Capital Punishment
is a Courts & Legal System centric issue
How can anyone support the death penalty?
With all the false convictions... if even one innocent man is put to death by our hand, it's not worth it. Let the hard core criminals go insane in solitary confinement... I don't mind footing the bill if we can have a chance to free someone who has been wrongly imprisoned.
Hopefully people with this opinion never have somebody they know senselessly and brutally murdered. And if they do and can still carry the same opinion about the fate of the perpetrator at least they're consistent. I can see being against the death penalty because it's too slow, cumbersome and expensive the way it's currently being used.
I'm against capital punishment for children though, regardless of the nature and degree of horror behind the crime. Once a person turns 18, I'd like to see the death penalty on the table as something prosecutors have available to them at least for a bargaining chip (see cases like the Green River serial killer). Without the death penalty, some victim's families may not ever get closure on what happened.
With that said, I do believe capital punishment needs to be reserved for a very small number of extraordinary cases only where DNA evidence is present and/or a confession from the accused, so that we reduce the percentages to rounding errors that we're not accidentally executing innocent people.
The death penalty is a necessary evil that isn't employed enough in today's society. As a matter of fact, none of the punishments in our current systems are anywhere near harsh enough. The deterrant factor is huge. If it doesn't deter people form murdering, how come I'm not in prison and Hilary Clinton isn't dead? How come many on death row try to appeal for Life Sentences?
I like to take it back to kindergarten and sunday school... a little thou shalt not kill (there's no * after that), some do unto others, and, as a person with a distinct problem with authority, the simple disdain for the government's 'do as we say. not as we do' mantra.
And it costs less to imprison someone for life than to push the death penalty while still giving defendants the half-assed but protracted process of rebuttal that they deserve better than.
And lastly, Law and Punishment is about justice, not vengence or revenge, that's why victims don't get to do the sentencing.
Punishment as a deterrent for crimes of premeditation is effective, and it's likely doesn't take much to deter most people. It is unclear to what extent potential punishment deters unplanned crimes of passion, which account for most violent crimes. White collar crimes are often committed because of a presumption that they won't be caught while others often commit crimes because the consequences are not much of a deterrent relative to their current circumstances and alternatives, which is more of an indictment of the apathy we have towards pursuing white collar crimes and the apathy we have for the brutal reality many of our fellow citizens have to contend with.
psftw says:
"The deterrent effect of capital punishment has been proven false. The justice system serves the interests of the rich and powerful. "
It hasn't been proven false. While it's true that there are generally more murders per capita in the big death penalty states like Texas, there are other factors at work that make murder more common.
I personally think that a life in prison would be far worse that being executed, but I get the impression that hard-core criminals enjoy prison life and culture to some extent. The death penalty is acceptable in extraordinary cases (serial killings, rape/torture-murders) when there is absolute certainty that they've got the right person.
covingtonlee says:
"I stronlgy disagree! Eye for an eye.... i think its ridiculous that murderer's are left alive."
I think that's a direct translation from the Koran... okay, maybe just the eye for an eye part.
This is where I say great idea, let's decide after the movie... tonight's double feature is Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile, enjoy!
With the advances in DNA evidence being placed into the court system I believe that people that are ultimately convicted of capital crimes will undoubtedly be guilty. Along with that, if we could cut down on the appeals process to some extent the US taxpayer would eventually save some money. I think that to deter future criminals the application of the death penalty should be as painful and brutal as we can make it, if someone were to kill a family member of loved one of mine, they would lose all right to be treated humanely in my eyes.
DNA, Forensics, and Ballistics have come along way since their meager beginings, but the evidence is only as good as the jury that it is submitted to. Hypothetically take a "guilty" looking person that owns a registered firearm that was used in a murder in or around his home, or even in a place he frequents. All three sciences will tie him to the scene and link him to the murder, and because of that and a jury member's prejudices he/she may throw out a lack of eye witness accounts or a simple valid alibi. Sciences are falible when put in the hands of people.
HopeNation brings up some unlikely coincidences; such as if a registered weapon is missing it is typically reported as missing or stolen. And there are other tests to determine if someone has fired a weapon in the recent past. Back to topic; I think if the process could be cleaned up and modified capital punishment could either dissuade many people commiting capital crimes and if not could get some evil people off of the taxpayer's meal ticket.
I agree completely. How can so many of the Religious Right support the death penalty when the bible clearly states "thous shalt not kill." And for the less religious, don't forget the capital punishment paradox:
If we are, in essence, the state, and the punishment for murder is death, then we are all guilty of murder since murder is defined as killing of an unarmed human. Now unless we give them guns before we execute them, then it is murder.
I think that capital punishment is horrible and in my opinion having them fight in an arena like the Romans did would even be preferable.
