The Death Penalty.. Is it harsh and inhumane punishment?

Question

It seems like the courts are now saying that it is not humaine to put someone to death(even by injection). It doesn't seem to matter how they have murdered, or who they have murdered and why they murdered! Is it really so inhumane to put someone to death whom has raped and murdered countless innocent children? If you listen to what the courts are saying now, it is WRONG! I do not know? Sometimes I think our country has lost it collective minds!! Anyway...what is you opinion on this issue?

Answer 1

It's really difficult to research the effect that an established death penalty has on would-be criminals. Is the punishment a significant deterrent? Many would answer no, due to the fact that people still murder, rape, etc. But maybe it IS a deterrent. We just can't prove that with research methods though.

If the death penalty isn't a negative reinforcement for would-be offenders, then it's not really a useful punishment.

As a psychotherapist, I consider the fact that if a person is capable of aggravated rape or murder, the person is mentally ill... hands down. Anybody who can consciously go through with an act like that has some sort of mental illness, by DSM-IV-TR criteria. With this in mind, it is impossible to see people as purely evil, which is the basic assumption that justifies the death penalty. I'm inclined to think that it's a societal norm, but that it's ultimately not the wisest or most effective action that could be taken for people who offend.

I haven't answered your question.

Punishment of any kind, by its very nature, can be easily argued to be inhumane. It is not biologically normal to take away another person's freedom without offering an option for rehabilitation. Of course, this is the most liberal of viewpoints. The answer really depends on the core beliefs of whoever is answering.

Answer 2

Where have you been? Back in 1972, the U.S. Supreme Court declared that all of the death penalty laws of the country, as designed at that time, were unconstitutional. The feds and most of the states were quick to create some new death penalty laws, and then in 1976 the new laws were upheld, with a kind of caveat that the new laws were okay because the new laws had more acceptable than the old laws. And ever since then, the Supreme Court did continue to take on more cases dealing with the death penalty and has continued to occasionally rule that, under certain circumstances, the death penalty would be too harsh of a form of punishment -- such as executing someone who is mentally retarded.

Why do you say "Sometimes I think our country has lost its collective mind!!" when it wasn't the whole country who made these rulings, it was the Supreme Court. In case you've forgotten, the Supreme Court is not elected by the people and it does not "represent" the people.

Finally, as to my view about the death penalty, I believe that, in general, it is appropriate for the severity of the punishment to match the severity of the crime. So I do, in general, support the death penalty.

Answer 3

the death penalty is not harsh or inhumane unless you are the one being put to death. our system is so flawed we can not effective use the death penalty. just so many mistakes have been made in the past. the death penalty will never be a deterrent until we have a way to prevent errors and can administer the sentence quickly. 1 trial 1 appeal 1 execution then maybe it will serve as a deterrent. we have got to get our legal system right first.

then there is this whole issue of if death penalty is okay what about abortion, didn't want to go there did ya?

Answer 4

i am all for the death penalty. i've been on both sides of the issue. i had a family member murdered and a family member commit a murder. i don't think we reduce ourselves to the same levels as the offenders as one of the posters stated. why should we waste our tax dollars to feed and clothe and other extras to keep a person who is of no use to society alive? i am not speaking of someone who has killed in self defense or an accident. i am speaking of premeditated murders, especially the baby/child/elderly killers. what ever happened to the rights of the victims? how would someone feel if the one person they loved the most in the world was gone in an instant....due to a senseless homicide?
LET ME ADD THAT I FEEL THE DEATH PENALTY WOULD BE AN EFFECTIVE DETERRENT TO CRIME IF OUR COURT SYSTEMS WEREN'T TIED UP WITH APPEALS FROM THESE MURDERERS. IF A DEATH SENTENCE WAS CARRIED OUT IMMEDIATELY INSTEAD OF LETTING A MURDERER STAY ON DEATH ROW FOR TWENTY FIVE YEARS WHILE WAITING ON APPEALS, IT WOULD WORK.

Answer 5

Here's my honest opinion. I think the family of the victim should decide the punishment, because they are the ones that this matters to. Everyone else is just wanking and jumping on one ideological bandwagon or another. So, if the family says death as punishment, then fine, we kill the murderer. If they say let him go, then we do this also. It should be completely left to the people whose lives the murder directly affected. And to those that say the bible says not to kill, wrong: the bible says not to murder--and it illustrates the difference quite clearly throughout. I say eye for an eye. If someone killed one of my family members, child, wife, etc, I would want to kill them myself. If not, then I definitely want the system to. There are plenty of people walking around on this earth--they won't be missed.

Answer 6

The courts cannot make up their mind. What is true is that a life sentance in prison is cruel and inhumane and that a quick and painless death has long been held to be humane (the reason animals in pain are euthanized).

Answer 7

You are exactly right the country has lost its collective mind. I say an eye for an eye. The death penalty is a crime deterrent.

Answer 8

i don't have faith in the loss of life penalty, era! We use it thank you to usually here interior of usa! What maximum human beings do no longer understand or seem to care with regards to it is what proportion executions here in the States have long previous incorrect and the condemned guy/woman died horribly! there replaced into an electrocution in the State of Florida back in 1999 the place the guy being carried out had his nostril broken in the previous the electrocution even began by way of fact the look after placed the leather-based strap that holds the persons head in place in the incorrect spot and the guy could no longer breathe! while the electric energy replaced into ultimately grew to become on, the guy, who suffered from extreme blood rigidity, had blood explode out of his nostril and a extensive pool of blood formed on the front of the mans white shirt! The choose who sentenced him to loss of life found out and had the pictures the penal complex workforce took of the guy in simple terms after the execution published on the cyber web and has now grow to be an anti-loss of life penalty choose! there replaced into an electrocution some years in the previous that in the time of the State of Texas I thought the place the guy being carried out had his head burst into flame by way of fact the cone on his head had a defective cord! those are in simple terms 2 of over 60 situations I genuinely have researched on errors made in the time of executions here interior of usa that have led to the condemned to go through terrible and very cruel deaths! i'm going to in no way understand the way any united states that calls itself civilized can bypass regulations asserting that homicide is incorrect and then go and do the comparable factor to a individual they convict of murdering somebody! in case you or all people analyzing this does not understand, while a individual interior of usa is carried out, the persons loss of life is indexed as a homicide! Which the yankee history® Dictionary of the English Language states is = NOUN: The killing of one individual by using yet another. a individual who kills yet another individual. Which in this united states is a form one legal!? Peace!

Answer 9

The Death Penalty reduces society to the same level.
It also is not a deterrent, murderers don't expect to be caught.
But the biggest reason is the fallibility of the legal system.
We have seen so many released on DNA evidence.

Answer 10

hang 'em...electricute them...inject them...gas 'em..firing squad..any thing but keeping them in prison ''long'' after they commited the crime that put them in prison to begin with..the way some of these muders and rapes take place is realy freaky and discusting..but yet the liberals and aclu keep saying jhow inhumane it is..B.S....i agree with you...nuke their @$$...i like it when a criminal was found guilty the states put the sucker down right now...not 15 or 20 yrs later...