Death Penalty: Humane or Not?

Question

Personally I think if you can call hanging someone or using the electric chair inhumane, then you can call lethal injection and the gas chamber the exact same. If they want to be humane 'without' contradicting themselves, then I think they should just give the prisoners a bottle of pills and tell them to do it themselves within a certain time limit. 'Then', if the prisoners don't go on and end their misery, then the state or whatever can go ahead and kill them. By the way, it wouldn't be considered assisted suicide, 'cause the prisoners probably don't want to die in the first place.

Answer 1

There are serious practical issues aboth the death penalty, totally apart from the question of whether it is humane. Here are a few verifiable and sourced facts about it.

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.

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.

Answer 2

I think it's amazing how I could have a suffering cat put to sleep with little fuss and it wasn't inhumane. And yet, we can't dispose of a violent criminal without endless challenges about the humanity of it all. Let's get one thing straight here: lethal injection, even a noose snapping the neck or a beheading, is more humane, quicker and less painful than nature has in store for most of us.

Answer 3

I am against the death penalty for a few reasons. For one, it is inhumane and secondly... I feel it costs too much money in tax dollars to kill someone.
A better thing to do is give them a full sentence or the opportunity to commit suicide, this way my tax dollars wouldnt be wasted and the gov't can stop trying to play "god"

Answer 4

Funny you should ask that question: If murder is against the law then, I guess the needle pusher and the switch puller and the Hangman have the right to commit murder. Murder is inhumane in any sense of the word. We either pay for their death or we pay to keep them alive. It's still an out of the pocket expense. (OURS) . But, who gives the right to any person to kill anybody? Murder is murder. Thall shalt not kill.

Answer 5

The death penalty to me is humane. They say that injection is inhumane....what? I don't think they should go so peacefully. What they did to their victims, is what should happen to them! We are too soft on these criminals and I'm sick and tired of it!

Answer 6

In my opinion, the best punishment is being imprisoned forever in a jail. Death penalty is an easy way out to escape things. Of course, i might have felt differently if crimes are done to me. lol.

Answer 7

Death penalty, is the execution of a convicted criminal by the state as punishment for crimes known as capital crimes or capital offences. Historically, the execution of criminals and political opponents was used by nearly all societies—both to punish crime and to suppress political dissent.So,it's humane.

Answer 8

i do no longer consider it the two. what sort of a lesson does that coach? besides the undeniable fact that whilst it consists of terrorism and all that, i'm in touch in it. i assume that would not make experience, in spite of the undeniable fact that that's what it extremely is it is not that i've got self assurance undesirable for the folk being positioned to dying, I in basic terms think of that they ought to could rot in penitentiary something of their lives. dying is in basic terms too undemanding

Answer 9

First off humane or not it is cheaper to sentence them to life than give them the death penalty. but I say it is humane.

Answer 10

Committing a crime that deserves the death penalty. Humane or not?