Capital Punishment Thread

The reason I brought this topic up is because I am doing a persuasive essay on pro capital punishment and how its probably the only way to serve out adequate punishment and justice... I would really like to hear your personal opinions on it because its a really intriguing and "split down the middle" topic. As always please don't make this into a insult fest and please respect everyones opinions.

Its evil, inoccent people die

(but sometimes they get the evil bastards )

ya only if they had dna from the start

The crime might not always involve using/needing dna stuff

If the accused has been proven guilty to a UNANIMOUS jury vote over THREE normal trials, one of which is based purely upon evidence, and at least 75% of the jurors agree to corporal punishment, then sure, hang the bastard. If not, it's still open to appeal.

ohh hard topic.. it can go both ways. i'm for it if the person confessed.

even if its proven that some one did commit a crime but does't admit to it they shoudl not be killed unless 100% proven guilty. even then the death penalty is harsh.. but if they confessed its ok. oi.

I'm for it. We all know that the hardest thing to do is to get a working rehabilitation program... it never works... and some kind of crimes can't be accepted. All they deserve is a slow and painful death!

Only becuse it dose not work in your country dos not mean it dos not work. I have seen many studies about rehab and most of them give a very positive picture. Im not sure that a rehab program will work in a country wher people commite crime to feed them self but in most western countrys crime is commited becuse the indivdule has bin frozen out of society or becuse of a mental illness (this includes drug abuse.)

And for death penalty. First how do we know is a punshment? Some do not care if they die and we know nothing about whats comes after death. Second the stats shode make good exampel and not condeam people to death. Third death penentaly genraly cost more the life sentens becuse of the added court cost and other expesive. If the cost ar keept down it often leads to very unfair triles. Even worse if the state makes money on death penentaly as it would seem as it even more ok to kill someone for money (ther ar countrys to day that make money for the death penentaly wich organ sales.) Forth you do not fix the problem just send it away. For me it would be mush better if we studie what whent wrong. Fitht death penelty will not decrese crime as thos that commit crime in general do not expect to get caught. Just look at USA and you will see that death penalty do not make the crime go down.

A eye for eye untill the hole world is blind.

Sure, I should say that I was reffering to my country (Brazil), here nothing works as it was supposed to. But you know, I just can't stand to *some kind of crimes*, I mean, I something like this happened in my family, I'm sure I'd be much more strict when thinking about *punishments*. As you said, we don't know whether it's a punishment or not... at least, we're *removing* a dangerous person from the society, so the death is the only way we can be sure that... that person won't commit a crime again. I really don't know if it's right, but... it does its work. It may not make the crime go down, but believe me, you're saving some lifes... and I'm not talking about death. Sometimes it can be worse for a person to be raped other than just die.

capital punishment is awful

For a started, people CAN change, and.. an eye for an eye? revenge? its pathetic? it doesnt solve anything , it doesnt bring back the dead victims ,how it helps the family , i do not know .

People can change? I'm not sure, they should be able to, but you can't FORCE a person to change, if they don't want to, or if they don't feel confident about themselves. In these cases... what should be done? Wait until another poor soul suffers once again? That's doesn't seem smart, you know...

I say swap Capital Punishment for Corporal Punishment.

I've seen it, it works!

What is with the large bump?

At the risk of going a bit off topic, I would like to say that I actually do have a problem with the entire punishmet thingy.

The question is, why do we send people to prison.
Answer A) To punish the wrong doers
Answer B) To reform the wrong doers
Answer C) To remove the wrong doers from society.

Now I'm willing to bet my entire paycheck That nobody on this forum will be able to unanimously select the same answer, but, you got to ask yourselves this: If the answer is A, I can think of a million cheaper and better ways to punish a criminal, and I can also tell you that punishing a criminal is not going to change anything. If the answer is B, then I can tell you that a prison is the wrong way of going about it. If you want to reform a thief, take him in, pay for his studies, and set him up as a wealthy corporate lawyer, he'll never need to steal again, since he's stinking ritch as it is.. But since everybody is bitching about how mutch it cost anually to keep people in jail, I'm pretty sure they're gonna bitch about this too. If the answer is C, you have to ask yourself, for how long? If you're not willing to remove a person to society forever, then why remove him at all? he will not have learnt his lesson when he gets released.

