Isn't it time we reintroduced the death penalty?

Question

At least for murder and sexual offences against children?! People kill, and if they have a good reason like "they taunted me" or "I forgot my medication..." they get an average of 5 years in prison. If people knew they were risking the death penalty, surely they'd think before killing someone?!

Answer 1

There will be lots of arguements for and against this subject. There will be those that say innocent people may die.

I personally think that it should be introduced where the evidence is overwhelming that the person took the life of another deliberately.

There are people serving sentences at the moment who do not deserve to live, i.e Peter Sutcliffe and Ian Huntley, to name two. You may argue that we should let them suffer in jail. I'm sorry but I don't believe they are suffering. Prison is no more than a glorified camp site without the privelage of being allowed out.

Why should we pay thousands of pounds to keep these people. This money could be better spent on the needy and charitable organisations.

Also if we had a death penalty people may think twice before taking someones life. These days life seems cheap with murders serving sentences like 15 years then resuming their life. Why should this be allowed?

Let them die. The world will be a better place without them.

Answer 2

Crime investigation has moved on a long way since the 1950's when the last capital punishment hanging took place. Murder sentences are almost reducing to a point where punishment will no longer be acceptable. In my opinion murder is the worst crime that can be carried out.

Sentences have to be seen both by the criminal and the public to be worth keeping out of trouble for and not participating in crime. DNA has changed the the certainty value of the evidence
So, I would go along with others and say if the evidence is overwhelming the murderer should be put down in a humane way

on Radio 4 a few minuets ago, it reported that a man who sexually assaulted 24 children one as young as 18 months old has been given 200 hours community service. Is that the sort of sentences those against the death penalty are happy to give out or are you happy that a mans life is worth just 11 years as is the case of the murderer who killed Head master Lawrence.

Surely a mans life is worth more than 11 years penance.

ATB Red

Answer 3

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 the legal system gets it wrong. Look at all the people who have been released after years of imprisonment because they were exonerated by DNA evidence. Unfortunately, DNA evidence is not available in most cases. No matter how rare it is, the government should not risk executing one single innocent person.

Really, that should be reason enough for most 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, and there are many theories about why this is (Ted Bundy saw it as a challenge, so he chose Florida – the most active execution state at the time – to carry out his final murder spree). Personally, I think it has to do with the hypocrisy of taking 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. When Ted Bundy was finally arrested in 1978, he told the police officer, “I wish you had killed me.”

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

The problem with the death penalty is that when an innocent person is executed it can come out years later that they were innocent but it would be too late. Police are also often corrupt and innocent people or people who police have grudges against often end up framed for crimes. Peresonally I would rather be executed than spend the rest of my days in jail so I dont see it as being the most severe punishment anyway. As long as the justice system is imperfect it should not be reintroduced although in times of war a country has no choice but to use it against spies, traitors, saboteurs, cowards etc...

Answer 5

Statistics show that the death penalty is not a deterrent. States that do have the death penalty vs. states that don't have the death penalty makes no difference. It's cheaper to give someone life in prison than executing them because if you are given the death penalty you automatically get an appeal and that costs into the millions of dollars.

Answer 6

i'm for the death penalty. this is why: -it serves due justice (the punishment suits the crime), and serving due justice is the NO.a million interest of a court of regulation (struggling with crime isn't their interest) -it shows that we are annoying on crime -it gets bang for the taxpayers greenback -criminals given the DP have a 0% recidivism fee -It holds human beings responcible for the terrible content fabric of their character. This fulfills what MLKJ constantly needed: decide no longer via the colour of your epidermis, yet via the content fabric of your character. The characterof those criminals warrants death -It holds the criminal responcible for his strikes -appeals and **** aside, it incredibly is extra inexpensive then penitentiary -it decreases the penitentiary inhabitants, which saves much extra taxpayers funds -via fact the death penalty is the punishment given via a neutrel decide, there is not any vengance in it. as a result, there is not any ethical objection available with the death penalty. -The death penalty defends human rights via organising a mentality that "we won't tolerate any violation of any harmless man or woman's human suitable's

Answer 7

Forensic science is now so far advanced that crimes committed 20 years ago are being detected by DNA.
So, if this is the case, the incidence of a wrong decision is lessened and irrefutable evidence could be adduced to prove the guilt. This would bring a Death Penalty well within the realms of probability.

Answer 8

No. Most murders are not premeditated, or are perpetrated against a specific person for specific motives, so the idea of the death penalty as a deterrent has long been debunked - it does not work. You are left with the death penalty as just that - a penalty, an act of collective revenge, which opens a whole different can of ethical worms.

Answer 9

Well, Texas executed it's 400th yesterday. Recent studies have shown that juries are wrong in around 1 out of 8 cases. So lets see, that means about 50 of these were wrongly executed.

As far as the sexual offienses against children, the rate of false accusations and convictions is even higher in these crimes, due to juries going on hysteria and emotion instead of facts, so that means wrongful executions would be even higher.

Wonder if you would feel this way if you had been wrongfully convicted of sexual abuse during a child custody case, working at a day care center, etc.? Probably not.

But they did used to burn witches didn't they.

So my answer is NO.

Answer 10

Of Course. This should only be applied to cases where forensic evidence is 100% sure. Then put them in prison for years and years and dont let them know when the peanlty will be applied. Then one day, by pure surprise, take them to the gallows. Evil i know, but like they say 'tooth for a tooth', becuase i could never understand attacking an innocent child, scum like that has no right to life,