Is the Death Penalty a sort of ABORTION with retroactive effect?

Question

I mean, isn't it weird that most Pro-Lifers are all for the capital punishment?

And still, I find it hard to see the core difference between "kill" and "murder", something only God has the right to, as per the OT.

Answer 1

I also have a hard time understanding how someone can advocate proto-life is human and therefore sacred and should not be snuffed and then turn around and say it's OK to end human life (and one that has much more experience and ties to his fellow human) if it's punishment.

Answer 2

Most Catholic pro-lifers object to the death penalty. However it should be noted that there is a difference between an unborn person that has never had the opportunity to cause anybody harm being put to death through abortion, and a person that has been born and has committed enough harm that the legal system has determined that he/she should be punished by death.

In addition, the bible states that governement has the power of the sword (life and death).

Answer 3

I think that many people, including those who are strongly pro life, support the death penalty because they are concerned about killers being released into their communities and because they do not yet have the practical facts about the death penalty system. Here are a few of those facts, 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 (Many Americans do not know about this.)
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: 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.

Answer 4

Well, of course, an unborn child is not a murderer. And is therefore not killed for anything it did.

You make a generalization but it is mostly true. So why are many people willing to kill an innocent child but won't put to death a guilty adult?

Funny how those that are against the death penalty have no problem with locking up a person for the rest of their life. Cruel and unusual, fits the life behind bars, more then the death penalty.

Answer 5

I agree with u. Murder is murder, whether it be before birth or after. There are other ways of protecting the public agains criminals. Anyway, the death penalty is mostly used as a means of revenge for families and friends of victums, which, according to the Bible is wrong.

The reason y criminals are cought and punished is no for revenge, but for the protection on the public from further harm and the set an example for other criminalsm which is also basically protection of other ppl.

Answer 6

Seems to me the death penalty is a penalty set forth by the laws that a person broke. By your analogy, a baby growing in the womb would have to commit a capital crime to deserve being put to death. Theres a big difference between punishing a criminal, and slaughtering an un-born human.

Answer 7

OK......the death penalty is punishment or the result of an a persons actions that are very very negative. Look what it takes for a person to even get the death penalty.
Do you really want someone who is looking at your daughter or little sister just waiting for the moment to kidnap her,rape then kill her living next door to you? Just putting an evil person in a cell does nothing to protect society.
How in your mind is abortion the same as making society as a whole safe? I just do not understand how you see the two being the same.

Answer 8

The death penalty and Abortion have the same end results, the direct cause of ending life, they have no other similarities and/or circumstances. Death Penalty follows the "eye for and eye" philosophy, where abortion is a way to control what happens to a woman's body. One is vengeance driven the other is not.

Answer 9

I personally find a disconnect when people support the death penalty and are against abortion. Either life has an intrinsic value that we do not have the right to take away or it doesn't. Believe me, there are people on death row who I don't think deserve to live, but that isn't my choice. The taking of life is the taking of life, period.

Answer 10

Abortion occurs before a life has been lived & wrongs have been committed. The death penalty occurs because great wrongs have been committed. I have a big problem with it but admit I would be emotionally unable to forgive one who killed someone I loved.