Do you support the death penalty?

Question

I'm proud to be a Texan, and we certainly do use the death penalty. If more people received the death penalty for a variety of crimes then there would be no more crazy people, a decrease in crime, and a less likely chance of a crazy person breeding crazy children for the future generations.

To Hyunbinkim: No, I have not done any research on the death penalty. Nor do I have plans to do so. However, I believe YOU are the ignorant. It was redundant of you to say that I'm ignorant AND unintelligent. Isn't that the same thing? Also, I guess you've forgotten how large our home state is. We could make 4 or 5 separate states if we wanted to, so of course we're going to have higher crime rates. My use of the term "crazy" was an attempt to appeal to the vernacular vocabulary of society so that I may receive more answers. Who's stupid now?

Answer 1

I absolutely support the death penalty when a person is 100% guilty of heinous crimes.But it must be done immediately in order to not wrack up hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal bills and taking up prison space that others could use.Some people should not be kept around.

Answer 2

As much as the death penalty gives both a sense of closure, and justice, studies find that the death penalty has no relationship to lowering the crime rate. Most people that commit odious crimes are either high or amoral, so the threat of the death penalty means nothing to them. But the main reason, for me, is that the death penalty has no appeals. Most people that are sentence to death row are poor. Our justice in this country is more about much justice you can afford, not about your guilt or innocence. Having said that, there are times are I glad that we have it, mostly when children are raped and murdered

Answer 3

Certainly not!
1) You don't get rid of the problem since it has been done already!
2) If people were really afraid of death penalty, there would be no crime anymore in those countries.
3) Because judgment can be different according to different persons.
4) I guess you must be really important to decide someone else's life!

Answer 4

I'm also Texan and I'm embarrassed by how ignorant and unintelligent you are. Have you done ANY research at all about the death penalty?

The death penalty doesn't deter crime. The US is one of the few industrialized countries in the world to use it and it has one of the highest crime rates in the world.

You also use the term "crazy" liberally, for lack of a better term. I hope you're not suggesting we execute all mentally ill people.

And on your last point about crazy people breeding, I could say the same thing about you and how we should prevent idiots from breeding.

Answer 5

As a Canadian, we don't have the death penalty here, but sometimes I wish to he!! we did. I am an advocate of the commandment "thou shalt not kill" But in a few cases...i turn a blind eye to that case. Case in point - Paul Bernardo & Karla Holmoka. Bernardo raped and killed two teenage girls. Karla Holmoka "gave" her husband his sister....who was also raped and killed. He was tried and convicted of murder (of the two teenage girls) and sentenced to life in prison. Holmoka was given a plea for her testimony and got out of jail after serving 12 years. at first she had conditions, but the ****** judge or whatever overturned the conditions and now she's a free woman. What the hell is that!.
Bernardo should be on death row and Holmoka should be locked up forever. (OH BY THE WAY SHE HAS A FREAKIN' KID NOW) people like that should be sterilized.

AUUGGGHH. while in prison she also got an education??? for "free" What the hell was that all about too. We have people in this country trying to get back on their feet - struggling to get a decent job/career and get enough money to go to school and this ***** gets a free education paid by the taxpayers! Bring back the death penalty to Canada!

Answer 6

There are many practical aspects of the death penalty system that have changed the thinking of many Americans on this issue. Here are answers to some of the questions often asked about it. The sources are listed below.

Doesn't the death penalty prevent others from committing murder?
No reputable study shows the death penalty to be a deterrent. Homicide rates are higher in states that have it than in states that do not. Most killers don't think about the consequences anyway. They do not think they will be caught (if they think at all.) Some people confuse deterrence (persuading others not to commit the same crime that someone has been executed for) with incapacitation (preventing a criminal from reoffending.)

Isn't the death penalty cheaper than keeping criminals in prison?
The death penalty costs much more than life in prison. Much of the extra costs is due to the complicated nature of both the pre trial investigation and of the trials (involving 2 separate stages, mandated by the Supreme Court) in death penalty cases. There are more cost effective ways to prevent and control crime.

What about the risk of executing innocent people?
Over 120 people on death rows have been released with evidence of their innocence, many having already served over 2 decades on death row.

Doesn't DNA keep new cases like these from happening?
DNA is available in less than 10% of all homicides. It is not a guarantee against the execution of innocent people.

So, what are the alternatives?
Life without parole is now on the books in 48 states (including Texas.) It means what it says. Supermax prisons are terrible places to spend the rest of your life. Life without parole is less expensive than the death penalty.

What about the very worst crimes?
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??

Doesn't the death penalty help families of murder victims?
Not necessarily. Murder victim family members across the country argue that the drawn-out death penalty process is painful for them and that life without parole is an appropriate alternative.

So, why don't we speed up the process?
Many of the 123 innocent people released from death row had already been there for over 2 decades. If the process is speeded up we are sure to execute an innocent person.

But don’t Americans prefer the death penalty as the most serious punishment?
Not any more. People are rethinking their views, given the facts and the records on innocent people sentenced to death. According to a Gallup Poll, in 2006, 47% of all Americans prefer capital punishment while 48% prefer life without parole.

Now that Texas has life without parole, Texans may want to find out more about the death penalty system and the alternative.

Answer 7

Waste of time.

It takes triple the cost to incarcerate a prisoner on death row than a lifer, and 20-30 years later they are still going through appeals. I'm for it if they change all the crap that surrounds it, and actually do it. Something like this......

We the jury find the defendant (jury foreman pulls lever) guilty !!

Answer 8

You do not need to conduct a study to know that if you are white and rich (and therefore capable of getting the services of an excellent lawyer), no matter what you do your chances of getting on death row are very slim. If you are poor, black and - or hispanic (or whatever) and you are a suspect of a crime you may not even have committed, your chances of getting to death row are very high

Answer 9

Yes. Murders and child molester should face the death penalty.
There also should be a lot less appeals plus the time on death row should be shorten. Most of those offenders die before they ever hit the chair or get the needle.
With todays DNA it's almost impossible to convict an innocent person.

Answer 10

I would say there are pro's and con's to the death penalty.

I personally don't care at all. I have to pay taxes anyway, who cares where it goes anymore. Our taxes won't be lowered if we start frying more people...

*shrugs*

Death only exists if you believe it does anyway... and I don't believe in death.

The body is only a shell... the real being continues to live after the body is no longer attached...

So you're either releasing a morbid and twisted soul into eternity (I personally dont believe in the heaven & hell thing)
or you're keeping them here, and worrying about how they are effecting your "precious" material world.

Its up to you, but I say anyone who has a "yes or no" opinion on this subject, isnt taking the whole world into perspective. Their ideas are very egocentric. Death comes when it should. Accept it.