Death Penalty.

I want to know how many of you guys feel about the death penalty. I think most of us are from the U.S and we all know death penalty is still legal. Canada, Australia, and other European countries abolished the death penalty, but I want to hear about what you guys think about it.

I personally support death penalty. Only if the death is more on the painless side like lethal injection, I personally don't know why California still has gas chamber for execution -__- Also the crime should be very severe like serial murder, serial rapist, people who torture, and child molesters. Anything otherwise should be life sentence or get those 10,000 year sentences :lol:

I know I'm sounding a bit harsh, but it's pretty much true to me. So, what do you guys think about it?

 

i think it's a lazy way of dealing with people. granted societies like america and china don't have the resources or time to deal with everyone, so killing them off is the easy option.

 

I'm opposed to the death penalty. People, even those who've committed terrible crimes, deserve the right to life. Imprisonment should be for the protection of the public when its necessary, not for revenge or some skewed idea that justice constitutes a life for a life. I do, however, support prisoner suicide rights.

 

I support the death penalty, but only in cases where guilt is extremely clear. Our criminal justice system doesn't really work right now, for a lot of reasons, including but not limited to racist juries, idiot juries, and terrible indigent defenders.

As a practical matter, I think we need a moratorium on the death penalty, except for things like war crimes; i.e. crimes against humanity and crimes against peace.

 

I don't support it, due to the fact that there are many people out there who were innocent and got killed.


What if 10 years roll by and new evidence comes up...and shows that the person executed was indeed innocent. THEN what do you say?...."oops, sorry"?

 

I'm against it, unless the crime is so heinous that they deserve to die.

 

And who is to say what crimes deserve death, and which don't? Surely there will be some disagreement? And who has the right?

 

It isn't a deterrent (as US Homicide figures show) and it it purely an act of revenge.

For me, spending the rest of my life as a prisoner (since I am only 23 that is a hell of a long time, but I would probably kill myself) is a far far scarier prospect , than spending a few years in prison and they being strapped to a bed and being put to sleep.

But idk , If I killed someone, even accidentally I would probably try suicide. I would never let myself have a life if I ever took someone else's.

If I had the choice between life in prison and execution I would take execution hands down

 

Which is why I'm in favor of enabling suicide, if its the wishes of the prisoner. But not murder, which is what the death penalty is.

 

See, I don't support the death penalty because I don't trust other people to decide who deserves to die.

 

i dont support it because it has no deterrence. ii did a paper on it

 

Sigh.

I am Norwegian, death penalty has been illegal here for quite a few years. I guess logically I am against it, whilst emotionally I am for it. That is, whenever I read about kids who have been terribly abused, sexually molested, etc, or crimes so heinous and terrible you just cringe, then I am for it. I read about some kid that has been tortured by his/her parents or others, and I just really feel that whoever is responsible should be put down like the animals they are. But that`s an initial knee-jerk emotional response. I had this debate with my GF the other day, and I couldn`t honestly say I was against it on principle.

However, if I was a politician or someone with influence, I would simply refuse to comment on the matter, because I don`t see myself as rational enough to debate the manner, considering how little it takes to sway my opinion. So, yeah, unofficially, I haven`t got the clue. Officially, no comment. Either way, it doesn`t matter, because luckily it`s not up to me. If it was, a lot of criminals in Norway would have a problem, because if I looked into the eyes of someone who had raped and murdered a 14 year old, I probably wouldn`t manage to keep calm enough to consider that he might be found innocent in 15 years, if there was enough evidence, I`d give him the death penalty without blinking, because certain crimes makes me go a little primal.

 

I am opposed because it's:
A. Hypocritical.
B. Virtually never necesarry.
C. I do not feel anyone has the right to take away another persons life.
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This, exactly. People make arguments that the death penalty saves taxpayers money or that it deters criminals, but originally the death penalty's only purpose was for public entertainment. I think it's still based more in vengeance than justice. I also dislike the idea that a person's actions, however abhorrent, justifies their extermination. To me a person is a person, and nothing they do can retract their membership to the human race.

 

All I'm going to say is that I'm 100% with the OP on this one. People who enjoy torturing, raping, and/or killing other human beings just cannot be helped.

 

I hate the death penalty. Hate, hate, hate it.

Hell, I hate the entire justice system in the US. It's all motivated by revenge, that's all these is to it.

If the death penalty is not 100% accurate that they are guilty for every one sentenced to it, then it should not be in place. End of story. If one innocent person is sentenced to death then we've done just as much harm as those who commit crimes have.

I'm in favor of prison systems where it's about rehabilitation, not revenge. Everyone ought to have the chance in society to redeem themselves and work hard to achieve success and forgiveness for what they did. And I know, some crimes are absolutely horrific, but I stand by what I say. The sooner we become a society that understands this I feel like we'll be better off.

You can argue all you want that some people cannot be helped, but if we live in a society where we pride ourselves on things such as freedom, equal opportunity, life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, we can't move around those things simply to make ourselves feel more secure.

Everyone ought to have a chance, even if they commit a crime. If we deny that, then we've failed.

And it's easy for us all to preach that we support the death penalty - until you're the one innocent person on death row who doesn't have a prayer.

 

^
this

 

I am for the death penalty.

However, I'm only for the actual process of putting someone on Death Row if:

1. They are proven to be a psychopath
2. They prove to be a threat to multiple people
3. Have been committed of 3rd degree murder
4. Or have multiple cases of murder

 

1. So a medical/mental condition which makes having a conscience impossible makes it less morally ambiguous to execute them rather than more so?
2. Put them in prison
3. I thought that was a bit weird, so I checked the term to be sure. 3rd degree murder is due to negligence, as opposed to 1st degree, which is premeditated murder. So we should execute someone for making a mistake or forgetting?
4. Prison

 

I'm against it.

My big practical concern: there is too much risk of innocent people being given the death penalty. And too much bias against poor people and minorities. I might reconsider if/when we can find a system that guarantees there will zero innocent people executed, and will happily execute a billionaire as happily as it executes a person who is some minority, and is poor.

Point #2: there is the obvious difficulty of deciding where to draw the line. Do you reserve it only for serial killers? Do you use it on any first degree murderer? (I believe this was the case once in some places.)

On a personal ethical level, I don't believe that we have a right to take others lives. Yes, serial killers have done awful things, and they may not deserve to live. But two wrongs don't make a right.