How can you call USA "the land of the free" when USA have death penalty?

Question

"The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. It violates the right to life. It is irrevocable and can be inflicted on the innocent. It has never been shown to deter crime more effectively than other punishments."

Let's say that one man killed his wife.He is sentenced to death by (something). The goverment murder this man, and there are people watching it. Wanting it to happen.
If you belive in God, do you really think that in Gods eyes it matters who made the first murder?

Another man gets framed for a murder. He is spitted on, treated like an animal in a cage and finally he gets executed by hanging. One year later new information comes up that prove his innocense. How do you explain this to the mans mother?

Don't get mad now, I mean no harm. I just find this matter interseting.

I have not said that I am against death penatly OR life in prison. I just find this interesting.

For you who refer to the bible: First of all I dont belive in god ( i have read the bible though) but honestly, the bible is written by humans. IF you belive in god, I dont think you need to read the bible to do so. Now this became another discussion ;)

Answer 1

The answer above mine has a couple of factual errors. In any case, your question needs to be answered with solid facts. Here are answers to questions about the practical aspects of the death penalty system. 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.

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. (Recent studies, using the methods of econometrics have been debunked by most scholars in the field- they are based on misuse of data, oversimplification as well as the lack of data.)

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, largely because of the legal process. 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?
Over 50 of the innocent people released from death row had already served over a decade. 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 eye for an eye sound bites.

Answer 2

First off, I should have looked up how and why exactly executions were started in the first place. The farthest I can think of would probably be a King/Queen/Ruler killing someone for something they did. Then find out why humanity still hasn't changed for the good since those times, for us to still have this practice in existance.

There are other things that have gone due to people wisening up, like bloodletting, witchhunts, etc. But for some reason their will always be the haves and the have nots, good and evil, etc. Its easy to feel as if the death penalty is wrong if you haven't been a victim of a crime in which it does come into play.

It would be nice if "Old Testament God" did strike you down if you misbehaved. Nothing will deter nobody, because the level and severity of punishment is justified by what the criminal will gain by it. I'd like to think that nobody would walk up to you, ask you for a penny then stab you in public, but if crooks knew you had $5 million in diamonds on you, i'm sure at leas 95% of them would kill you in front of the president's house and risk it all. I'm not sure what a criminal's success rate is as far as commiting a crime without having to kill someone, but once again that too is probably high enough that they will attempt it even without having to stop and think about it for a second or two...especially if they need the money to buy drugs and keep themelves from getting withdrawals.

To those that say innocent people get killed, then change the law to be more strict or better yet get involved with politics and change it directly. There's a reason why people hate politicians, lawyers, and "The Man". If you are one of those people you have the power to change anything if you put your mind and effort to it.

Answer 3

First of all, the death penalty absolutely has been shown to deter crime. A recent study from Harvard by Steven Shavell, a professor of law and economics at Harvard Law School actually showed an average savings of between 3 - 18 lives for each execution and an average cost of around 5 lives for each stay of execution specifically due to a deterrent of crime.

Second, if you don't believe in God yourself, don't invoke his name in your argument and get upset when someone uses the Bible to defend their position. The Bible states that in God's absence of rule on the Earth, man has the ability to enforce God's law. That makes it perfectly acceptable to religious people to kill murderers.

Third, modern forensics and the amount of time it takes for a condemned person to actually be killed after a sentence is more than appropriate to avoid killing innocent people.

Fourth, I find it interesting, too.

Answer 4

The death penalty is not as easy a process as you may think. People on death row can go many years before actually being executed because of appeals. The death penalty is also no more cruel then a country raging war against another or one religion going after another. The Middle East is a perfect example. Isn't inhuman for one religion in Iraq to try to overcome another? How about Israelis and Palestians who are fighting over land? This is a death penalty to millions of innocent people.

Answer 5

I think the death penalty needs to be an option, as long as the courts interpret the life sentence to mean 5 years behind bars. There are people who have committed such horrific crimes that there is no other just punishment. I do however think that the criteria for a death penalty case must be very strict. with DNA and other technologies being available today that were not available just a few years ago, we can and must be certain that the accused is guilty.

Answer 6

Not every state in the USA has the death penalty so I find your posting quite presumptuous.

The following states do NOT have the death penalty:

Alaska
Hawaii
Iowa
Maine
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
North Dakota
Rhode Island
Vermont
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Dist. of Columbia

And right now, here in Florida, we still have a moratorium on the death penalty: we can still sentence someone to death but we can't kill them.

Answer 7

All of you that support death penalty i want to happen to you what happened to innocent people and get killed for murders than never done.

Do you know the meaning of prison? It is not punishement but to improve the persons. Ohhh i forgot USA thinks that is world ruler. Usa have this right... No one can be GOD. Noone. If you take a look in history you will understand that all the bad things you do , will happen to you... :) GOOD LUCK RULER of the WORLD....

Answer 8

It is the land of the free as long as you follow the land of the law!

What should be more appalling is the fact that abortion is legal. I have more tolerance for putting someone to death who has committed a violent crime as apposed to killing a baby!

As far as I'm concerned protect the innocent first (Babies) then the not so innocent!

Answer 9

ok the freedom that is stated is not total freedom - that would lead to chaos. as for the death penalty well there is some that it is a deter ant some of course it is not , now the methods differ state to state but most try to make it as fast and painless as possible . As for your 2nd example it has happened. as for the 1st well if you look in the bible the death penalty is in there for lesser crimes.

Answer 10

Why are all of the hypothetical people in your murder examples men? You're sexist :(

jus jokin

Actually, severe and harsh penalties for crime do deter crime. Why do you think the crime rate is so low in Saudi Arabia. This part of your argument is wrong. But, why the hell would America want to be anything like tyrannical hateful places like Saudi Arabia? That part of your argument is correct.
The death penalty should be reserved for special cases like terrorism in my opinion. Terrorism is an act of war, and as such, terrorists should be treated most severely.