What are your views on the death penalty?

Question

I personally hate the death penalty with a vengance. Once people are no longer a threat, killing them is simply murder. There is always reasons why people do bad things whether its an illness or bad childhood etc. I feel people should be rehabilitated and put back into society.

Answer 1

I know I will get a lot of thumbs down for this but I do not care

I think if it is wrong for one to kill it is wrong for everyone to kill

except in times of war or self defense

If a person can not be rehabilitated then they could stay in prison

I do not think it is a deterrent and it does not bring back or undo any of their crimes

If God forbid something bad happened to someone I loved and that person who caused it was given the death penalty I would be angry with them I would want them to die but I know that in the end it is wrong and it is for God to judge not me so I would still be against the death penalty.

Answer 2

this is my stance.

if you convict someone and find out they are innocent later, you cant release a dead person, so let them live.  if they are guilty, staying alive and suffering through a life in prison is probably worse punishment.

what i dont like is that you think there are always reasons why people do bad things.  you make it sound justified.  sometimes the reason is for personal satisfaction or at another's expense.  

Answer 3

How would you like to have a person like Jeffery Dahlmer, John Wayne Gacey, or Charlie Manson released and move in next door to you.  Each one stating that if they had the chance they would do it all over again.  Why should the tax payers support these people in prison?  They have it made, 3 meals aday, and a warm bed to sleep in, and a roof over their heads.  What needs to be done is to start executing these people that have been sitting on death row for over 15 to 20 years.

ADDITIONAL:

Do you think that two guys that take a teenage girl that is just about ready to leave for boot camp, out into the woods and tie her to a tree, take a limb from the tree and  use it to rape and sodomize her then kill her and leave her tied there for several days  until she is found should have been just jailed and go through the motions and tell the parole board yes I have changed and should be released?  What about the girl that was raped and killed, where is her justification? Should her family say oh well boys will be boys?  They were never able to see her get married and raise a family of her own.  Everytime they think about her all they can see is the way she was tortured and killed.  Well a least they had the satisfaction of seeing the one executed and the other one plea bargained and got life without parole.

Stop and think about it, if that happened to your sister, mother or other female relative how would you feel?

Answer 4

The death penalty should be used for no one except for 3rd degree murderers.  

By your logic, we would let bin laden live?

Unfortunately, there have been instances where people have been wrongfully put on death row, but evidence found later proved them innocent.   If they are in prison and not put to death, they can be set free when that evidence is discovered..............

Because of this, We should decrease the frequency at which we use the death penalty.     If we are going to kill someone, we better make d**n sure they are guilty.      

I am against using painful methods for the death penalty......im against the electric chair, and stuff like that.  

We definately need to use the penalty less often.    I'm not sure if doing away with it all together is a step we should take just yet..........I mean, what if someone wants to committ murder, knowing that the law can't put them to death?  I wouldn't want to make them more tempted to committ murder.  

Although some evidence suggests that not having the death penalty wouldn't affect the murder rate.  So maybe it is a good idea to get rid of the death penalty.    

Answer 5

I'm definately FOR the death penalty... criminals who kill people def SHOULDNT be let out and rehabilitated, 90% will probably do it again! Nobody has the right to take someones life, no matter how bad their childhood was.

Answer 6

I'm against it.  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.

129 people on death rows have been released with proof that they were wrongfully convicted. DNA, available in less than 10% of all homicides, can’t guarantee we won’t execute innocent people.

The death penalty doesn't prevent others from committing murder. No reliable study shows the death penalty deters others. Homicide rates are higher in states and regions that have it than in those that don’t.

Life without parole, on the books in 48 states, also prevents  reoffending. It means what it says, and spending 23 of 24 hours a day locked in a tiny cell is not a picnic. Life without parole costs less than the death penalty.

The death penalty is much more expensive than life in prison, mostly because of the upfront costs of legal process which is supposed to prevent executions of innocent people. (upfront=before and during the initial trial)

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 have testified 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. Speed up the process and we will execute innocent people.

Sources:

Death Penalty Information Center, www.deathpenaltyinfo.org,  for stats on executions, reports on costs, deterrence studies, links to FBI crime stats and links to testimony (at state legislatures) of victims' family members.

FBI   http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/cius2006/data/tab...  

The Innocence Project, www.innocenceproject.org

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/COcostte... page 3 and 4 on why the death penalty is so expensive

http://www.njadp.org/forms/signon-surviv... for statements of victims’ families

Answer 7

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, Matthew 5:38-39 insists that violence shall not beget violence. 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 8

Why dont you start a halfway house in your home for these poor misunderstood victims of society. These murderers are always a threat in prison they are a threat to other inmates and staff and they can always escape. Death penalty is simply self defence for society.

Answer 9

keep on making excuses for some of the lowest people on earth.  most people that get the death penalty killed someone.   the victim has no rights.   i had a bad childhood but i didn't commit crimes or beat people.     so your theory is full of holes.   by giving these lowlifes the ultimate punishment deters them from commiting more murders.   i guess i am for the death penalty.   mr  doodles

Answer 10

When you have someone very close to you raped tortured and than murdered you will have a different stance on the death penalty.  You really think that child molesters who rape 11 year old girls can get rehabilitated. So what happens when they go to therapy and all that yadda yadda yadda and go back and they kill 2 more little girls?  your Rehabilitation didn't work well did it.    

Answer 11

I think the penalty is meant not only to punish the wrong-doers, but also to set an example to the society. If you only focus on the wrong-doer, you have missed an important point of the penalty.

Besides, for social regulators, to put themselves into the positions of convicts to understand them is fine, but to make legal decisions based on such emotions is inconceivable.

Answer 12

You're right...except life in prison is needed for some people (KKK members, n**i members, murderers, rapists, etc.).  The death penalty is an excuse to destroy someone who the government feels is a burden.  How many rich people get the death penalty?  Rehabilitation is the way to go.  If we invested more in it instead of filling our pockets with the money taken from the drug dealer's pocket or beating people half the death without a trial America would be a much safer place.

Answer 13

I personally think the death penalty should mirror the way the killer killed their victim.

Answer 14

Josh, since you have such a soft spot for these people, why don't you invite them to your house.  It saddens me that people don't think they should pay the consequences for their actions.  If your child were tortured and murdered, would you want your tax dollars going to house, clothe, and feed that murderer for the rest of his/her life?

Charley Manson did not kill anyone, he got others to do it for him.  Dahmer is dead, murdered in jail.