capital punishment? are you for or against?

Answer 1

Against.

Note for donthatemecauseyouaintme and david- race affects the death penalty, but not in the way you think. A murderer is twice as likely to face the death penalty if the victim was white than if the victim was non white.

Here are answers to questions often asked about the practical aspects of the death penalty system. The sources are listed below (including for the race statistic.)

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.

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.)

So, what are the alternatives?
Life without parole is now on the books in 48 states. 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.

Answer 2

Im all for it. I don't think that we should do it at midnight all the time though. I think we need to put it on primetime television. All these people want to say what a deterrant it is and yet it hasn't really stopped anyone from killing or raping or whatever the crime may be. Now, if we put it on primetime television and the people had to watch, then I'd say they might see the consequences of potential actions and think twice about that next time. Also, we need to be killing more people at a quicker rate. Time for these idiots to quit trying to appeal and take it like they should because THEY were the one's who decided to take another person's life, now its time to pay the piper if you will.

I'm in favor of public hangings as well (unfortunately somebody decided that was against the Cruel and unusual punishment clause of the Constitution). Get the people out to watch and maybe just maybe we can deter a few of these people from doing some killing of their own in the future.


But if we're not going kill people for killing other people, then we have a major issue. Jails are like hotels for some of these people. Cable tv, weight systems for working out, I mean these idiots shouldn't be able to do anything but sit in their cell all day and maybe, just maybe get a shower ever now and then and that's about it. I don't understand why we give our criminals better lives and spend all that money on them, when we could help take homeless off the streets or do something else with the money.

Time to start treating criminals like criminals. They aren't supposed to have rights, they gave those up when they committed their crime against other humans who actually did have rights. Eye for an eye, that's what I'm talking about.

Edit: FOR DAVID:
Do you think it might be proportionally biased toward black men because they commit most of the murders in this country? Just a thought, but they do seem to be rounding up more black men than white men or Mexican men or Asian men for murder so in effect would it not make sense that more black men were put to death via the death penalty than those of the other races previously mentioned?

Answer 3

I am absolutely against it. People who can afford a good lawyer don't get sentenced to die. Capital punishment doesn't affect the rich, only the poor. Additionally, it is proportionately biased against black men.

Answer 4

I am for capital punishment because if you do the crime than you need to do the time. You need to accept the punishment that the count gives you.

Answer 5

I am. But I wonder which is harsher.
With the death sentence, , zap! you're gone.
Lifetime in prison means, for the rest of your life every minute of your day is regulated, you can never to away for the weekend,. go to a ballgame, go to the C store for coffee and doughnuts, have a beer, go to the mall, go to the bathroom with the door closed, or take a shower any time you want to. It will be like this, every day for the rest of your life.
You call this living? to me, this is worse than a death sentnece.

Answer 6

For capital punishment. I'll refrain from jumping on my soap box, this time :)9

Answer 7

I am for it.

If you kill someone, how can you live with it?
Either you are insane and cannot be rehabilitated-you are sub-human, dangerous, and should be killed for the betterment of humanity as a whole.
Or you are able to be rehabilitated and once you are will be so struck by what youve done that killing would have been more humane.

Exceptions of course are self-defense, accidents, military/police, etc.

Answer 8

Against. Vengeance is anti-social. Although vengeance may very well be a legitimate individual motivating force, it does not benefit society.

Answer 9

I am stuck in the middle. Sometimes I see both sides too often.

For, because "do unto others as you would want done to you". You must have wanted to be killed if you killed.

Against, because how does that make us any better than the killer themself?

Answer 10

Although I am all for it at a certain degree and for certain issues I have to remind myself that it is between that person and GOD