Who is against the death penalty?

Question

cause i am!

i don't think is right to kill someone, i just think there punishment should be jail for life, like that they will suffer and not be killed and they don't suffer

Answer 1

All murderers are against the death penalty.  

Answer 2

not me

EDIT...

what about the people that they made suffer...

earlier this week an inmate was executed in Texas...his crime...in 1993 he and a group of his gang banger friends raped two teenage girls, one 14 the other 16, after they were finished raping the two girls they decided to kill them...he took off his belt and began to strangle one of the girls...he pulled the belt with such force he broke the belt...the other one was strangled with a shoe lace...after they were finished raping and strangling the two girls they then began stomping on each of their throats and then left their dead bodies to rot in the hot Houston, TX summer sun...their decomposing bodies were not found until days later and were only identified by dental records...the sorry sack sat on death row longer than one of the girls was allowed to live!!  

NOW...you tell me why these heartless thugs deserve to live out their worthless lives in prison while we the tax payers foot the bill...they absolutely deserve to die...what about the two girls families who are still suffering with this loss today!!

Think about how you would feel if you and your family were to be FORCED into a situation like these young girls families...your tune might just change!!

Answer 3

Not me.

Answer 4

i am!!! what if they were inocent? no one has the right to take away someone's life.

Answer 5

I believe in it if it is EXTREMELY bad like blowing up a house or building or killing multiple people. But unless that, yeah, jail for life

Answer 6

Sorry, but I'm for it. It's a pretty good thing; you're on death row for a few years (the 'suffering' period), and then you get a needle or the electric chair.

Just be glad the guillotine was outlawed centuries ago. So was the pear of anguish. d**n.

Answer 7

I am. For a start here in the UK there have so many miscarriages of justice in recent years. So, when this innocent person was found guilty of murder, what would have happened if they had been put to death instead of being allowed in a Court of Law to prove their innocence,

I certainly am against the death penalty, but I do not agree that a murderer here in the UK should not be sentence to a whole natural life term.

UK based Mum against the death penalty, but thinks life should mean life.

Answer 8

I am sort of. I would never want to cause the death of another human being. It is not up to me to decide when they should die/ if they diserve it. If it's legal though I suppose I can't stop it, I just don't want anything to do with it personally, I would never be a on a jury to put somebody to death penalty.

Answer 9

I am, for these reasons:

1) Due to the advancement in DNA technology several people sentenced to prison, including to death row, have been found to be innocent. We can release and compensate people sentenced to life who are later found to be innocent. If an innocent person is executed then what do we do? Tell the family "Sorry, we made a mistake"? It would be an absolute atrocity for an innocent person to be executed so I think we should err on the side of caution.

2) It's never been shown to be a deterrent. States which actively use capital punishment do not have lower murder rates than states that don't have the death penalty or states that rarely incorporate it.

3) It's unfairly applied. Racial minorities, men and people in lower socio-economic classes are more likely to be sentenced to death.

Answer 10

I am.  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 11

Not me. I'm all for it.  

**ADD**

In response to your added comments.  You are misguided in your belief that life in jail necessarily makes someone suffer. It is true that they've lost their personal freedom, however, in the majority of prisons, they are fed three meals a day, they have access to education, libraries and clergy, they have exercise equipment rivaling the most luxurious gym, they have t.v. and cable, they have free medical care among many, many other amenities available to them.  And all at the tax payer's expense.  I do not feel it's my duty to pay these costs for criminals.  

If they have committed an atrocious crime, then they deserve death.  I see no reason to house them indefinitely at the tax payer's expense.  If they are murderers, not only their victims have suffered -- the victim's family, friends, and loved ones will be suffering for life due to their loss.  If they are child molesters, serial pedophiles, serial rapists or any other number of serial abusers who deserve the death penalty, their victims have emotional and physical scars for life.  You think life in jail is a sufficient punishment?  I disagree with you. Wholeheartedly.  Not only do I believe in the death penalty, but I believe it should be used more often and should not take nearly so long to enact (due to constant appeals on behalf of the criminal).

There are a select few prisons who treat the criminals as they should be treated.  They are absent of luxuries and have only the basic necessities.  The prisoners are required to work to somehow repay the prison system for their room and board.  They have even less personal space/freedom than other prisons.  While I agree with the idea of such prisons and think there should be more of them, I strongly believe that the death penalty has a definite place in our justice system.

Some say that the death penalty does not prevent crime. Well, in the U.S., that's probably true.  That's only because our justice system where the death penalty is concerned is a joke.  Because of all the laws in place to protect the criminal, they have no fear of jail or even of the "death penalty."    If our justice system was such that criminals knew that by committing a specific crime they would without a doubt receive the death penalty instead of a possible jail sentence, and if they knew they'd be dead within the year instead of 20, I have no doubt whatsoever that it would have an affect on crime.

Answer 12

not me, how would u like a child serial rapist / murder being release in the public i dont think so.

Answer 13

hippies.

the point is not to make them suffer, the point is to take them out of society since they are dangerous.

Answer 14

I supported capital punishment for a long time, but I have changed my stance over the years, for several reasons:

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. 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. If you need more, read on:

2. Because of higher pre-trial expenses, longer trials, 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 becomes the bad parent who says, ‘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 of our 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 15

I let out a silent cheer today when I read that the Mexican national who slaughtered two teenage girls in Texas drifted off to perma la la land.