Does anyone believe in the death penalty? I have mixed feelings about it. In some ways I think it's right and in some way I think it's wrong. Part of the reason why I think it's wrong is that there are people who get falsely convicted of a crime and the part that I think it's right is if you sexually abuse a little kid. I remember reading the book The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer. It was about a convict named Gary Gilmore who had spent most his life in prison. When he got out he robbed two men and shot them in cold blood. The odd thing about it was that he wanted to die and was willing to fight for it like some of us fight to stay alive. I don't know what to think about that situation, but the book was pretty good and sad at the same time.
I hate the idea of having a death penalty, I don't think I'd ever be in support of such an idea. Still I'd like to think that I respect every point of view, if you guys would like to argue with me...but I doubt very much if anyone could convince me that having a death penalty is right.
I respect your view. And like I said in my last post is that I'm not sure if I support it. I just have mixed feelings about it.
To those of you who support it, have you considered the costs vs benefits of having the death penalty? The drawbacks are obvious enough: the possibility of making a mistake, granting the government the authority to kill people, the fact that minorities are more likely to be executed (even proportionally to the conviction rate), the fact that it costs more to kill someone than to keep them in prison for life, etc. I don't see any benefits whatsoever...many studies have shown that the death penalty isn't an effective deterrent to crime. Really the only "benefit" that comes to mind is the primitive notion of "bringing comfort to the families" by fulfilling a vengeful hate. What benefits do you guys see to the death penalty?
I support it, but not in it's current state. People sentanced to death row should be taken care of pretty much immeadeatly. None of this waiting around appeal after appeal for 10 years. Rapists and 1st degree murderers, after their conviction but before their sentancing should have to argue why they shouldn't be put on death row rather than our prosecuters having to argue why they should, like the way it is now. And death row should be a dead end, you commit and are convicted of a crime that lands you on death row then sorry buddy, no more turns for you. Game's over. Of course I am aware of our sketchy past with death row. We seem to like sending underpriviliged minorities there, while letting the rich white guys with high-price lawyers get away with murder....literally... The benefit? Removing these people from society and not haveing to use our money to feed, clothe, and put a roof over the head of people that don't give a damn about the society that is doing that for them.
Why exactly would it be a GOOD thing to hastily sentence someone to death and then execute them before they had exhausted their appeals? Don't people accused of capital crimes deserve a fair trial too?
That's true, but they're entitled to every protection under the law. For something as irreversible as the death penalty, is it not better to be too cautious than too hasty?
RATHER HAVE A SERIAL KILLER/RAPIST/WHATEVER DEAD THAN IN PRISON EVEN IF ITS COSTING MORE TAX DOLLARS. THE FACT THAT MINORITIES ARE MORE LIKELY TO BE EXECUTED IS CAUSE THERES MORE IN PRISON THAN WHITES
I support it under 100% certainty of guilt, an appeal allowed of course. If someone murdered anybody in my family in complete cold blood, then yes I would glady see them hang.
an eye for an eye exactly, they stole steal from them, they raped set bubba on them and castrate them, they killed kill them in the same fashion, elegant and very hammurabi, plus what the hell are you going to do to speeders who don't hurt anyone?
i support the death penalty 100%, some people just cannot be rehablilitated. also, if you were a family member/close friend of a victim of a horrendous crime, would you get closure in knowing that the person who commited a crime against your loved one still got to wake up every morning? the death penalty also provides closure to the victim's family and friends. there are rapists who go through years and years of intense therapy that would make most people want to kill themself. and right after they get out of prison, they go rape someone else. there is no curing that.
of course, the person being sentenced to death would have to be guilty, im sure sometimes there have been innocent people that were killed, but no system is 'perfect'
I'd support it if they wacked the right people. Like those bastards at Enron. Ugh. Good morning. *yawn* I have mixed feelings on the subject. In other words, I think both sides of the argument are wrong, and thus I'm at a draw.
By the way, minorities don't commit more crimes. That's complete bullshit. Most crimes are commited by young caucasian males. Look it up.
Are we talking about federal, state, city, county, or all here? Maybe you could give a source for your claim. I'm not so sure it is true.
No. As I said, minorities are sentenced to death at a higher rate than whites, EVEN PROPORTIONALLY TO THE CONVICTION RATE. That means that a black person convicted of first-degree murder in Texas is more likely to be sentenced to death than a white person convicted of first-degree murder in Texas. Absolutely. What's the marginal cost of keeping him alive? Maybe a few thousand dollars a year in food and medical care? Compare that with the cost of the endless appeals resulting from a death sentence, and the cost of the drugs used for lethal injection, and the cost of food/medical care for the time that the convict is awaiting appeals or execution, and life in prison becomes a very cost effective alternative. I'd probably want the person to die too, but that's why we don't let family members of the victims serve as the judge or jury. They probably aren't thinking rationally... The notion of "bringing comfort to the family members" via vengeance killing is absolutely barbaric. Regardless of who the victim is, killing the killer isn't going to magically bring them back to life. How is any of this relevant at all? Bush is a strong supporter of the death penalty last time I checked. Also, I'm not a Christian. So what's the point of any of this? Who do you think makes the decision on who dies or lives in death penalty cases? THE GOVERNMENT! Your sadistic comments at the end indicate that you aren't interested in intelligently discussing the issue. You just want those dumb brown people to burn in hell, right?
