Capital Punishment?

[MissMegano]

A pretty controversial topic. Are you for or against it? Now, I don't want this to turn into a religious fight or anything. I'm just curious to hear what people from different families, religions, and even cultures have to say.

I'm kind of on the edge. Religiously, I should be against it, but I won't go in-depth. I'm not all for it, either, though. The only time I see it nessessary is when the criminal is PROVEN 100% guilty and/or poses a threat to hurt anyone else. When there's even a shred of innocent evidence, I see it nessessary to go on trial again.

Did you know?
-A vast majority of executed criminals were poor. About 90% could not afford a lawyer and had to rely on one appointed by the court.
-In the U.S., about 70% of people believe there should be a death penalty. This statistic stays relatively the same for people in Canada, a country with the practice abolished.
-Among black defendants found guilty of murdering a white person:
57.5% of defendants with "stereotypically black" features -- broad noses, thick lips, dark skin and hair -- were sentenced to death.
24.4% percent of men who were rated as less stereotypically black were given the death sentence.

Information from https://www.religioustolerance.org/execute.htm

If you see anything I have wrong, please tell. I don't want any misinterpretations. So what do YOU believe?

 

[Allstories]

Tough call. The main problem is that for some criminals, just flat out killing them would be letting them off easy, and there could always be new evidence and stuff. I reckon I'm against it.

 

[Jaimes]

Oddly enough, I was thinking about this this morning..


In the UK, the death penalty is completely banned and a life sentence is the strongest penalty.
But there are still issues concerning costs and the lack of space in prison which is resulting in some criminals being released early. There are also convicts (e.g those convicted with assisting or plotting terrorist attacks) who frankly, I think are total scum. And also a large number serving life manage to commit suicide.
From a scientific perspective, individuals are fortunate to live and exist.. once you die, that's it basically. Personally I think that life should be cherished and not be allowed to put into the hands of other people, regardless of what disgusting act you committed.

However, concerning many of the issues, I am not completely against a death penalty, but support a 'voluntary' death penalty. Where the criminal has the choice between a life sentence or a death penalty and does not infringe their right to life. This would also in fact suit many criminals (such as those from extremist religions wanting a fast track to heaven, or those who would attempt suicide anyway). Also any one who was innocent would also never choose a death penalty option- therefore unjust killings would be avoided.

 

[Midnight Beat]

I am 100% for capital punishment. If there is someone sick and disturbed enough to try to/succeed in taking human life, then why should they be allowed to continue their own. They shouldn't, and concerning the whole "new evidence" issue, the accused are put on death row for extended periods of time, giving them the chance to appeal, and for the potential for new evidence to arise. And chances are, if new evidence is discovered after the sentence(s) are given, than a mistrial is probably not far behind it.
One also has to consider what capital punishment takes away though. The crime has to be strictly examined to make sure that what this person has done is worth stripping their life for.

 

[BREAKINGBEN]

I think it all depends on the person. Some one like Charlie Manson or a serial rapist/killer deserves the punishment when all evidence is compiled and it is pretty much 100% clear that it was THEIR crime.

Now I'm not saying that I'm COMPLETELY for it. Some innocent people are sentenced to death without proper trials and without the ability to pay for a lawyer. States like Texas pretty much give people the chair because they like to feel supreme, and it also helps their cause in making the death penalty civil (which it isn't). I believe the CIA/FBI/GOVERNMENT are trying to make torture (waterboarding) the same way (civil) even though that isn't either.

Also on the note of the lawyer, I believe in a murder case, the lawyers should work for free, so the sides are even and the right call will be made by the jury.

I drifted a bit off topic sorry :), but those are my feelings on these sort of things.

 

[Gary the Magic Fairy]

States like Texas pretty much give people the chair because they like to feel supreme.

No, they don't. Lethal injection is the only legal method, so giving people the chair just because they feel like it would be extremely difficult :\ Don't make accusations like that when you don't know what you're talking about. You don't know the reasons are to feel supreme.

Anyway, I'm not really against it. If they're totally sure that the person is dangerous and has without a doubt committed the crime, then fine, it's probably for the best.

 

[Jaimes]

If there is someone sick and disturbed enough to try to/succeed in taking human life, then why should they be allowed to continue their own.

I don't see how an execution isn't equally as sick or disturbing by your standards. It's still taking away a humans right to life isn't it?

 

[Virtual Chatot]

I don't see how an execution isn't equally as sick or disturbing by your standards. It's still taking away a humans right to life isn't it?

They did the same to another though, how is that morally justified in any way? Simply spending the rest of your life in the Prison system is arguably worse than death, so what could possibly be done to please both the moral and the human right sides?

Prison is supposed to be a balance of both punishment for what you did and to try and reform you into a person who is fit for society. Some people just can't conform to society's standards, because they are either mentally incapable or simply just do not want to conform. What else can be done with them? You can't keep them in prison, that's hell, and a "violation" to human rights. You can't kill them, because that's a "violation".

I would like to hear your alternatives :/

 

[Jaimes]

You can't keep them in prison, that's hell, and a "violation" to human rights. You can't kill them, because that's a "violation".

I've never heard prison being a "violation" to human rights in any society... as far as EU human rights go, it fits in with "No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment." And "Everyone has the right to life. & No one shall be condemned to the death penalty, or executed" sums up capital punishment nicely.

I and many other people would rather take a life sentence as opposed to death - if you can give some better explanations as to how its worse go ahead. <_<

I would like to hear your alternatives :/

If you bothered to read the earlier posts, I support voluntary death penalties, which allows a guilty person to chose which punishment they would prefer, while not infringing their rights and solving other issues in one shot. ¬_¬

 

[Midnight Beat]

I don't see how an execution isn't equally as sick or disturbing by your standards. It's still taking away a humans right to life isn't it?

