Pros and cons on the death penalty

Is this for school or are you just curious?

School assignment?

There are NO pros as far as I am concerned - though some people might say it is a deterrent (totally disproved by murder figures in UK since death penalty was abolished here.) Also some people quote the Bible - an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth ie a life for a life as if it is somehow justice. And some people says it satisfies the family of the murdered victim.

There are many cons. Two wrongs don't make a right. no human should take another's life away. The possibility of killing an innocent person. The negativity - it is more positive to provide a fulfilling life, albeit without freedom, in prison. No man, whatever his crime, is incapable of change and the state should do all they can to turn a person's life around.

For me - and I work in a prison - the most compelling reason against is the fact that such a huge majority of "criminals" actually have serious mental conditions/are way below average intelligence/have unimaginably awful upbringings. I am no bleeding heart liberal, believe me, but the experience of working in a prison and seeing who is currently committing serious crime and why, has been enormously illuminating. Crime is a subject everyone has an opinion on but not many have real experience of a wide range of criminals'backgrounds/medical conditions. It's truly primitive to think that we can still judge mentally disabled people by the standards of people who are able to make informed choices and decisions - and inflict punishment on them for actions totally due to their mental disability. Please consider these points, research them and you will find what I say is backed up by fact/statistics.

School assignment. Definitely.

Let's see, the request for information was posted on a Sunday night, request asks for asap response. The paper was probably assigned a week or so ago and is due tomorrow morning.

Enough of my snotty unhelpful response, whiteviolet's response is well-worth considering.

I don't think it matters if it IS for a school assignment - the point of such assignments is to LEARN and DEVELOP. I don't mind giving pointers here because the answers have to come from somewhere and others in the class will no doubt ask parents, look on the net etc. This site is just another valid research tool, isn't it - a way of gathering opinions from anyone prepared to post them?

Ironically, I have just noticed that the qn comes from Columbus, Ohio - I am very much involved in the campaign to save the life of Kenny Richey who has spent over 18 years on Death Row there. So Secsigurrl, PLEASE find out about his case and maybe you will join the campaign. What a true learning process your assignment would then have been! Good luck.

whiteviolet,

Glad to hear you are involved in a death row case. Many of us here on A2K are involved in the Cory Maye case in Mississippi. His hearing is tomorrow!

I can only think of 2 pros:

1) If the law specifies that death is the penalty, then it should be carried out. This is weak to be sure, when talking about a human life, BUT the law should mean something. Don't like the law - fight to change it.

2) If the case is proven, and after years in prison (let's face it - no death sentence it carried out quickly) the criminal is unrepentant and continues to injure and kill in prison, carrying out the death sentence increases safety for other prisoners, guards and the community. The death penalty gets rid of the worst of the worst.

Cons:

1) Expense - it actually costs more to carry out the death penalty than to keep someone in prison for life due to the extended appeals process. This is a weak reason since if the death penalty goes away, life imprisonment will likely get more attention and more appeals.

2) Societal guilt over killing someone, not matter how vile they may be.

3) False imprisonment. Better to let the guilty go free than kill one innocent. (Although if one of my kids was the victim I might feel differently)

4) Creates undeserved martyrs - many folks on death row seem to be reviered by a lot of people.

5) I believe the best reason for getting rid of the death penalty is that we cannot know someone's heart, and there is always a chance for redemption.

secsigurrl, if msolga finds out that you are using her avatar.... you are in deep ****.

The real problem with the death penalty is that no one can be totally, absolutely, 100% guaranteed completely proven to have been guilty of murder. No matter what safeguards are in place, there is ALWAYS the chance, however small, of innocence.

Hey, I hope your paper is going well. I googled "pros and cons of death penalty" and got a whole load of stuff. Really, you don't even have to think on this one if you are so inclined.

Well, I hope she comes back to thank those who offered their help.

The death penalty is to get rid of murderers (people who take the lives of others). But when you execute someone, it is....oh yeah, murder. So what does that make the people who execute? Murderers. And no better than the person who was executed.

Alright you pacifists thats enough. These people who get executed are not people like us you know. They are not like your mates but they just happend to just kill some one, and they dont deserve death or anything.
Have you heard of the "witchita horror" or however its spelt?
These people should be killed, and they were, and rightly so.
They are scum, evil hiddeous people, and how the hell is being mentally disturbed a good defence? The death penalty is to remove from society these evil horrendous people who do not deserve life. If someone entered your home one day and killed your family and then left your house laughing, you wouldnt think execution would be nearly enough.
Bella dea, if someone did something horrendous to your family like that, how in gods name is someone who is strong enough to remove that man from society AS BAD AS HIM?!
Some people should take a moment to pause and think before they open their mouth or hit the keys.
However, unfortunately justice is often full of sh!t, and i think some people are unfairly found guilty because retard pieces of whatever arent clever enough to decided the fate of someone. I see a lot of this lack of intelligence in day to day life -and in this forum.

Hitler?

Chumly,

What does Hitler have to do with state instituted death penalties? Hitler WAS the authority in his instance. There is no one AUTHORITY (save the law) in this.

Nobody got to vote whether Hitler was gonna get out of power or not.

What are you talking about?
Have you never heard of the Nuremberg Trials?

Sorry Chumly. I completely missed that! Duh Me! I was thinking you meant Hitler sentencing the Jews with the death penalty. Sorry!

Yeah my post may have been a little strong, reading it again. But it is a topic that perhaps should be felt strongly about?