Should the death penalty be allowed?

Question

Please, no partisan bickering, I am really of two minds on this issue. On the one hand, if the wrong person is convicted and killed that is a serious problem, on the other, I really don't think my tax dollars should go to keeping a prolific serial killer alive for the next 40 years of his life.

Also to consider: the "cruel and unusual" punishment clause of the Constitution, one must also consider the circumstances under which the Founders created the law.

Finally, if allowed, in what manner should the death penalty be carried out?

Answer 1

Yes. I prefer public hangings. It gets the message out.

Answer 2

I am glad that you don't want partisan bickering. This topic should not be decided that way. Many people think about this issue if purely emotional terms reacting to brutal crimes with appropriate anger and revulsion and letting it go at that. I hope you'll take a look at some of the facts.

You don't have to condone brutal crimes or want the criminals who commit them to avoid a harsh punishment to ask whether the death penalty prevents or even reduces crime and whether it risks killing innocent people.

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 and can’t guarantee we won’t execute 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 and regions 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, mostly because of the legal process. When the death penalty is a possible sentence, extra costs mount up even before trial, continuing through the uniquely complicated trial (actually 2 separate trials, one to decide guilt and the second to decide the punishment) in death penalty cases, and appeals.

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.

Answer 3

At the time the Constitution was written, "cruel and unusual" would presumably be construed to mean what we now call "torture". The shame of the stocks and the finality of the gallows were not unusual at the time; but thumbscrews, the spanish boot, and the iron maiden were thought to be things of the past.

If the death penalty is to be carried out, the manner doesn't matter. But I submit the following:

If the death penalty is to be carried out, I think the judge, the jury, and the prosecutor should have to consent to themselves be executed if it is ever demonstrated that the wrong person had been put to death as a result of their decisions.

I think that would cut down the number of death sentences, because people would have a very personal stake in making the correct determination. It's sad, but I think it's true.

Answer 4

There are some crimes that are so horrendous that the criminal deserves to be put to death. I think that some people are so beyond rehabilitation that death is the only solution. Are they disturbed? Probably. Are they insane? That's too broad of a word to use. You'd have to be nuts anyway to do what some people do. There are rules in society for a reason. If you cannot follow the rules, there are consequences. Everyone needs to learn that. You can also consider the cost to keep in inmate in jail. How stupid are we? We feed them, clothe them, educate them enough to find a loophole in their case and then they get out to do it again? There's the argument that death by lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment??? Give me a break. Did they gently, carefully and politely kill their victim? I would not have a problem pressing the button, pulling the switch or kicking out the chair for a lot of criminals. Someone like Gacy, Dahmer, Susan Smith, where there's absolutely no doubt they did it and they've said they did it, give em 90 days and send them to their maker.

Answer 5

The value of a life; any life taken unjustly or due to false information, although unintentional, is a serious problem.

Science improvements have made it possible to identify and can also be used to eliminate suspected persons who may be found guilty wrongly.

Should any life be taken in error--is a serious problem or infraction of human rights--and many times the wrong person has been found guilty to be found innocent many years later; hence, the system is not perfect and should not be permitted to take a life--all life is valuable. The death penalty is too quick to discard and should not be entirely entrusted to other humans.

Power differentiation in a fallible system; innocent life cannot be replaced. How often is this addressed publicly.

There are few cases where the correct person is found, and charged with absolute evidence. Beyond a reasonable doubt is not enough to take a life.

Answer 6

Oh my gosh, the daily question again.

1. It costs the tax payers millions of dollars more to execute someone than to feed and house them for up to 40 years.
2. If someone did kill me or my loved ones I would want the S O B to sit in his/her cell for forty years to think about how/why the got themselves there.
3. I have unfortunately had to put a few super loved pets to sleep in my lifetime to put them out of their misery. I would most definitely not even consider granting such a privilege to a murderer.
4. According to our own FBI 1 in 10 of those on death rowe DID NOT commit the crime.
5. The murder rate in states that have and use capital punishment have the highest murder rates; so not only is it not a deterrent, but it increases the murder rate for some unknown reason. Psychiatrists theorize it is an innate "death wish" on themselves, but do not have the courage to do it. As in "suicide by cop syndrome"
6. They have on the news all too often of people (not all) that are released from death rowe after being found innocent. How would you feel if that was one of your loved ones?

Answer 7

We are supposedly a Christian society, which allegedly follows a list of rules known as the Ten Commandments. One of those commandments, if I recall, is" THOU SHALT NOT KILL". I don't remember any disclaimer saying it's okay to kill for revenge; it's okay to kill if you're the governor of a state; or it's okay to kill if you're the "war President". All it says is THOU SHALT NOT KILL. Period.

There is always a good possibility - even with modern science, which often is proved inaccurate decades alter - that an innocent person is put to death. If only ONE innocent person dies, it's one too many.

I empathize with those families who have lost loved ones to vicious murderers, but even their God says, "Vengeance is mine". Christians are told to forgive; while I understand that might be the most difficult thing a victim's family can do, I can't see how they will forget their loss just because justice 'settled the score'. Forgive me; I'm not trying to be flippant - and perhaps I'd feel differently if one of my loved ones were a murder victim. I lost a dear sister in an auto accident because of another driver's carelessness. I truly have forgiven him, even though I know it has preyed on his conscience every single day for 23 years.

