what are the advantages of the death penalty?

Answer 1

There are no advantages to the death penalty. In the USA it is actually several times more expensive to pursue that just Life Without Parole. This is because of the numerous appeals that are required as a result of a small minority of prosecutors engaging in prosecutorial misconduct over the years. Locking them up and throwing away the key works just as well and achieves the same result for society.

Numerous studies have shown that the death penalty is no deterrent.

Answer 2

The advantages are that the American Taxpayers are not spending $30,000 a year per prisoner in a Federal Pen at 1990 dollars. It also serves as a huge deterrent to others who are thinking about committing the same or a similar crime. Talk about not having overcrowded prisons. It is a fact that 2/3 of the prisoners that get out, end up right back in the cooler! I am all for the Immediate Death Penalty (Like in the Middle East) for any violent crime, or any crime committed with a weapon. Obviously, the guilty verdict must be one that has been decided on without a shadow of doubt. Some of you will be saying, but some innocents will get caught up in this. I say, with today's technology this would be unlikely. However, there are sure to be a few. But the difference in the huge majority of criminals that would end up killing others in the future, would outweigh this cost. The sentence should be carried out in a public place as a warning to others! Get rid of the criminals once and for all. There should not, I say again, should not be 20 years worth of appeals and legal wrangling. If they are guilty without any doubt at all. See you at the Gallows Bud!!

Answer 3

Here are a few facts about the death penalty, all verifiable and sourced. (Some of the answers you have received are mistaken about deterrence and cost, for example.)

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 about the consequences. They don't think they will be caught (if they think at all.) Life without parole also incapacitates a killer (keeps him from re-offending.)

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 4

It is assumed that it serves as the most effective detterent to potential criminals, but I still put it forward that criminals who are willing to die for a cause or have conquered the fear of death are indeed the most dangerous.

Answer 5

The advantages is for people to have fear in doing so, for people not to commit the same crime or other crime and in general to reduce criminalities or criminals in the society and this serves as warning to people in commiting crimes.

Answer 6

Not paying for room and board for life of convicted murders.

However, if evidence later proves that the prisoner was actually innocent of the crime, there is no turning back...

Answer 7

You don't have to spend fifty years in a cage. I don't know about you, but I'd sure rather have a lethal injection.

Answer 8

One advantage is, if you are a real bad guy,you are toast!!!

Answer 9

I don't think it deters criminals from committing their first crime, but it is the only foolproof deterrent to recidivism.

Answer 10

The criminal never does it again.