Islamic states use execution freely. To emphasize our humane ethics, should the US outlaw the death penalty?

Question

^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^

Please explain your answer and state your faith tradition.

^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^ ^v^

Answer 1

We don't measure up on human rights in a number of ways- torture, the death penalty. We will never be "perfect" in our respect for human rights but we can do better. To begin with, we should educate ourselves on how the death penalty system actually works. A criminal justice system should be based on how best to keep people safe.

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.

Risks of executing innocent people-
124 people on death rows have been released with proof that they were wrongfully convicted. DNA is available in less than 10% of all homicides and isn’t a guarantee we won’t execute innocent people.

The death penalty doesn't 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 don’t.

We have a good alternative. 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.

The death penalty costs much more than life in prison, mostly because of the legal process which is supposed to prevent executions of innocent people.

The death penalty isn't reserved for the worst crimes, but for defendants with the worst lawyers. It doesn't apply to people with money. When is the last time a wealthy person was on death row, let alone executed?

The death penalty doesn't necessarily help families of murder victims. 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.

Problems with speeding 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 2

No, but maybe the Islamic states should charge a fee instead of doing them freely. That way if you can't afford it, you don't get executed.

Golly gee, that's a dandy idea. Compute what it costs to hold an execution and WORLD WIDE if the PERSON'S GROSS WORTH cannot cover it, they shouldn't be executed.

Why should the TAX PAYERS pay the bill.

The inmate should pay their own way.

Now Saddam, he could afford an execution. So could Jeffrey Daumer. Donald Trump better NEVER commit a capital offense or he's in serious trouble!

We should take the 1 cent per license plate they get paid and put it into a trust fund and when it is large enough to cover the cost of the execution then we do it, otherwise we don't!

I think that's an amicable solution!

Answer 3

I am in favor of it, and if somebody wants to watch an execution, I think there should be a way for them to witness it. Torture, on the other hand, is not something I am in favor of. A person has to be convicted to be put to death, but torture is used to extract information which may or may not be reliable in order to get a conviction. I don't like the deterrent argument. Nobody commits a murder thinking they will be caught. I just don't give a damn about keeping sociopaths who go around killing other people alive.

Answer 4

I feel that control of death either by Big Pharma, Big Tobacco, or Big Oil is just as harmful and based on profit

there is much profit from Death Row, it's employees, tax dollars, etc

I feel that choosing to kill others is like sending Betsy to the slaughterhouses for more sausage....we raise up people under an impossible standard of law and then send to death for any crime that you pick that also has a death penalty attatched, more about control and selection then about fairness

Answer 5

I don't think the US should outlaw it "to emphasise out humane ethnics". I think the US should outlaw it because it is wrong. However if they're going to do away with the Death Penalty, they need to sort out the prison system and make a life sentence mean that you actually have to serve life, no matter who you pay off.

Answer 6

I think that might be a good idea, since we have no real practical reason to do executions. We should study these terrible people, and find out what social conditions may have contributed to producing their bad behavior. We should always be willing to study our society, and find out ways to improve conditions. I am an open, independant, connecter with the best image of the best God I can come up, with though meditation and any other source I can find.

Answer 7

I don't personally think that we ought to decide on any policy as a reactionary measure to what other countries do.

That's how we got "under God" in the Pledge.

If we're going to be truly different from other countries, it has to come from a real difference, not from anything else. But even so, that's an immature motivation. Mature adults don't decide to do something in order to be seen as different from other folks. and neither do mature societies or countries.

What shall we do next, decide that because we don't want to be like...oh, say France, that we'll abolish any French food? Or maybe rename things like "french fries' or "french toast"? *rolls eyes*


We have to determine who and what we are going to be based on our self-definition and self-direction, not from a desire to be like others, nor from a desire to be unlike others.

In the meantime, if we want to "emphasize our humane ethics", let's work on getting every American the same rights and liberties under the law - minority religions, homosexuals, atheists, EVERYONE. And stop invading other countries on trumped-up excuses.

(As you already know, I'm a Witch)

Answer 8

Yes the US should outlaw the death penalty. Not because Islamic states use it but simply because it is wrong. It makes absolutely no sense to say killing is wrong and then to emphasize just how wrong it is by killing someone.

Atheist (ex)Catholic.

Answer 9

I disagree with the death penalty.

I think a person who commits a crime that would warrant the death penalty......they should be put in jail for the rest of their life. I already know what people are going to say about their taxes paying for someone to be jailed for years....but for me that's not a good argument.

If one person is put to death by mistake......to me that's one too many. Since DNA testing is readily available now ,we're seeing more and more innocent people who are behind bars by "mistake".

Answer 10

Yes, I believe the death penalty is just and acceptable in extreme cases. It shouldn't be used freely, and for only the worst offenses. It's also the right of the victims' families/loved ones to have such closure. Non-Religious.