Pros:
Vengeance: it satisfies the victims’ families’ taste for blood
The bible: requires death penalty for offenses ranging from disrespecting your parents to being unhospitable.
Cons:
Unfair: the death penalty is applied in a racially/economically unfair way
The Church: the U.S. council of Bishops said that the conditions justifying the death penalty do not exist in the United States.
Unreversable: you can’t pardon a corpse
Innocent are executed: self-explanatory.
Economics: More expensive than imprisoning the prisoner for life.
I am very much against the death penalty. Why this country would apply cruel and unusual punishment is beyond me. Of course killing babies is beyond me too…
As it happens i just finished a research paper on this very subject.
In regards to your economics section of it. I found the same information when i first started. But after 2 weeks of research I did discover that it is, for lack of better phrasing, cheaper to execute than life in prison.
On 2002-05-07 22:23, Jazz wrote:
cheaper to execute
Decades of appeals cost enough to imprison a prisoner for more than a hundred years.
Exchange “bible” through “old testament” and i can agree more. Christian faith should not be compatible with any killing, Jews and Muslims can though.
I believe in the death pelenty only because it is a warning to someone who wants to kill…to kill in a state with a lesser pelenty.
Is the death penalty a reasonable determent to crime? What’s the statistics - anyone?
I’m for it when it stops a multiple predator…
Screw Faith, we live in a non-secular society in the Western World, for the most part.
Personally, I think you punish a murderer more by locking him/her away for 50 years.
On 2002-05-08 14:48, Yanny wrote:
you punish a murderer more by locking him/her away for 50 years.
Exactly
It seems to me that the death penalty is very hypocritcal. Society punishes a murderer by killing the murderer (a bit ludicrous to me).
“My honour is my loyalty.”
[ This Message was edited by: Candyman67 on 2002-05-08 15:51 ]
. . . if figures that i wouldn’t be able to let this one go by without a reply . . .
Although there are so many times when my sense of vengence and justice kicks in and i think one should be killed by society (see my “perfect gov’t”) for certain crimes, there are too many solid reasons against capital punishment. There have been several examples in my own city of people convicted of a murder (where a Texan would get the chair) that were later (several years later) found innocent. There was a recent study that found something like 1 in 6 people on death row in Illinois were found not guilty and given full pardons as well (sorry if i messed up the details - i heard the stat a long time ago). Finally one also might wonder if a death sentance might make jurors less likely to convict than a life in prison? I know that in a perfect world only criminals are caught, witnesses are always honest, and juries always do the right thing, but we don’t live in a perfect world yet - obviously, as we still have people doing horrible things to each other.
Check out Texas. 20% of those killed on Death Row were found later to be innocent. Mostly during Bush’s term too.
In my opinion, one would suffer more with life in prison than death. Think about it. Would you rather live in a confined place with limits on your life, strip searches, and rapes, or would you rather die. Im no homophobe but id like to keep my bum hole as tight as possible. If people wanted to live in prison so bad, the people that arn’t already there would attempt to be there and the people already there wouldn’t be attempting to break out.
[ This Message was edited by: Disclaimer on 2002-05-08 19:33 ]
Yanny, even when we are secular society, anyone who claims to be christian can not support the death penalty, as the main part of christianity is forgiving and not vengeance. All i wanted to say is that i can’t trust anyone who includes “so help me god” into his oath, and then supports death penalty.
It appears that we agree that the death penalty shouldbe abolished(at least in most cases)
Not necessarily. When you’ve got an individual convicted with boat loads of proof they’re guilty who is a real threat to society (say a multiple or mass murderer), they should be put to death (my opinion). Do you really want your tax dollars to go to this predators lifelong education, health, free room and board, etc. I’ll agree our judicial system needs an overhaul real bad to avoid more wrongful convictions, but when you’ve got a real monster in prison - terminate.
The problem is, the death penalty is not as much used against horrible predators as against the mentally disadvanted, and poor minorities. In this case I am willing to throw out the baby with the bath water in order to save innocent lives.
I can see what you are saying about having enough hard evidence to convict someone. But when there is a lack of hard evidence, then the death penatly should not be a choice. I also agree with yourbuttocks. The death penalty is not used only against predators but against everyone convicted. Also, if someone kills another person by means of the death penalty, is that not murder? How can we bend our rules for certain situations.
On 2002-05-09 15:47, Disclaimer wrote:
I can see what you are saying about having enough hard evidence to convict someone. But when there is a lack of hard evidence, then the death penatly should not be a choice. I also agree with yourbuttocks. The death penalty is not used only against predators but against everyone convicted. Also, if someone kills another person by means of the death penalty, is that not murder? How can we bend our rules for certain situations.[/quote/]
We bend the rules in war, why not here.
Killing a violent convicted crimmnal could be looked at as self defence, the defence of society.
[ This Message was edited by: Mr Ghoul on 2002-05-09 17:47 ]
Two good points Mr Ghoul. First off, I cannot say that I agree with bending the rules in war time. Rules are rules. Second, I guess that killing a person for the better of society would be fine, but what about the innocent people? If a life was yours for the taking, then what’s the point in life itself.
