethal injection may seem soft, death is death. That said, if a person has committed a crime for which the death penalty was what was the final end, then that is what it should be. One of the problems that our justice system does face, as we are now finding out, the evidence to convict may have been contrived. It has happened before and will likely remain a problem. That is one point in the favor of those who oppose the death penalty. That said, I still believe that if there is clear evidence that a person has done the act that he or she, has been arrested, tried and convicted of, and a death penalty is the final end of punishment allowed by law, then that person should be killed as the law allows. Personally, I think that a firing squad should be used, and it should be televised.
2007-02-24 18:03:59 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Americans are not growing soft on the death penalty. The Americans are getting smart enough to realize that humans have been murdering people long enough to know that the death penalty does not work as a deterrent. Isn't it obvious? Just look around at the killing in America growing at an alarming case.
Also, DNA tests have proved that many men on death row today are not guilty of the crime for which they were convicted and sentenced to the death penalty.
Times change and so do outdated laws.
2007-02-24 18:09:22 · answer #2 · answered by zclifton2 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Americans are actually getting more information about the death penalty.
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 or an eye for an eye mentality. Here are a few of the facts, verifiable and sourced-
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. Life without parole incapacitates a killer (keeps him from re-offending) and costs considerably less than the death penalty.
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. There are more cost effective ways to prevent and control crime.
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.
Please take the time to check these things out. Vengeance is not a good subsitute for facts and common sense.
2007-02-25 02:05:16 · answer #3 · answered by Susan S 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I believe the death penalty has been overused in some instances. People have been executed without all the evidence in hand. I don't believe that we're "going soft" as you say, so much as various state governments are putting a temporary halt to executions until they can be sure that it's being applied evenly and justly to all people.
2007-02-24 17:58:31 · answer #4 · answered by timotito_11964 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
my opinion is this: what is a death-worthy criminal?
and my answer is: an enemy, to the public and to the United States.
How do we kill enemies normally?
with guns, grenades, missiles, bombs, and other weapons of conventional war.
so why don't we just give these criminals a shot in the head? it's 25 cents I believe for one of the bullets we use in M-16's, and it would be a lot cheaper than spending hundreds of dollars on the anthestetic used to kill them now. and it would be a better way to die too! a bullet to someone's brain causes no more than a split second of pain, while there are cases in which the anthestetic fails to kill the person.
2007-02-24 18:14:45 · answer #5 · answered by urban_myth07 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
'Better a hundred guilty persons go free than one innocent person be wrongly convicted' -Thomas Jefferson. That's the problem with the death penalty. Many innocents get convicted, and suffer the consequences of not being able to prove their innocence.
2007-02-24 18:04:31 · answer #6 · answered by normobrian 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think that some people are realizing that innocent people have been convicted, and in some cases, executed.
Some people believe that killing a violent criminal is giving them the easy way out--that it would hurt them more to have to spend the remainder of their lives in prison.
Others believe that two wrongs certainly do not make a right--that the act of killing (even the most vicious criminal) is barbaric.
2007-02-24 18:05:34 · answer #7 · answered by Holiday Magic 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Naw, the death penalty makes me hard. Why don't you shoot people? If you've ever killed then you can speak with some legitimacy, if not then just SHUT UP and go play with your dolls.
2007-02-24 17:58:50 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I dont think any sane normal person likes to think that they are the reason that someone is being killed( executionor) and it must ease there consious that they didnt have to suffer that much
2007-02-24 18:00:56 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, the are getting soft, and taking too damn long to execute someone on death row,,,,
2007-02-24 17:56:22 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