Capital Punishment --- For or Against?

real life wrote:

What does that have to do with CP?

You brought it up. I'm just trying to find out why.
I think if you believed that your kid was a danger to society you would want him to be incarcerated. You say no. So I ask, would you let him stay at your house?

You are being a hostile witness, rl!

My point is this:
Although you would obviously be conflicted, ultimately, you would want your dangerous, murdering kid (hypothetical, of course) to be locked away somewhere, but you would not want him to be executed. Why? You claim it's just because you're the parent (which makes your opinion worthless)... Is that correct?

Capital punishment should be a last resort for those criminals who are too dangerous to want to keep around and guilty beyond any shadow of a doubt whatsoever.

echi wrote:

You are being a hostile witness, rl!

My point is this:
Although you would obviously be conflicted, ultimately, you would want your dangerous, murdering kid (hypothetical, of course) to be locked away somewhere, but you would not want him to be executed. Why? You claim it's just because you're the parent (which makes your opinion worthless)... Is that correct?

That is a rediculous question. No parent would want his child to be executed regardless of the circumstances. Is that the basis upon which to be against CP? I hardly think so.

Studies Say Death Penalty Deters Crime
Studies Create New Round in Death Penalty Debates: Do Executions Deter Other Murderers?

By ROBERT TANNER AP National Writer
Jun 11, 2007 (AP)

Anti-death penalty forces have gained momentum in the past few years, with a moratorium in Illinois, court disputes over lethal injection in more than a half-dozen states and progress toward outright abolishment in New Jersey.

The steady drumbeat of DNA exonerations pointing out flaws in the justice system has weighed against capital punishment. The moral opposition is loud, too, echoed in Europe and the rest of the industrialized world, where all but a few countries banned executions years ago.

What gets little notice, however, is a series of academic studies over the last half-dozen years that claim to settle a once hotly debated argument whether the death penalty acts as a deterrent to murder. The analyses say yes. They count between three and 18 lives that would be saved by the execution of each convicted killer.

The reports have horrified death penalty opponents and several scientists, who vigorously question the data and its implications

So far, the studies have had little impact on public policy. New Jersey's commission on the death penalty this year dismissed the body of knowledge on deterrence as "inconclusive."

But the ferocious argument in academic circles could eventually spread to a wider audience, as it has in the past.

"Science does really draw a conclusion. It did. There is no question about it," said Naci Mocan, an economics professor at the University of Colorado at Denver. "The conclusion is there is a deterrent effect."

A 2003 study he co-authored, and a 2006 study that re-examined the data, found that each execution results in five fewer homicides, and commuting a death sentence means five more homicides. "The results are robust, they don't really go away," he said. "I oppose the death penalty. But my results show that the death penalty (deters) what am I going to do, hide them?"

What gets little notice, however, is a series of academic studies over the last half-dozen years that claim to settle a once hotly debated argument whether the death penalty acts as a deterrent to murder. The analyses say yes. They count between three and 18 lives that would be saved by the execution of each convicted killer....

gungasnake wrote:

Capital punishment should be a last resort for those criminals who are too dangerous to want to keep around and guilty beyond any shadow of a doubt whatsoever.

Ladies and gentleman of the jury....do you find the defendant .....
guilty...?
quite guilty...?
really very guilty....?
almost certainly guilty...?
definitely guilty....?
guilty beyond any shadow of a doubt......?
or guilty beyond any shadow of a doubt whatsoever....?

Quote:

What gets little notice, however, is a series of academic studies over the last half-dozen years that claim to settle a once hotly debated argument whether the death penalty acts as a deterrent to murder. The analyses say yes. They count between three and 18 lives that would be saved by the execution of each convicted killer....

That's not only junk science, it's irrelevant junk science. You're still talking about handling all the Mike Nifongs of the land a license to simply round up people they don't like and kill them. I'd rather just deal with the ordinary murderers who, worst case, at least do not have the power of the state behind them.

Locked away and capital punishment are not the same. You can't reverse a mistake with capital punishment.

Well stated, CI.

It can never be infallible, so we cah't use it to kill people.

The whole capital punishment argument is absurd and is only propagated by morons.

Interesting article.

Quote:

The steady drumbeat of DNA exonerations pointing out flaws in the justice system has weighed against capital punishment....

The analyses say yes. They count between three and 18 lives that would be saved by the execution of each convicted killer.

What you're seeing here is a very rare bird, i.e. junk science arising on the right; 99% of junk science comes from the left....

gungasnake wrote:

What you're seeing here is a very rare bird, i.e. junk science arising on the right; 99% of junk science comes from the left....

yet more proof that 99% of all statistics are made up on the spot. Your ignorance of stats and your political petticoat bias is showing gunga.