my reasoning is simply the hypocrisy of it. the government says "it's wrong to kill, and just to prove to you how wrong it is, we're gonna kill this guy"
2007-05-18 19:00:24 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous in Politics & Government ➔ Other - Politics & Government
Because it's the easy way out. It's hell to sweat your days out in a maximum security prison, surrounded by maniac inmates with nothing to lose. Getting raped, getting assaulted.
Of course it's easier to die! Death is a welcome respite to alot of offenders doing life sentences.
2007-05-18 19:07:37 · answer #1 · answered by Shepherd 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There are practical aspects to this that are different from the moral aspects. Here are answers to questions often asked about these. The sources are listed below.
What about the risk of executing innocent people?
124 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. To be a deterrent a punishment must be sure and swift. The death penalty is neither. Homicide rates are higher in states that have it than in states that do not.
So, what are the alternatives?
Life without parole is now on the books in 48 states. It means what it says. It is sure and swift and rarely appealed. Life without parole is less expensive than the death penalty.
But, isn't the death penalty cheaper than keeping criminals in prison?
The death penalty costs much more than life in prison. Extra costs include those 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 and subsequent appeals. There are more cost effective ways to prevent and control crime.
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 124 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. Americans are learning about the system and we are making up our minds based on facts, not quick sound bites.
2007-05-19 10:17:10 · answer #2 · answered by Susan S 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
To me, capitial punishment is uncivilized and tramatic. An innocent person could be put to death for a crime they didn't commit.
The right to live is the most significant right of them all. Everyone has this right which should not be deliberately taken by the state or anyone else. It’s even assured in the Constitution that each citizen has the right to the pursuit of happiness or in other words, the right to live.
Being convicted to die, in any form, though some be innocent, but most guilty, lies in the hands of men rather than God. Juries, being made up of people with their own infalablities, would certainly have to make an error at one time or another.
2007-05-19 21:47:00 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
You'd think that by now this would be one of the things that we would have right. Notice that the nations that have heritages most common to ours no longer use capital punishment. When you follow the argument of the so-called "pro-life" people, you must develop a blind spot to accept the death penalty. When you take a life you are responsible not just for that life but also for all its potential future offspring. My opposition to capital punishment is simpler; it has less to do with the executed and more to do with what it does to us as a society. The revenge, the rationalizations, the blood lust all bring us down. I also don't like the government having power over life and death. It is somewhat reassuring to find similar answers here. Thanks.
2007-05-19 03:22:15 · answer #4 · answered by Mac 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Because it's not man's job to play God.
the USA executes more people per pop'ln (aside from the city state of Singapore) than any other country.
More than China, Saudi Arabia, Russia...
China is actually planning on phasing out the death penalty completely within 10 years.
USA on human rights is abyssmal - both domestically and abroad.
2007-05-19 02:16:40 · answer #5 · answered by Happier in China 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I am fot it, why?
It is a common fact in psycology the premis of deminishing returns.
It goes like this if a person is facing life in prison and he has a 50-50 chance to get off he will take his chances, while the same guy facing death might try and cop a plea.
Why is it in this society we think we are so advanced that we think we can allow purely evil crimes to take place.
Take the VT killer did he deserve to die or rot in jail till he died or was killed by an inmate?
I believe in life after this, that is why I think that the character of a person is the most important thing, somethig worse than death?
Yes how about life in jail being able to relive all the horrible acts ne commited, the bible says men commit acts that are evil BECAUSE justice is not carried out speedily.
Kind of like the guy who gets caught for a crime after 30 years on the lamb(loose). Notice those big crocadile tears he is crying and how sorry he is.
No he is simply sorry for getting caught, nothing more, if he was truly sorry he would have turned himself in.
Detterant is a powerful motivator, if one knows he will be killed for rape or murder chances are he will not commit the crime.
"its wrong to kill, then were gonna kill this guy" is what you said, what you left out is the killer no longer is and innocent victim, unlike his prey.
He needs to pay of for his crime, an eye for an eye.
2007-05-19 04:30:00 · answer #6 · answered by Jack L. W. 3 · 0⤊ 2⤋
Because no one in this Earth has the permission to lose a life of any living being if we cannot create so. Only God creates and He only takes back life. Death penalty is Illegal to God (maybe, I didn't actually "ask" God, just assumed).
2007-05-19 16:11:20 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I believe there are too many people convicted of murder who never saw a fair trial (exculpatory evidence supressed, etc.). Too many innocent people are still being exonerated to this day. It makes me wonder... what if I just got snagged up for something I didn't do, and before I knew it, I was on death row?
2007-05-19 02:03:14 · answer #8 · answered by Mickey Mouse Spears 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Because our legal system is not 100% perfect.
If the possibility exists that even ONE innocent person gets executed - and it HAS happened - then it is not logical to continue the process.
I'd rather lock a thousand guilty people up for life than execute one innocent one.
2007-05-19 02:03:26 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Because according to my personal belief: 'it is a superior rights for every individual to have live'.
2007-05-19 08:04:23 · answer #10 · answered by Impiger 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