Is the death penalty is cruel and unjust and is there any proof that it is or not?

Answer 1

Here is another perspective. 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.

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

The death penalty in and by itself is not cruel. Being sentenced to death and then staying in prison for 25 plus years, that's cruel.

Answer 3

Do you mean the method of lethal injection commonly used in the death penalty? There is the idea that because they use a paralyzing agent at the same time as the lethal injection, the person may not be able to signal that they are in pain. In my opinion, if they've killed someone, they deserve a little pain for the few seconds it takes before they're dead.

But if you mean the practice of executing someone guilty of intentionally murdering another person, the justice of it seems pretty obvious to me.

Answer 4

No the death penalty is not cruel and unjust (in America), understand this, we get really bad people who messed up horribly, are we supposed to keep paying (taxes) for that idiot to live an entire life in prison free to them?? Hell no! Plus, other countries dont just humanly kill people when they mess up, no, take saudi arabia for example, a woman reported to the media that 4 men gang raped her, well the government didnt like that she skipped the police reports, so she was put in jail for 4 years, and issued 200 lashings! LASHINGS! that means getting whipped, whipped for telling that she was raped. that is cruel and unusual! quit feeling bad for bad people!

Answer 5

Cruel ? Depends on your perspecitve, it's safe to assume an execution is much more humane than the way most if not all the victims of murders died. Unjust ? Again depends on your perspective, unjust to me is allowing a convicted murder to continue living while the family of their victims suffer.

Answer 6

You can't have proof in a question like this. What is there to prove it? Its a matter of personal opinion, not a law, and what law writers say we should think. For me the death penalty is JUSTICE.

Answer 7

It would be to someone who is innocent. Giving the death penalty to someone that killed 35 people in cold blood, well I think it 's just cause.

Answer 8

No, there isn't any proof.

Both "cruel" and "unjust" are subjective statements, meaning that people will have different opinions on what they are.

One person's cruel and and unusual punishment is another person's justice.

Answer 9

I tend to think that strapping someone to a bed then injecting them with a chemical that cases their diaphragm to stop functioning thereby suffocating them is rather cruel. You might as well just hang people if we are going to do such things.

Answer 10

If you cant do the time then don't do the crime...........People argue life in jail is cruel......some say we spend too much money on the death penalty...........so say it's murder.....................but it comes down to dont do the crime...