Is capital punishment hypocritical of the gov., and when is it acceptable?

Answer 1

I don't think it is hypocritical, but I do think it is not an effective way to control crime and keep us safe. Several people who answered this question think the death penalty is a deterrent. It is not. Murder rates are higher in states that have the death penalty than in states that do not. Killers do not think they will even be caught (that is, if they think at all.)

Here are some other facts about the death penalty. They are all verifable and sourced. Common sense can 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: 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

It seams that capital punishment is only acceptable to people who are not for it till something happens to them on a personal level and a very close family member, child or spouse is killed, tortured/maimed or mutilated. I do not love the death penalty and part of me thinks it is hypocritical, backed woods, especially when someone is put to death on circumstantial evidence. The fact we will put someone to death without an eyewitness really disturbs me and it should others as well. Our judicial system is so flawed (look at all those we have let out of jail because of new DNA evidence) that we have no business putting people to death without an eye witness, period!!!! Finely, no matter how much I hate capital punishment, I can only imagine how much I would want want to see the person die that took someone close from me. So for me it is a double edge sward and I have no clear answer as if it is acceptable or not.

Answer 3

Where is the hypocrasy? If I were to commit a capital crime, knowing full well the consequences of that behavior, I don't get to whine about hypocrasy. It should be acceptable not only in murder cases, but sex assault, especially on a child, as well. The FIRST time. It has been proven that child molesters never recover, so why fill up our prisons with people for whom there is no hope of rehabilitation? We need that space for people who can learn something from being there and eventually come out and try to live a meaningful life. People who have no respect for the value of another person's life, where that life has value or hope for value, should not be allowed to whine about hypocrasy.

Answer 4

Capital punishment is never acceptable and the State has no right to murder anyone to avenge a crime.

Capital punishment is no longer a deterrent when local gangs in every American city associate themselves with the Bloods or the Crips following the death of Stanley "Tookie" Williams. Many thugs want the State to shove the needle in them because their parents and society have failed them and pushed them away from when they were infants. Rather than receiving the breast or the bottle from their mother or some maternal figute, the baby thug gets exposed to drugs, sex and violence such that that long delayed 25 year needle from the State can only soothe the soul.

Answer 5

No, & when they murdered my brother, the father of 3 young children. As violent crimes continue to grow so does the expense of housing them for up to 50 years. There needs to be a deterrent & a limit to what taxpayers should have to pay to house murderers. Air conditioning, jails, gyms, libraries, food, clothes, Lawyers for appeals, medical care, drugs, guards & etc. do not come cheap. They get better food & health care than most Americans.

Answer 6

Capitol punishment fits the paternalistic (or tyrannical) government model perfectly.

It basically says that life-or-death decisions should only be made by the government, never by the individual.

As to when it is acceptable, that touches on both legal doctrines and moral/religious beliefs. And there are a huge range of possible answers.

Answer 7

Where i live here in Tx they kill alot of prisnors every year and you know some of them were probably inocent but most of them are cold-blooded killers who would do it again given the chance. My opinion is not all killers deserve the death penalty but some of the child molesters and rapist do

Answer 8

i think it is very hypocritical of them. To say not to kill and yet kill. What i don't get is the "eye for an eye" excuse. 'Eye for an eye' never applies to other crimes. An accused rapist is never sentenced to being raped. Anger is the problem, anger over the crime clouds justice.

Answer 9

No, it is not hypocritical. It is acceptable whenever it is done with due process of law. No person shall be deprived of life without due process of law. That means that people may be deprived of life WITH due process of law.

Answer 10

The only being on this planet that is supposed to have the right of life or death is me. Death is only acceptable when I think it is necessary and I don't think that very often. One world one government! Me!!