Question about the death penalty

[Blue_Roses]

When do you think it is justifiable and when not?

I personally think that if someone hurt my loved one, especially my child, I would implement the death penalty myself! Seriously, I have no problem with it, however, spending the rest of your life in prision after brutally killing and raping a child with a bunch of inmates who loathe this kind of behavior would indeed be a punishement that would be just as well.

I have been a Democrat all my life and I don't understand why this is such a big issue sometimes. When did it become so partisan? My parents are Democrats, who served in WWII and they too definitely believe in the death penalty. I think this should be a NON-PARTISAN issue. It should be more of a personal one.

[Eric J in MN]

1. Since most of the Dem candidates support it, where is the partisanship? nt

nt

[CalebHayes]

2. Never!

http://www.bushkills.com/facts.html

[Mis-an-thrope1111]

3. the death penalty

is just legalized revenge

come ot think of it, thats what all penalites are...


There is no way to justify the death penalty

If killing is wrong, then it is wrong

if it isn't then it isn't

so you just have to choose... is the taking of a life something you find to be wrong?

For a religious person to advocate the death penalty while crying about the sanctity of life is the height of hypocrisy

[Blue_Roses]

6. You know, you are absolutely right

it is legalized revenge and that leads to the question of bias. I agree that emotions are 100% subjective and that would constitute my feelings on extreme pain towards someone who hurt my loved one.

But I also worked as a counselor with women facing unplanned pregnancies--an abortion clinic--and I allowed them to choose. what is the difference? To some there is no difference, but to others this is contradictory.

I think both issues are personal and should not be determined by a "higher court" unless there is room for serious reasonable doubt.

[diamond14]

4. Catholics believe that you 'turn the other cheek'....it is always

Catholics standing outside prisons as the executions occur....

Commandment #5....Thou shall NOT kill....

it's plain and simple...it doesn't say 'kill' if someone kills your son'.......even Jesus forgave those who murdered Him, on the cross, as He was dying....yet some States will spend millions on KILLING others, presumably to show people that KILLING is wrong...



on right side, scroll down, video of Bill Cosby discussing the loss of his son, and how he found closure without the revenge of KILLING his son's murderer....

you can also find lots of facts on this site, like how it costs millions more to seek revenge, than to just lock someone up with no parole ever....that some states with the highest crime rates (Detroit, Michigan) have NEVER had the death penalty....

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

5. Yes if someone harmed someone I loved, I would want revenge

but I don't equate revenge with justice.
My main reasons for being against the death penalty are as follows:

It is administered unfairly, and unequally. There are no millionaires on death row.

It is final. If one makes an erroneous conviction and it is not uncovered on time, an innocent person has been put to death.

It is not a deterrent to violent crime.

It is more costly than life imprisonment, after appeals and if appeals are short circuited or fast-tracked, we run the risk of executing an even greater number of innocent people than we might be doing now.

More countries are abolishing the death penalty than incorporating it.

We share the tradition with nations such as CHina, Saddam's Iraq and other nations that administer the death penalty are mostly despotic.

Possibly the only exception, for me and even then I doubt I would accept it, would be war crimes.

[diamond14]

7. Victims and the Death Penalty (links)

Vindication for victims and closure for victims' families are often held out as primary reasons for supporting the death penalty. However, many people in this community believe that another killing would not bring closure and that the death penalty is a disservice to victims.

Bill Cosby Addresses Capital Punishment During "Larry King Live" Appearance

During a recent appearance on CNN's "Larry King Live," comedian Bill Cosby addressed capital punishment and his experience as the father of a murdered child.

Cosby noted:
"And when they said, 'Do you want, you know, the death penalty?' My wife was the first one. She said no. No, it's not for us to deal with the obvious. And my thought was, 'Hey man. They could poison, they could strap 1,000 of these people in the chair."
Larry King: "Isn't going to bring him back." CNN.com Transcripts, December 10, 2003) See New Voices. View the video clip of the interview (requires QuickTime).

