Why outlaw the death penalty?

Question

I'm a big fan of capital punishment. In ancient Egypt and some Eastern societies today they use the good 'ol eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and a life for a life. So why are people complaining about the pain one "suffers" during lethal injection. To me, that is more humane than how their victim(s) died. Does anyone else take the victim's feelings into consideration. I sure the victims of serial killers such as Jack the Ripper, Jeffery Dahmer, Son of Sam, and the BTK killer would have preferred lethal injection versus their fate any day. I would go medieval and put the perp in the town center and have the victim's family desecrate him/her.

Answer 1

Because no one deserves the death penalty. No one.

Let me put it this way:

Would you feel different if the serial killer turned out to be one of your close family members?

Or a very close friend?

Would you still be a big fan of the death penalty, if they gave the death penalty to your mother or your father, or your brother, sister, etc? Knowing that there is also an option of life in prison?

Answer 2

I think that people should have the facts and then use common sense to make up their minds on this issue.
Here are just a few facts about the death penalty in the United States. All are verifiable and sourced.

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.

Answer 3

Because innocent people can and have be mistakenly executed. DNA testing has revealed many of these mistaken executions.

I understand its purpose and that it even can be effective in some cases, but it just seems unbecoming of an enlightened society.

Also, some individuals do not fear death and it is not an effective deterant against these individuals. Just look at the mentality of some suicide bombers.

ON THE OTHER HAND.....

Many people are too quick to cite examples of innocent people being killed and be foolishly satisfied in their discrediting of capital punishment.

But its much more complicated to calculate the amount of people SAVED by the crime deterant of capital punishment. It may make an incalculable amount of unsavory types who have only their lives to lose think twice about committing crimes.

In the end, both sides of the issue have merit and can be argued for. Anyone solely valuing one position over the other does so at the gross neglect of due consideration. Needless to say, it should only exist for the most horrid crimes in the most evident cases in present day.

Answer 4

It is more expensive to try and sentence an individual to death than to life in prison without parole. The cost of court personnel (lengthy jury selection processes when the DP is involved, the requirement that a defendant have two death-qualified [more expensive] attorneys working on their defense, etc) and the cost of appeals (more court-appointed lawyers, the use of more Judge's time) make it more sensible to simply sentence them to life without parole and let them sit in prison. Yes, we will have to pay to care for them for the rest of their lives, but it's cheaper in the long run.

Additionally, studies have shown that the death penalty is not effective in deterring crime. It doesn't really stop anyone from killing anyone. So why not just skip the whole moral debate and go with the cheaper option?

Answer 5

Sounds good though a simple hanging would work also. As for why some folks dont like the death penalty. Well, most of them are self rightous bible thumpers who want to appear oh so holier than thou but in ignoring the rights of the victim, they only emphasise why christianity should be abolished. As for the rest, they probably prefer to be like sheep and follow who they see as a good shepherd but is in reality a ravaging wolf.

Answer 6

i think people dont like it because they think that even if the killer is dead it wont make them feel better. but i am for the death penalty. our prisons are over crouded and were letting people out that are more likely to commit their crime again. plus there are some people that just need to die. lethal injection is a good choice

Answer 7

I don't have too much of a problem with killing the guilty. I DO have a problem with killing the innocent.

Unfortunately, since our government is made up of men, it isn't going to be perfect. Sometimes, they will convict the wrong man. If that wrong man is killed, there's no way to fix the mistake the judge/jury made.

To me, it's better to let 10 guilty men go free than to kill one innocent man. You can always get the guilty some other way, but you can never give back the life of a man you wrongly killed. Until the government becomes a perfect institution (don't hold your breath), I don't think they should be in the business of putting people to death.

Answer 8

Murderers have no purpose in society. They must be removed from contact with all good people because they are only a threat. They are not worth the tax money it takes to house them and feed them for "life sentences." I would say that my tax money would be better spent if all costs for punishing murderers were curtailed and consolidated into one big electric bill.

Better yet, to save taxpayer money, take murderers and rapists and shoot them in the head and bill their family for the cost of the bullet.

Answer 9

If the death penalty is outlawed, only outlaws will have death penalties!

Wait a minue. That's not right....

Doh!

Answer 10

lol. I love this argument. Even in the face of massive judical system failure (look it up. One in twenty death peanalty convictions are overturned because of innocence.), we are still executing them. In the case of taking someone's life, the system must be perfect. It is not, and it must stop.