Do YOU support the Death Penalty ???

Question

I do not...

I lost one of my best friends to that cold steel table, in Texas.

IF you do support the Death Penalty, how will YOU feel when it's YOUR turn on that table???

Never say Never, especially in Texas.

Any thoughts???

Answer 1

I do, because it is the only credible deterrance.

Some men only understand punishment and  are deaf to lectures of morality.

                                   M. Javed Iqbal

Answer 2

Yes, I do support death penalty. If it's ever MY turn on the table, then I'd have surely deserved it, besides I do not have a problem with death.

Answer 3

I don't because there are times when I'm sure innocent people are wrongly executed. However, if someone did something to my family.....I might change my mind.

Answer 4

I do.  And I'm a crazy atheist liberal!  :)  I believe there needs to be massive reform within the criminal justice system, in order to protect those who are innocently convicted of crimes they didn't commit.  But doing away with the death penalty because of these problems is not the answer.  That would be throwing out the baby with the bath water.  

Answer 5

yes, but only in rarest of rarest cases- where it has been proven beyond doubt that the person is guilty and the crime is too heinous - like raping and cold blooded killing children, acts of terrorism where 100s are killed like 2001 terrorist if they were caughty alive.

How will I feel? if i have done such heinouse crime which deserve such punishment, first of all I will not be in a normal state of mind. so maybe i deserve it.

but countries like USA/Iran/Iraq use it too much.

India with population of 1 billion has death penalty but has executed 5 people in last 2 years, while US/China has executed 100s.

Answer 6

If someone intentionally kills another, not in self defense, yes. They are fair game for the death penalty.

Numbers 35:31

"Do not accept a ransom for the life of a murderer, who deserves to die. He must surely be put to death."

Answer 7

I do.

I just don't go to Texas.

Answer 8

They deserve every ounce of pain and suffering they get on that slab.. I don't feel sorry for them in the least.

Answer 9

No I do not.  

Answer 10

I do, I don't feel sympathy for murderers.

Answer 11

yes i do and wen my time comes ill smile cause i will die one day any way and i no wat i belive  

Answer 12

I abhor the death penalty, for several reasons.

Unless the condemned has confessed to his crime, there's always the possibility that an innocent life will be taken.

Execution does not bring the victim back.

Sitting on death row for years, awaiting your execution, is cruel and unusual punishment.

While my heart aches for the victim and their family, I also grieve for the family of the convicted. They are somebody's husband, wife, mother, daughter, father, son....Too many lives are affected negatively.

I once asked if anyone who supported the death penalty ever gave a thought to the family of the condemned. I received 3 excellent answers. One person was the daughter of a woman murdered, who forgave her mother's killer. She didn't want him executed, but the state did, so...

The other two answers came from members of a condemned man's family. One had been executed, the other was on death row. Their stories shattered my heart.

No one should ever think that capital punishment is a form of justice. It's a barbaric form of torture that reaches far more people than simply the condemned.

Life imprisonment without possibility of parole is justice enough.

Answer 13

Absolutely.

Surprisingly, many of the death penalty opponents are Christians.  Yet, the death penalty is advocated quite often in their own Bible.  Read Exodus 21:12, for example.

If, for some reason, I was ever sentenced to the death penalty it would be for a crime that I knew carried the death penalty.  So, I would have committed the crime with full knowledge of the potential penalty.  I would feel that I had no one to blame but myself.

Answer 14

I don't.  When you look at the death penalty system in action, you realize that the only purpose it serves is retribution or revenge and that there is a serious and continuing risk of executing innocent people.  A lot of misinformation surrounds this topic.  For example, many people don't realize that the death penalty is much, much more expensive than life without parole.  This is because of the legal process which is supposed to prevent executions of innocent people.  Most of the costs are for pre trial and trial expenses.

Answer 15

It doesn't matter who pushes the button -murder is murder!!! It's hilarious how they have a bunch of people in there to do the deed-as if that's going to soften the blow on judgment day.God said " NO "period...You would think if you've done something bad the law would want you to live out your life in prison not give you a break. Not to mention the tax dollars that come out of our pockets.An eye for an eye doesn't apply anymore in this day an age.It's wrong~~ very wrong. If there going to do it anyway they might as well put them all in (one gas chamber and get it over with -why make them wait?)at least they won't be alone, and it would be less painfull.

Answer 16

No  I do not

Answer 17

No.  I live in Texas too, and I supported capital punishment for a long time, but the more I learned about it, the more I came to oppose it.  In the end, several factors changed my mind:

1. By far the most compelling is this: Sometimes the legal system gets it wrong. In the last 30 years in the U.S., over 100 people have been released from death row because they were exonerated by DNA evidence. These are ALL people who were found guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt.”  Unfortunately, DNA evidence is not available in most cases. No matter how rare it is, the government should not risk executing one single innocent person.