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=573&scid=62



New Hampshire State Representative and Son of Murder Victim Asks Colleagues to Abolish the Death Penalty

Another voice among victims' families was that of New Hampshire State Representative Robert Renny Cushing. He spoke before his colleagues in the New Hampshire House on March 12, 1998. As an opponent of then death penalty and the son of a murder victim, Representative Cushing told the horrifying story of his father's murder, his family's pain and his own unwavering beliefs."If we let those who murder turn us to murder, it gives over more power to those who do evil. We become what we abhor." Representative Cushing emphasized the need of victims for healing and forgiveness, asking his colleagues to abolish the death penalty "because if the state kills them, that forever forecloses the possibility that those of us who are victims might be able to figure out how to forgive."

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=573&scid=62

[Joe Momma]

8. i am against the death penalty..however

if a loved one were killed or harmed, there is a good chance i would take the law into my own hands and exact revenge, regardless of consequences. my problem with the death penalty is that:

1. it is proven to not be a deterrent so...
2. it is a form of revenge or retribution. i do not appreciate involving society as a whole (and thus, me) in revenge or retribution which i do not have a personal stake in.

being a non-religious person i do not carry the baggage of claiming to follow a deity that says do not kill and do unto others. i can also say that i will stop at nothing to punish someone that hurts those close to me.

come to think of it, my position is unassailable.

[Mis-an-thrope1111]

10. unassailable?

form an emotional viewpoint perhaps...

but in no logical sense

You see the paradox is that if you feel killing is wrong, then the muder of your son is a crime. Therefore your murder for revenge is also a crime. If you feel that the murder you commit is acceptable then the death of your son was acceptable, and thus you had no cause to commit murder yourself. Killing for profit is logical. Killing for emtion is not. Your son is not restored, and you gain nothing from your crime, unless you rob or eat the corpse.


Justice = Revenge

that is why it exists, because humans are not rational they are emotional.

Something being illogical does not preclude its existence, it is a prerequisite for it.

Logic has no place in reality

[Joe Momma]

12. excellent analysis..

i appreciate your case study. my plan would, of course, include eating my victim.

[Sapphocrat]

9. I don't think it's a partisan issue at all...

And on a personal level, I came to these conclusions a long time ago:

Putting a criminal to death does not:

- turn back time and reverse the crime;

- bring a murder victim back from the dead;

- turn a rape victim back into a virgin;

- heal an assault victim's damaged psyche (even if they call it "closure," it's still only revenge);

- provide genuine peace to a victim's family (even if they call it "closure," etc.);

- offer any hope of rehabilitation for the criminal (don't laugh; it is possible in many cases);

- allow truly diseased minds (e.g., Ted Bundy's) to be studied in the hope we might learn something in order to prevent crimes of a similar nature;

- save money (the average 14-year-long appeals process costs more than keeping most convicts in prison for life);

- make us any better than the criminal himself.

Finally, the execution of even one innocent person by mistake is one too many. And far too many people have been convicted of crimes they never committed.

Thus, I am 100% opposed to capital punishment, regardless of circumstance.

And before anyone asks if I would feel the same way if someone in my family were murdered, the answer is: Of course not. I would be out for blood. I would most likely want to do the deed myself, with as much slow, agonizing pain as I could possibly cause the killer. But I would not be in my right mind, either; I could never remain rational while being carried away by such wrenching emotion. And so, I would hope and pray that someone who is in a rational state of mind would prevent me -- or anyone else -- from sinking to such subhuman barbarism as I would be tempted to do.

[incapsulated]

11. Non-partisan? Maybe...

But it's not non-racial. If you're black you are far more likely to get the death penalty for the same crime that a white person gets life for. Is that "racial justice"?

It's not non-economic. If you can't afford a good lawyer, you are toast, my friend. I guess that's "economic justice"?

There is a reason most European countries don't have the death penatly. They know that giving the State the legal right to kill it's own citizens is a bad idea. They've had a little more experience with this sort of thing, trust them on this one...

[Wwagsthedog]

13. The death penalty is never justifiable

if for no other reason than that the judicial process is fallible. If the crime is bad enough, life in prison without hope of parole is sufficient punishment. The adversarial staging of justice in the USA puts pressure on the protagonists to win at all costs whether those costs are honest mistakes or prosecutorial malfesance.

[incapsulated]

14. First and only reason, really...

You can't take it back if you make a mistake. And, God knows, in our "justice system", mistakes are made, sometimes willfully.