I think if a prison sentence is over one life sentence it should automatically be defaulted to death penalty--

Question

What say you!?!?!?

Answer 1

Before deciding this you should take a look at the facts. Here are a few verifiable and sourced facts about 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 having 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 the real criminal is still out there and will have successfully avoided being charged.

Re: DNA
DNA is available in less than 10% of murder cases. It’s not a miracle cure for sentencing innocent people to death. It’s human nature to make mistakes.

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: 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: 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 2

No that's ridiculous......life sentencing is so that the criminal can be taught a lesson by spending their entire life in jail.

The Death Penalty would just kill them in 1 minute. That is unjust.

Answer 3

Would you want that if your were in prison and maybe you were innocent, boy wouldn't the pressure really be on you then? Yikes, some people do need to go there but some times innocent people do get locked up too and it takes them years to prove it.

Answer 4

I am kind of with you on that - but look at the guy who spend 21 years in prison in Atlanta and they just exonerated him through DNA - and found the real murderer. What if he was just put to death.

Its a hard decision

Answer 5

I disagree. For some people, death would be the gift of freedom compare to having to spend the rest of their lives in jail.

Answer 6

I would say it would not make a difference because some lawyer would be out trying to appeal or stop it.

Answer 7

mass killings by government sounds pretty bad to me. thats not what america stands for.

Answer 8

I'd say that you're a pro-life Conservative.

Answer 9

I know, i never really got that!

Answer 10

i say id have to agree with you there, good point