If you don't support Capital punishment?

Question

shouldn't you have a member of your family murdered in a gruesome way, the murderer caught, and then you can sit back and re-think your own views?

Could you still honestly say the murderer should live and be released back into society? And if they killed again, would you feel any guilt?

So far the answers seem to be from politicians, they avoid answering it, because they know they're wrong. (4 answers)

Isn't wanting someone to waste away in jail revenge?

Answer 1

My view on capital punishment is that the punishment should fit the crime, but only if someone is without a doubt guilty.

agree or disagree I'm sure you will all agree that the punisments in this country is a joke, you comit an act of rape murder etc you get 3-5years in prison.....sorry it's not prision any more its a 2star B&B with cable tv, set meals, pool table and in some cases a gym.

lets face it comit a crime get an easy life.

I also forgot to mention with keeping these people locked up prisions are getting over crowed which means new prisions are built... someones gotta pay for it all and that would be me, you and joe bloggs the taxpayer. which if you think about it means a family member gets beaten - killed - raped etc then you pay for them to live an easy life.....

Answer 2

If somebody ever murdered one of my loved ones, I would never want them to be released back out into society.

Yet, is execution of the murderer the answer?

I'm actually undecided when it comes to capital punishment.

There have been many research studies that have come to show that it costs MORE money to execute someone than to keep them in prison for life. This is due to the fact of constant and expensive legal appeals.

At the same time, we as human beings constantly strive to live in a society with higher morals and consciousness. Meaning that we're better than killers, otherwise we fall into their level.

Capital punishment only brings revenge.

Does capital punishment bring back a murdered loved one? No.
Does it help loved ones in the grieving process? Maybe.

Regardless of which religion or where one is from, all societies embrace the idea that "vengeance" is not the answer in helping one find peace.

The reasonable person would also admit that the idea of "life in prison" seems like a harsher penalty than death. Sometimes, death may be a quick and easy way out. By making a murderer waste away in prison and think about his crime may serve as a greater punishment than a fast death.

Answer 3

I've often wondered how I would feel about that. Quite a few years ago, but after capital punishment was abolished, a forensic scientist decided wether a person was guilty or not and fixed the evidence. A lorry driver was convicted of rape and murder and sent to prison. It was many years before the scientist was caught out and all the cases he had dealt with were examined. The driver was released and the scientist retired, probably retaining his pension. The point is that driver would have been hanged. I've been againsy hanging ever since having previously been all for the death penalty.

Answer 4

You are right to say that wanting a person to rot in jail is "revenge", but this form of revenge also acts as a punishment to the convict. Executing a person is not a punishment to him, the convict has the last laugh, he moves civilised society to the depths of his actions, you are "following his lead" and injuring another person with intent to kill him, just as the executee did.

When he is executed he does not think about the crimes he has committed, when he is in his damp cell on Christmas day eating plastic bags reformed to look like turkey he will think about what he has done. A vast majority of people repent their actions after spending 30 years in jail.

I have quite a lot of knowledge of the subject, I've had a friend murdered, my mum is a plastic surgeon, who amongst other things, puts people back together when they have been attacked in the street, my dad is a lawyer who sentences these people to jail. And I can say categorically that the death penalty is not the answer.

Bruverhoodofman

Answer 5

I don't need to re think my views, my husband was murdered in a very gruesome way.

I could not in all conscience, if we had any say, have said 'yes, hang them both'. I will tell you why - because despite what I may think about capital punishment, my husband was completely opposed to it.

And why would I feel any guilt? I won't be the one who releases them will I? I happen to believe that in light of the ridiculous sentences being handed down now, justice was served, minimum tarrifs were handed down and no I'm not happy, I'd rather they stayed in jail, however they were very long sentences and MINIMUM tarrifs.

Answer 6

There are more murders in America than there are in Britain, and I don't think having capital punishment has deterred one murder.

So if this punishment is not a deterrent, then it must be vengeance, and I don't want the penal system in my country to be one based on getting societies own back on murderers.

You are right, if someone murdered a member of your family you would want to hurt that person as much as they've hurt you. But just as I don't want a system based on vengeance, I also don't want one based on a painful response of people who have had family members murdered.

Killing the murderers is being as bad as they are, and they should suffer every second, minute and hour of their time before they die with what they have done.

Answer 7

Two wrongs don't make a right.

No matter how someone I loved was killed, I would not wish the same on another person.

If the true purpose of our penal system were rehabilitation (or habilitation in the first place), our jail system wouldn't be full of repeat offenders.

DizzyMan - Capital Punishment IS murder. Just because it is performed by a state instead of an individual doesn't make it right.

And "an eye for an eye" is NOT logical if your goal is to prevent crime. Studies show that treating others harshly simply increases the level of violence in society.

I am not a politician. I am a wife, mother, and tax-paying employee.

Answer 8

that's a stupid argument, and anyone who would change their answer based on who is murdered doesn't understand the concept of logic, or else has no intellectual honesty. while i would certainly want to cause the guilty party as much pain as possible, that would not make it right. what you fail to understand is that if something is wrong, it is wrong no matter who does it or suffer by it. and there is always the other option, that of life without parole, an effective way to keep killers off the streets without resorting to the immorality of the death penalty, and without preventing mistakes from being corrected down the road.
and while some argue that the death penalty is an effective deterrent, the facts don't back that up. the most violent, crime-ridden states in america are also those that execute the most people, while the least violent execute the fewest. the same scenario plays out around the world. the more people the government executes, the more violent a country it is. and of course if you believe in "the death penalty as a deterrent" theory, you would expect to find the rest of the west (those countries without the death penalty) full of crime and violence, and yet america's crime rate is disproportionately higher.

Answer 9

Did you know there are quite a murder victims families who oppose the death penalty? And, did you know that life without parole now exists in 48 states. It means what it says. Those sentenced to life without parole do not get released back into society.

Answer 10

If a member of my family was murdered as you have suggested then I would want to kill he killer myself and if capital punishment was in existence I could lose my own life through the actions of the state. If the culprit was found guilty I would like that person sentenced for the remainder of his/her life and the sentence to be so harsh that there would be every chance that he/she would take their own life. I truly believe sadistic murderers should lose all their human rights.