Do you think the death penalty is cruel and/or unusual? Why?

Question

The Death penalty is cruel and/or unusual to most, but to some it's not. What's your opinion?

Answer 1

We should not keep imprisoned those that can not be rehabilitated or trusted on the streets again. So give them time to negotiate a deal with whom ever to take them out of this country and keep them out doing what ever to earn their keep.

Answer 2

It is certainly arbitrary, in the sense that factors having nothing to do with the nature of the crime determine who gets it. But this is an issue to decide based on the facts, using common sense. 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. They were exonerated in spite of the legal system. 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 or even that 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 or an eye for an eye sloganeering.

Answer 3

I do not think it is cruel at all. I think imprisoning a human being in a concrete cell for the rest of their lives is extremely cruel.

My own feeling about the death penalty is that if you would use deadly force to stop the actions of criminal, then surely the death penalty is an appropriate penalty. What person wouldn't shoot a serial killer caught in the act. Of course we would. Unfortunately, the victims are not able to speak to us and tell us how awful their fear and their suffering at the hands of human monsters. Honestly, if you really look hard at it, death is the only appropriate response to some of the horrors committed by human being who prey on other humans. They need to be culled from the herd of humanity.

Answer 4

Yes it is. It is barbaric, archaeic and has never been a deterrent. EVER.

It is a perfect example of how society sweeps stuff that is too horrible to face under the carpet.

I consider it assisted suicide. It is a temporary solution to a permanent problem. It is also far more expensive than housing a prisoner for life.

An eye for an eye is stupid.

While I find some of the most atrocious behavior to be reprehensible in everyway, there is much that can be learned by keeping people alive- even when their actions say they do not deserve to live.

Its an easy way out that does not provide any real closure for the families and friends. Have you ever spoken to someone who fought for the death penalty. Most of them regret it- wishing the criminal to live on and suffer.

We are supposed to be better than the criminal. We are supposed to be more humane and more enlightened. If we allow a switch to be flipped that send electricity pulsing threw their disgusting veins then we are no better than they are.

We are actually worse because we feel justified.

We do not have to kill people to be safe. We have the capability and capacity to keep them out of society.

Answer 5

i think of so, yet what i think of does not rely. The terrific courtroom are the interpreters of the form, and that they have desperate that it is not merciless and/or unusual. (surely the terrific courtroom desperate that to be 'merciless and unusual', a punishment had to be the two merciless and unusual!) however the genuine reason of my opposition to the dying penalty is that it does not artwork. this is by no skill been shown to be a deterrent to crime, and that's lots lots extra high priced than the alternative, life devoid of parole. right here in California each and every execution expenditures us extra advantageous than 2.5 million funds! And unusually, the main passionate defenders of this waste of money are a similar people who're continuously whining that their taxes are too extreme.

Answer 6

It may be the right course of action. Some people are beyond rehabilitation and need to be executed for the safety of society. Remember, it is a jury of your peers deciding to execute the criminal... I imagine myself on a jury and I would never want to hurt anyone. For me (and others who feel the same way) to vote that a criminal should die, then that criminal must have been one of the most evil people to walk the Earth. Serial murderers that go after children and women should receive the death penalty.

Answer 7

It depends on what you did to get it. I would hate to see an innocent person be sentenced to death if they really didn't do anything. The electric chair is harsh though. Even though some of those some of those people deserve to suffer, they should die peacefully because they will pay for what they did on judgement day!

Answer 8

There is nothing cruel about the death penalty.

More often than not, what the criminal did to his or her victim was much more cruel than the method of execution. Considering this, the criminal is actually getting better than he deserves.

Answer 9

it all depends on what the person did. if the person killed a certain amount of poeple or hurt people (physically or sexually) a certain amount of people then i think that person should get the death penalty. it is cruel but then there would be less people in this world that would hurt other/more people.

Answer 10

The death penalty is nothing more than legalized murder...Life in prison is a more harsh sentence. Nothing worse than seeing life go on without you.