Those of you who reject the Death Penalty: What is the just punishment for those who kill children?

Question

J.P. - what world are you living in? That couple in Texas beat a 2 year old girl to death, then dumped her in the ocean. This is not just a theoretcial question.

Those animals cannot be placed back into any society. Even if they prayed and accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior, I believe they deserve nothing less than death for their evil deed.

Answer 1

Did you ever see the movie seven? How about what Kevin Spacey did to that heroin addict. Seems about right.

Answer 2

Take a look at another perspective. You don't have to sympathize with criminals or want them to avoid a terrible punishment to ask if the death penalty prevents or even reduces crime and to think about the risks of executing innocent people. Your question is much too important to settle without having answers to these questions.

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 3

I'm sorry for answering this question as I know it was directed at those who are against the death penalty...and I am for it.

I have to agree with you that there are some crimes so horrid that I believe the perpetrator just needs to be put down like a rabid dog. While I do think there are many criminals who can be rehabilitated or treated for their disease which causes them to act out in anti-social ways (most of the criminals do actually suffer from a mental disorder)... there are some that cannot be treated, just like there's some illnesses that cannot be treated or cured. I think the only humane thing to do, because they are a danger to society, is to execute them.

One such crime I would say that warrants the death penalty is harming children, in particular raping or murdering them.

Answer 4

At face value, death may seem an easy way out for such people. However, if you take notice of what Jesus mention about what hell is, it's anything but an easy way out.

Besides, once a murder is "swing from a tree", who would have to pay to keep him in a prison cell? Who will ever have to proclaim such a person broke out of jail? And who would ever have to write a parole board to stop such a person from being release from prison?

Besides, to the people who claims to be a Christian who actually read the Bible, read what the Bible say to do with them in the book of Joshua. It say kill them!

Up Date:

Death from above, you make a valid point. However, what about the people that DNA evidence convicts?

Answer 5

Life inprisonment in the general population. The worst thing you could do is to kill a child. It is looked way down on by the other prisoners there. So those who kill children are the main targert. They are tortured, raped and murdered. That is what they deserve. Life on death row is just to easy. They will spend the rest of their lives there and die there without even dying by the state.

Answer 6

Jail time up to life imprisonment with the amount fitting the crime. The death of a child can come from murder one, or it can be manslaughter, or lots of other things. They don't all deserve the same punishment.

We should not let emotions rule these decisions. The death of a child is terrible, but should we look at the murder of a child as more heinous than the murder of an adult? All murder is heinous.

Answer 7

There is no punishment here on Earth that man can give that would justify an end to a mean. But we are taught to *forgive* those who trespass against us. Our judgement of others have no bearing on what The Lord's Judgement will be on that day. Isn't killing someone who killed another the same thing? Does two wrongs make a right?

Answer 8

Life imprisonment is pretty awful (perhaps followed by eternal damnation in hell?). Don't be worried about taxes and such, turns out that the cost of getting someone sent to death with all the legal fees, appeals, and what-not is actually more expensive than a life sentence.

Answer 9

why discriminate for children. Life is life and murder is murder. The penalty should be the same regardless of the age of the victim.

We are all sentenced to death in the end but a long life spent in suffering for your crimes is just a precursor to hell (if you think that way) and the closest thing you'll get to hell (if you dont)

Answer 10

Death would be a just punishment for those who kill others. However, the problem with the death penalty is that juries often make mistakes and convict innocent people.

If someone is accused of a murder, convicted, sent to prison, and later found to be innocent, they can be let out.

However, if someone is accused of a murder, convicted, executed, and later found to be innocent, its a bit more difficult to correct the error.

The problem with the death penalty isn't that it is too harsh. The problem with the death penalty is that people are too incompetent to be trusted with deciding when others should be executed.

Answer 11

death penalty is state-sponsored murder. How that makes the state different from the murderer ? Is killing somebody going to bring the child back ?
Death penalty was abolished in Illinois after it was established by DNA evidence that ELEVEN inmates on death row were innocent. How would YOU like to rot on death row KNOWING you were innocent?
A true measure of a great society is how it treats the most wretched of its members.