If THIS doesn't qualify for the death penalty, what does?

Question

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,289625,00.html

OK, Texas is the nation's leader in execution of those who commit capital crimes. How do they define what does and doesn't qualify for the death penalty?

It seems to me that lighting someone on fire and trying to burn them alive is particularly heinous.

So if this guy is facing a maximum of life in prison, what, pray tell, justifies the death penalty?

(Disclaimer: The asker of this question is anti-death penalty)

Answer 1

I personally think that the death penalty is too good for those that have committed heinous crimes.

I think they ought to suffer to the point just short of death continually.

And I think if they are going to have the death penalty they should open it up for all the public to see, just like in some places in the middle east.

Hell, why not bring back public stonings. I'd like to publicly stone someone if they killed my loved one.

Answer 2

How can you decide what crimes qualify for the death penalty? No grieving family would say that the murder of their child, parent, brother is any less deserving of the most serious punishment.

I believe that life without parole (available in 48 states) is the appropriate sentence. It means what it says, it is not a picnic to be locked in a tiny cell for 23 hours a day. It is sure and swift, necessary for a punishment to deter others (the death penalty is neither.) It costs much less than the death penalty because the legal process is much simpler and it is rarely appealed.

Answer 3

I think the urge to see the perpetrator of a horrendous crime killed is a normal and understandable human reaction. I was pro-death penalty for a long time, but I have changed my stance over the years, for several reasons:

1. By far the most compelling is this: Sometimes our legal system gets it wrong. Look at all the criminals who are being released after years of imprisonment because they were exonerated by DNA evidence. No matter how rare it is, our government should not risk executing one single innocent person.

Really, that should be reason enough for most reasonable people. If you need more, read on:

2. Because of the extra expense of prosecuting a DP case and the appeals process (which is necessary - see reason #1), it costs taxpayers MUCH more to execute prisoners than to imprison them for life.

3. The deterrent effect is questionable at best. Violent crime rates are actually higher in death penalty states. This may seem counterintuitive, but think about the mixed message it sends: we’re trying to take a stand against murder…by killing people. The government becomes the bad parent who says, ‘do as I say, not as I do.’

4. There’s also an argument to be made that death is too good for the worst of our criminals. Let them wake up and go to bed every day of their lives in a prison cell, and think about the freedom they DON’T have, until they rot of old age.

5. The U.S. government is supposed to be secular, but for those who invoke Christian law in this debate, you can find arguments both for AND against the death penalty in the Bible. For example, Matthew 5:38-39 insists that violence shall not beget violence. James 4:12 says that God is the only one who can take a life in the name of justice. Leviticus 19:18 warns against vengeance (which, really, is what the death penalty amounts to). In John 8:7, Jesus himself says, "let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

Answer 4

Nothing ...... absolutely nothing justifies the death penalty.

The crime is indeed heinous. John Dodd is probably a dangerous sociopath (or as one psychiatrist said on TV..."Has no soul") and will never contributed to society.

We are better than that.

Gandhi once said "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind".

Answer 5

I am a republican, a conservative, but i believe the death penalty is wrong because i think god will do the final judgment and that person will get what he or she deserves in the end. Revenge is never a good thing.

Answer 6

First of all, why do you read Fox-aganda? It's not a credible news source?

Anyway, I shall humor you with a response.

If Dodd truly did this, then I say yes, death penalty.

Answer 7

I bet if she were a cop he'd of gotten the death penalty.