Death Penalty?

Question

What are your thoughts and opinions on the Death Penalty in the United States?

Answer 1

Some of your answers have given you good information. Here are a few facts about the death penalty, all verifiable and sourced. Once you have the facts, common sense will do the rest-

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: Appeals
Our appeals system is designed to make sure 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: 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

The death penalty in the United States should be abolished. It does not deter crime. It costs too much and is too much trouble because of all the appeals. The family of the victim really does not get "closure" for years and would be better off if the accused were simply sentenced to life without parole and be done with it.

And what if the wrong person is executed? Because, perhaps, they could not afford decent legal counsel? You know, there are no millionaires on death row.

The death penalty is simply unjust and discriminatory.

Answer 3

How many Christians here said that the death penalty is good, and then when asked about the inconsistencies in their religion say, well that was before Jesus? The New Testament says no killing, no eye for an eye, turn the other cheek, and forgive sinners, all of them. You can't have it both ways.

There is no way that you can convince anyone that innocent people don't die via state-sanctioned capital punishment under the current system.
There is no way you can tell me that it is a deterrent. Texas has killed more inmates in the last ten years than any other state and has one of the highest per capita murder rates in the country. (check out the link)

Keep 'em in jail, but don't kill 'em. I don't want innocent blood on my hands.

Answer 4

The death penalty is not used enough and it takes too long to use it once sentenced. The death penalty should be to put a guilty party in a cell - given a gun with one bullet - let the individual starve to death or commit suicide.

Answer 5

I am a prison minister and even though I believe that the Bible does prescribe the "death penalty" for certain offenses, we have few problems in our country.

One, we are humans and any human system is flawed.

Two, and this is my main argument. It is more expensive to execute a person than to house them for the rest of his or her natural life. The average cost to keep an inmate in this country is $23,000 a year. Once an offender has been condemned to death, they become wards of the state. By law, they have the right to an appeal process, which the state pays for. This costs millions of dollars.

Three, I do not believe that the process is helpful to victims of the crime. They spend years, sometimes as much as thirty years, waiting for a resolution. They become stuck in the what is referred to as the bargaining phase of grief. It rarely brings any closure, only permission to move on to the next phase of grief.

Answer 6

I am against the death penalty for one reason and one reason only. MONEY! It costs the tax payers of California over $10 million on average to try, convict, and execute an inmate after it goes through the various series of appeals processes. By comparison it costs only $45,000 a year to improsn an inmate for the rest of his life. It's unlikely that an inmate is going to live longer than 222 years, so life in prison is WAY cheaper! Plus you don't have the bleeding heart liberals and hippies protesting outside the gates of the prison!

Answer 7

I don't belive in the death penalty I think if a person did something that bad they shouldn't be killed its to easy they should be put in a lifetime in isolation thats more pain you can give to a person than just an easy death.

Answer 8

First, get rid of "cruel and unusual punishment" (I mean, what is that anyway? Isn't all punishment cruel?) and then make the death sentence by firing squad - something quick, but entertaining.

Second, make it pay-per-view so we can see what happens to criminals, and then the proceeds go to help pay for prison costs.

To the guy who said, "If killing a person is wrong, killing a person is wrong, even if it's state-sanctioned." There is a difference between justice and murder. The only way we can have an absolute wrong is if there is an external morality (i.e. God), otherwise, it's everyone's decision for himself. God sanctions the death penalty, so it cannot be wrong (if you believe in God, it's not wrong; if you don't believe in God, it's not wrong because there can't be any absolute wrong).

Answer 9

If killing a person is wrong, killing a person is wrong, even if it's state-sanctioned.

It is not justice, it's revenge.

Fun fact: Most states with the death penalty have the highest murder rates.

Answer 10

Only poor people get executed....seems wrong to me. I believe in Devils Island....but not the death penalty....one Innocent is to many.