As in does anyone deserve to be sentenced to death. Just wondering what other people think about it.
2007-07-05 04:55:05 · 23 answers · asked by Slipknotik 1 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
Societies decide this issue. Personally, I belive in the death penalty, but not as it is used in the US. I'd be OK with the death penalty in EVERY case of 1st degree murder; but not executing one out of a thousand. Same crime- same punishment.
2007-07-05 06:57:00 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is a question well beyond the scope of YA, I'm afraid. First, let me say that I'm a liberal by nature but I've also been inside a maximum state pen (for work). I think there are some people who have been so damaged so early in their lives that they are unsavable. They will never be able to feel empathy, compassion, or anything beyond satisfying their own needs. This makes them really scary even in prison. A couple things you need to think about. You can kill someone with a sharpened turkey bone or toothbrush or just about anything. Okay, you say, so what? They're just killing other prisoners, right? Well, sometimes the legal system puts people in prison who are not terrible people. For a while, anyone with over an ounce of pot was put in the state pen. 18 year old kids. Raped. Murdered.
In sum, I don't know how I feel about the death penalty, but it's not an easy question or solution.
2007-07-05 05:07:29 · answer #2 · answered by punxy_girl 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The main problem with the death penalty is the fact that people like it. It appeals to the most dangerous animal instinct there is, blood lust, it stimulates thoughts of killing and makes killing seem acceptable and attractive. It sets the worst kind of example--it says that the supreme authority figure, the state, believes that killing people to settle a score is a good idea. It is no mere coincidence that jurisdictions with the death penalty usually have higher rates of murder and other violent crime than jurisdictions that don't have the death penalty. Just listen to the emotional attachment, the affection that people express for vengeance killing--it is a sick and dangerous primal urge that should never be stimulated by the state setting the horrible example of killing people. Besides, mistakes happen--30 % of the condemned inmates in Illinois were found by scientific DNA evidence to be innocent of the crimes for which they were sentenced--that is a lot of innocent blood to drench ones hands in. It makes the executioners, the jury, the judge, and everybody who supports the death penalty...murderers.
2007-07-05 05:04:27 · answer #3 · answered by jxt299 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I dont think its a matter of deserving to die - who decides what constitutes the degree of 'crime' that means you've crossed a line and now 'deserve' to die? In all the cases of killing and the myriad of circumstances that make up those cases, where do you find enough commonality to draw a very specific line in the sand?
The major faith traditions and the law both say its not OK to kill. So where is the logic that says its not OK for an individual to kill in our society, but it is OK for a soldier in an army or for a political leader such as a president or a state governor to kill, in the name of the people? Makes no sense to me...
Turn it around the other way - if its OK for the state to kill, then it ought also to be OK for individuals to kill. And as a society, we obviously dont think that's the case... Life either is sacred, or its not - cant have it both ways...
2007-07-05 08:22:20 · answer #4 · answered by Gypsy 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Tough question. I don't know the answer but the same question can be asked on behalf of the people that person killed. They didn't deserve to die either and they didn't have a judge and jury watching out that their rights were not violated during the decision process.
2007-07-05 05:01:51 · answer #5 · answered by Hockeyfan 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I do think that some crimes merit the death penalty. However, in a society run by falliable human beings, the death penalty cannot be fairly implemented with any assurance that justice has been served. Therefore, I am against carrying out the death penalty.
2007-07-05 04:58:52 · answer #6 · answered by Scotty Doesnt Know 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I do think that some people do not deserve the privilege of living...but the way the punishment is meted out should be different. The victims' families should be the ones deciding and carrying out the punishment. At least in my opinion.
2007-07-05 05:03:56 · answer #7 · answered by Sunidaze 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Oh yes, some people do indeed deserve to die. Those who knowingly kill another person other than for self defense reasons. Live by the sword/gun, die by the sword/gun mentality.
As for the punishment of a cold blooded killer.....tax money would say to kill them as quick as possible. But if the person wants to live after they've done the crime, kill them. If the person wants to die, give them life without parole.
2007-07-05 05:00:50 · answer #8 · answered by Humanist 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
What if the person chooses to die? What if a criminal were to be given the option of death or life inprisionment, and chose to end it all right then and there? Obviously the convict would have to make his decision of his or her free will and with public witnesses, but I think it's something to at least consider.
2007-07-05 05:01:54 · answer #9 · answered by Kyrix 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I do think the death penalty is a legitimate punishment for a crime so heinous that the jury feel death is warranted. But I do have concerns with its application. I feel that we should have a stoppage of the use of the penalty until we have a system where it is used for those who deemed worthy, and where the use of the death penalty is fairly administered.
2007-07-05 05:08:23 · answer #10 · answered by wpm5587 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