Really, that should be reason enough for most people to oppose it. If you need more, read on:

2. Because of higher pre-trial expenses, longer trials, jury sequestration, extra expenses associated with prosecuting a DP case, and the appeals process (which is necessary - see reason #1), it costs taxpayers MUCH more to execute prisoners than to imprison them for life.

3. The deterrent effect is questionable at best. Violent crime rates are actually higher in death penalty jurisdictions. This may seem counterintuitive, and there are many theories about why this is (Ted Bundy saw it as a challenge, so he chose Florida – the most active execution state at the time – to carry out his final murder spree). Personally, I think it has to do with the hypocrisy of taking a stand against murder…by killing people. The government fosters a culture of violence by saying, ‘do as I say, not as I do.’

4. There’s also an argument to be made that death is too good for the worst criminals. Let them wake up and go to bed every day of their lives in a prison cell, and think about the freedom they DON’T have, until they rot of old age. When Ted Bundy was finally arrested in 1978, he told the police officer, “I wish you had killed me.”  Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (the architect of the 9/11 attacks) would love nothing better than to be put to death.  In his words, "I have been looking to be a martyr [for a] long time."

5. Most governments are supposed to be secular, but for those who invoke Christian law in this debate, you can find arguments both for AND against the death penalty in the Bible.  For example, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus praises mercy (Matthew 5:7) and rejects “an eye for an eye” (Matthew 5:38-39).  James 4:12 says that God is the only one who can take a life in the name of justice.  Leviticus 19:18 warns against vengeance (which, really, is what the death penalty amounts to).  In John 8:7, Jesus himself says, "let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

Answer 18

Why yes of course I support it.

Answer 19

I DO NOT, because I think – human is such a phenomenon, who ALWAYS has chance to change. Because I know, that vector of truth is accidental and it can be directed towards every man, at any time. Everyone has chance to realize his past and find the way to resolve problems in a way that can be useful for others, for society too.

So, I think, of course, if anyone is dangerous, we have to isolate him, but nobody, no institution has right to take away this chance from people.

Answer 20

This is obviously a loaded question, and I'm going to get thumbs-down because I disagree with you.  But here it goes anyway.

I support it in theory, but not in practice.  In theory: I do sincerely believe that people who break the law should be punished.  That includes people who commit rape or first degree murder.  Give them the chair.  Heck, I'll offer to throw the switch.  I'm even in favor of human torture.  But in practice: the way that it's set up, it costs a ridiculous amount of money to fry somebody (costs for time in court rooms, etc. -- MORE money than it takes to imprison and feed somebody for life), it doesn't work well as a crime deterrent, etc.  So it's not exactly a topic that determines who I vote for.

>>IF you do support the Death Penalty, how will YOU feel

>>when it's YOUR turn on that table???

First of all, I support Lex Talionis, not the golden rule.  Second of all, I'm a law-abiding citizen and I don't even live in a state that has capital punishment.  Third of all, I don't want to pay taxes, get speeding tickets, or ever get arrested either, but that doesn't mean I shouldn't want to see these things enforced.

Answer 21

No, I happen to know some innocent people that were put on Death Row like Tookie Williams and Levon Jones. Anyway it's barbaric and goes agianst the whole cruel and unusual punishment thing.

Answer 22

I do because i do not see why i should pay to keep murderers and rapists alive, but i think it should be illegal because i don't trust the system not to kill an innocent person...

Answer 23

You have a poor choice of friends to start out with.  I do not support the death penalty--not for moral reasons--simply that the US can not have death penalty cases extradited to the US--most other nations have eliminated the death penalty.  Little for the US to give up--personally I'd preferr these folks be locked in a 6 x 6 box with no tv--for the rest of their lives--probably a greater punishment than killing them.  So I oppose it for political reasons.  Morally--if the rest of the world still supported death penalties--h**l--I'd be happy to pull the switch on these animals myself.

Answer 24

What's interesting is why do they sterilize the injection site for a lethal injection? :-D

Answer 25

Well, your friend was no true friend then, if he forsook you to THAT.  That was really unfair of him.

I'm not really sure where I stand, to be honest with you.  When you see these men who like torture little two year olds to death, or rape a 10 year old and kill her, you think, "Gosh that person deserves to die".  But only God can serve out the perfect judgment, and it's not our place to decide when someone should die.  God should decide that, I suppose.  Because God said in this Bible verse:

19. Dearly beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord.

20. Therefore if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink: for doing so you will heap coals of fire on his head.

21. Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.—Romans 12

I'm 15, and still developing views, but this is what makes sense to me:)  Bye!  xxxxx