Our justice system is far from perfect. I believe we let the matters of life and death up to a higher power than we mere mortals. -RKO- 09/30/07

Answer 8

No it should not be allowd. It is barbaric. Most first world countries have long since abolished it.

The death penalty violates America’s founding principles
The State has a fundamental responsibility of protecting life, not taking it
The death penalty is the hallmark of authoritarian regimes
What about the victims?
Capital punishment creates more victims
Opposition to the death penalty does not arise from misplaced sympathy for criminals
Innocence and the death penalty: an unacceptable compromise
Life in prison is cheaper than a penalty of death
Capital punishment deprives us of our own human dignity
Capital punishment denies our ability to change
Capital punishment is cruel and degrading
Capital punishment is a human rights issue
International jurisdictions unanimously exclude a penalty of death
Synopsis of Arguments:

The death penalty violates America’s founding principles
America emerged from a refusal to submit itself to authoritarian and arbitrary rule. In the absence of omniscience the Founding fathers recognized that man’s pretension to ultimate knowledge was the root of all oppression. The death penalty, in contrast, claims ultimate knowledge, pretends to infallibility and dismisses doubt.

The State has a fundamental responsibility of protecting life, not taking it
The State has a duty, first and foremost, to preserve and protect the life of every citizen. No man, nor should any authority arrogate unto itself the right to take away life.

The death penalty is the hallmark of authoritarian regimes
Geopolitically, the death penalty is espoused by authoritarian regimes, while it has receded if it is not outright abolished in modern democracies. The death penalty emboldens the idea that the State has life or death rights over its citizens. Pluralistic and modern democracies, in contrast, are wary of such power in the hands of the state and have endeavored to confine its power.

What about the victims?
Sentencing a criminal to die has many perverse effects that can, in fact, add to victims’ plight. Victims are far from being unanimous in their support of capital punishment.

Capital Punishment Creates More Victims
Rather than righting a wrong, the death penalty creates a host of new victims. The bereaved family and friends are also victims, also suffer a loss and are just as innocent. Justice that produces more pain and more victims is unethical.

Opposition to the death penalty does not arise from misplaced sympathy for convicted murderers
To be opposed to the killing of another human being does not make one ‘soft on crime’ or ‘pro-criminal.’ It expresses a deep moral conviction; it does not preclude punishment.

Innocence and the death penalty
Innocent people have been sentenced to die. If we are to maintain capital punishment, we must accept that the execution of an innocent person will always be a possibility. 123 inmates have been freed from death row since the reinstatement of capital punishment in 1976. This unacceptably compromises our justice system.

Life in Prison is cheaper than a penalty of death
The figures speak for themselves: capital punishment is far more expensive than alternative sentences, namely life without the possibility of parole. What is more, cases that start out as capital ones, rarely end in a conviction, and yet it is the trial phase that incurs the heaviest costs.

Capital punishment deprives us of our own human dignity
To embrace the notion that the human person is endowed with an inherent dignity is to accept responsibility for this dignity. If the concept is universal, then there can be no exception to the rule as absolute and irrevocable as death.

Capital Punishment denies our ability to change
Capital punishment eliminates all hope for rehabilitation or remorse and the opportunity to atone. That some may never seize the opportunity to grow and understand their own humanity through rehabilitation does not diminish its full potential and legitimacy.

Capital punishment is cruel and degrading
The psychological and physical treatment of death row inmates awaiting an uncertain final hour is degrading and has been likened to torture. And however humane one claims the method to be, death is extremely painful both psychologically and physically.

Capital punishment is a human rights issue
The death penalty, for a majority of an ever growing number of countries and organizations, has clearly become a serious human rights violation. Abolishing capital punishment affords the United States a unique opportunity to build on the spirit of human rights and reinforce its role as a leader and beacon for the world.

International jurisdictions unanimously exclude a penalty of death
The International Penal Court and the international tribunals of The Hague and Arusha do not apply the death penalty to punish even the most egregious and heinous crimes such as crimes against humanity, genocides and war crimes.

Answer 9

I think so.As long as the evidence is solid.Two nights ago two blocks from where I live a store was robbed.Even though they were giving up the money they were shot!
One robber walked up to an employee pushing a broom.With the gun down next to his leg and without warning raised it and shot him in the chest!
Most cold blooded thing I have ever seen!One dead one in critical condition!

Answer 10

i imagine you will get many arguments on both sides of your question. here is my opinion on the subject: My sister was murdered, so i have first hand experience with this. If someone kills someone else, I beleive they should die. I don't think it should be a humane form of death either. He admitted to killing her and now he will live out his life in prison. He probably doesn't have a good life, but he is alive and he can still see his daughters when they come for visitation. All i have of my sister is memories that we shared and her best friend that i see every now and again that still (its been 10 years) can't come to grips with her death. You are completely right about us paying to keep them alive. He took my sister from my life and he's still taking my tax money to keep his sorry @ss alive.