do you think that death penalty methods are cruel?

Answer 1

Most of the answers you have received are based on a revenge based mind set. The death penalty issue is too important to decide without solid facts. Here are just a few of them, all verifiable and sourced. (None has to do with the question of cruelty, all are about practical matters.)

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 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. Thye result from the unusual and complicated nature of death penalty trials and pretrial investigations. 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 2

Yes. In fact, the death penalty in itself is cruel. Whatever circumstances arise in society that cause people to kill others will not be helped by killing off the perpetrators, however terrible their crimes. I believe a much more appropriate method of dealing with crime is to tackle the underlying causes, rather than applying the narrow-minded "eye-for-an-eye" approach. In other words, killing people for society's failure to address the issues that cause murder is cruel, no matter what method is used.

Answer 3

Since generally the methods that the people on death row use to kill their victims are pretty "cruel" and thoughtless.

I think not.

What is scary are the cases where they are finding out that people on death row are actually innocent... OMy....

Answer 4

As long as the life dosent linger and is deleted instataneously without religious people or any people around like in the movies, looks cruel.

Answer 5

Not as cruel as to how the victims suffered.

Answer 6

nope, i have never seen a case where someone was put on death row for killling another person in a more humane manner.

Answer 7

Well they get the job done.

I find personally a bolt of lightening from my hand is more effective.

Answer 8

No they're not cruel enough.

Answer 9

who cares.
they surely didn't care if they were being cruel to the ones they murdered!!!
skin em alive for all i care!!!

Answer 10

Yes, we should just shoot them in the back of the head