What is your opinion on the death penalty or capital punishment?

Question

Not going to give my VERY strong opinion until I choose best answer. I don't want it to influence what anyone says.

Answer 1

Instead of just giving you my opinion, I am giving a few facts about the death penalty. (All verifiable 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: 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

If a person is found guilty of murdering an innocent beyond a shadow of a doubt, then yes I believe that the death penalty should be used. The death penalty should be the same across the country. It shouldn't matter what state your in. Frankly all the states should be as tough as Texas when it comes to capital cases & the death penalty. Maybe if we get tough enough someone will think twice before picking up a wepon and ending someone's life.

We can crack down on smoker's in resturaunts & bars & cars and even their own homes, but if you kill someone in some states all you get is 20 years. There is no Justice in that at all.

When we quit worrying over the stupid petty issues and learn to get tough and deal with the rough stuff we will all be safer and better off. But will we (the voting public) ever be strong enough to elect the man/woman that is strong enough to say and work for what we need and not what we want?

Answer 3

this is one of the most contentious issues facing us today.
many innocent people have been put to death.
the proponents of the death penalty say the number is statistically small so the death penalty is justifiable as it is right most of the time.
but even putting one person to death who is later found to be innocent ,is in my opinion one too many.
unfortunately too often the process is politicised and decisions are made not necessarily in the interests of justce ,but of re election.
also the poorer one is the less likely you are to get an adequate defense and this i believe is the biggest indictment of the system.the more money you have ,the more you can get away with.
one positive thing about the death penalty is that it reduces recidivism and it costs a whole lot less for society to either omprison someone for life or be let loose to re commit the same acts on yet more innocents.
i for one am in favor of the death penalty,provided the best defense available is provided and not just some drone who doesnt give a damn or who has not got the resources or will to gather all the facts and really fight for his client,despte the pittance he will get as an appointed defence lawyer;a rare individual indeed!!!

Answer 4

I kind of think that the person who carries out the death of the prisoner is just as bad as the prisoner himself after all murder is murder .In some ways I think the death penalty is to easy for the terrible things some of these prisoners did but yet why waste are money keeping them in prison.I dont know good question...

Answer 5

I have to admit when I hear of the murder of a child, that is the one time I do tend to agree with the death penalty.. however, I was brought up to believe that we, as people are not the ones to mete out punishment, that God will do it.

So I guess I disagree with it. But I do not condemn anyone who believes differently.. it is a very personal choice I guess.

Answer 6

I would say going by your user name that you are against it.. I believe that if someone takes another life or does terrible wrongs against humanity.. Then they don't have the right to live. If what they did was really bad,and there is no denying that it was that person..then yes,I believe they should get the death penalty..

Answer 7

It's hypocritical! How can you tell people it's wrong to kill and then you turn around and kill them. Any way, I think the death penalty is too easy of a punishment. Let them rot in prison the rest of their lives with no one to love them. They will get what they deserve in the end.

Answer 8

I believe that the capital punishment is applied unfairly, does not achieve the desired result of reducing crime, and runs the risk of executing innocent individuals. It is a flawed application of "an eye for an eye", and fails to address the real issue of dealing with the increase in homicides in America. It is both cheaper and more humane to condemn the perpetrator of a heinous crime to life in prison without any chance for parole.

Answer 9

I am against it for reasons other than the assumed - that it is inhumane. As far as humanity goes, I know that if someone killed my children and I found them before police did, they would be killed by me!

However, when emotional tension is put to the side, I think a life in a hell hole (prison) is much worse than being dead. I know if I was sentenced to life in prison, I would attempt to commit suicide every chance I got. Making someone live a miserable life is more punishing than ending their life then and there.

Answer 10

I don't think someone should get the death penalty unless their crime was truly heinous like the Manson murders. Or if torture / mutilation was involved. But if you just kill someone quickly, then it should be life in prison. In other words, if you cause your victim to suffer immensely before death then it should be the death penalty.