Yes, yes it is. However, if they have taken someone else's right to live away, than that piece of scum doesn't deserve that right them self. Not to mention, they obviously don't see the value of human life enough to respect it if they are willing to kill it.

 

[txteclipse]

There's a great line in the Bible...some people have caught a woman commiting a sin, and they are about to stone her to death. Jesus comes along, sees this, and says: "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her."

Long story short, everybody leaves the woman alone. The general idea is that everyone has messed up, so imperfection can not judge imperfection. Therefore, I'd say that I don't support the death penalty.

 

[Trainer Kat]

Wow, this is a controversial topic. xD
I'm not picking any fights here, and the homeless comment was something brought up by my English prof the other day.

I am incredibly opposed to the death penalty. In my opinion, I just don't see any benefits to killing someone to tell them that what they did was wrong. I don't believe that it can be justified by telling yourself that 'they did it first' or, even worse, that 'they are scum, it's okay'.

Many people view the homeless as 'scum'. Why not round them up and kill them? This is the sort of logic that's being applied when it comes to the death penalty. We have no right to judge others' right to live. Yes, they murdered someone. Yes, it was wrong. But should we really stoop to the level of a criminal in order to punish people for their actions? If so, that's really disheartening.

Having said that, I agree wholeheartedly with Jaimes. The death penalty should not even be an option unless the accused wants it to be. I'm not saying we should allow criminals to select their punishment, but if they're going to be killed in prison or commit suicide anyway, why shouldn't we make it as comfortable as possible for them?

And just to stop anyone who wants to use the argument that 'it's cheaper to kill them', I learned in debate that it's actually more expensive to sentence someone to death than to keep them in prison for life. Of course, that isn't taking into account the fact that prisons are filling up.

Long story short: I'm opposed to the death penalty, but am perfectly fine with a voluntary death penalty.

 

[Saryka]

I'm against capital punishment. I mean, I understand that some people think that murderers and such don't deserve to live because they took someone else's life. However, sometimes, we fail to realize that they're human beings, too, and although what they did was horribly wrong, I don't think killing them is going to solve anything. I would be much more satisfied if someone got a life sentence than the death penalty.

Besides, we're merely doing what the criminal was doing in the first place. Like Kat said, we're stooping to their level, and that's not something that should be done for punishment.

 

[Mr.Roserade]

I personally think it depends on the crime. If there was rape and murder, I think they should get it, whether its injection, the chair, or the firing squad. I dont think its fair that when someone who takes someone's life should just get to sit in a cell....specially when we're the ones paying for his mistakes<Citizens pay taxes to help run prisons>I mean I know money and death are two different things, but still.....I'm going to have think more on this

 

[C Sherbii S]

I think that it is a tough call. If you kill someone you can't take it back if there is new evidence found, however if you sentence them to life the taxpayers have to pay for them to continue living.

 

[Stalin Malone]

It's more complicated than yes/no. I'd have a sliding scale of income ranges. From the top incomes where there'd be no capital punishment or prison sentence longer than 5 years it'd also go to the bottom income ranges where capital punishment would be applied for crimes that'd earn a normal person 1-2 years in prison.

 

[doesn't matter]

Nup, I don't support it. I see it as the easy way out - instead of actually having to suffer for their crimes, said person is executed and that's it. That said, I can't support Jaimes suggestion, since it allows for criminals to simply run away in some respects.

 

[Jesus Freak Josh]

I am 100% for capital punishment. If there is someone sick and disturbed enough to try to/succeed in taking human life, then why should they be allowed to continue their own.

Shouldn't everyone be given death for everything? Not that I intend to turn this into a religious fight myself, but Jesus said that if you even hate anyone you've killed them already. You can't honestly tell me you haven't had a major dislike for anyone.

Not to mention our leaders have plenty of lives to answer for themselves. Should they be executed too?

 

[Virtual Chatot]

There's a great line in the Bible...some people have caught a woman commiting a sin, and they are about to stone her to death. Jesus comes along, sees this, and says: "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her."

Long story short, everybody leaves the woman alone. The general idea is that everyone has messed up, so imperfection can not judge imperfection. Therefore, I'd say that I don't support the death penalty.

What Jesus said meant something completely different, and the situation is completely different from this one.

As far as forgiveness goes, adultery does not compare with murder :/

Shouldn't everyone be given death for everything? Not that I intend to turn this into a religious fight myself, but Jesus said that if you even hate anyone you've killed them already. You can't honestly tell me you haven't had a major dislike for anyone.

Not to mention our leaders have plenty of lives to answer for themselves. Should they be executed too?

You have to undersatnd, there is a difference between Murder and Killing. If you read the original Greek text, Jesus said that if you hate someone, you've murdered them already.

Murder is the purposeful killing of someone, killing can be accidental or justifying a murder.

 

[Jesus Freak Josh]

What Jesus said meant something completely different, and the situation is completely different from this one.

As far as forgiveness goes, adultery does not compare with murder :/

How is it different? Sure, she committed adultery, not murder. But they were about to commit murder too, were they not? Is that not what the judge who sentences the man on death row does?

No sin is greater than another. We're not going to special levels of hell for what we've done. Sure, we will be held accountable for what we've done, but the punishment will be the same for any unsaved sinner.

You have to undersatnd, there is a difference between Murder and Killing. If you read the original Greek text, Jesus said that if you hate someone, you've murdered them already.

Murder is the purposeful killing of someone, killing can be accidental or justifying a murder.

Wasn't it also Jesus who was willing none should perish? I believe He meant that physically (unnaturally) and spiritually.