And so on and so forth, you can see that this topic can go on forever

Its wrong because its pure revenge. A person being put to death helps no one i read a book (the true war on crime) were a guy talked to the familys of murder victims after the killer was put to death. They said they had absoulutly no closer like they thought they would because it didnt bring back anyone so what good was it.You could lock them up then their no threat and it cheaper. You could study them to maybe one day find out what the phiscology of a murderur is.

Wow, I'm deleting all of this...lots of points but, yeah wtf is with the large bump? Hadn't noticed...

Edited by: Vangor

2CoS- wrote: i'm for it if the person confessed.

Wow man, if the guy confesses then hes being honest. Dont kill someone after he admits or turns himself in, i mean he didnt even have to admit it, he could have chosen not to and gotten away with it.

thats like saying "my son was brutaly raped and murdered, but the guy is going to be sentence to death, it will ease the pain only slightly"

BUT NO WAIT , HE ADMITED IT

"the man has been spared his life for admitting he raped and murdered the small child"

Capital punishment is, quite frankly, petty. How can such an important system stoop to such levels?

Its human nature , someone hits you you have the urge to hit them back, in the case of someone killing another that person cant shoot them back so a method is put in place that provides the family or state the ability to do so.

Why is it that people who so readily believe in God, and the word of the Bible choose to ignore one of the most important paragraphs it contains? THOU SHALL NOT KILL!

Perhaps its because they are hypocrites?

It is because the original interpretation was not taken from the Bible but the Pentateuch (sorry if I mispelled that), inwhich the actual ideal rested at Thou Shall Not Murder, taken from many acts inwhich "God" strikes down those that anger him, vengeance is considered natural, it must simply be justified. As well, the general law of this land, especially after the Hebrews fell into slavery at the hands of the Babylonians, was Eye for an Eye Tooth for a Tooth, actually written in Hammarabi's Code.

Personally I am against any sort of violence, whether vengeful for merely lawful, at the source of all hatred is ignorance, often if we seek to understand the hater rather than become vengeful we will lose our hatred and realize as to why it was unjustified on our behalf, even though the person you've once hated also bears this ignorance, and there is a necessity to safeguard the society so people do not believe they can get away with constant injustice because people will not react negatively. Plus, I afford for the understanding of emotions and judgment, I don't doubt that if someone murdered my child that I'd be ready to beat them until near death, only to do it the next day after and after until I grew tired of it and finally let them rot.

If you're in the right that is never justifiable, and it is perhaps rather vivid and excessive. I'd "allow" for the necessity of swift justice, but it helps none of us to kill a person who sits on deathrow for years, or months, or a week even. I won't condone a person killing for revenge in the heat of the moment, but I'll understand if it is done and the person realizes it should not have been, still that does not get them free, and they know why, for the sake of society and people hoping to exploit this.

Thus, the government should not have the right to do this, it does not matter, a person should not have the right to do this, it does not matter. Will I be hating my own words if someone I love gets killed in a brutal fashion, hell in any fashion, yes, but the decisions must be made outside the stresses of emotion and merely with the concepts of empathy.

Plus, admission does nothing, this can be exploited either way, and many people plea guilty because the evidence weighs heavily and they would get a reduced sentence, while many in prison still retain their innocence even for the sake of an increased sentence.

Well, as a Criminal Justice major who has a final on this subject matter in 45 minutes I thought I'd way in on a few of the points i've read throughout (obviously not quoted in verbatim).

1.)"Criminals are deterred from certain crimes by the death penalty."

The answer my professor always gives is "sometimes". Obviously, it will deter some people from committing certain crimes. However, it's statistically untrue. I don't have any stats handy but just look at the rate of violent crimes. We've had the death penalty forever, and it really does not have an effect on deterrence.

2.) "Rehabilitation works"

No, actually it statistically doesn't.

The recidivism rate is abysmal.

In the united states 66.7% of all inmates on parole return to prison within 2 years.

I don't have the numbers for after 2 years but I remember reading that it brings it to around 85-90% going back to prison at some point in their lives.

Why?

Because rehabilitation is a joke in the United States (not that many places have it better).

The effects of "prisonization" are extremely evident as it really is just a school for how to be a better criminal.

When they get out, all they know is how to survive in a criminally prevalent society which in turn sends them right back to what their used to. Prison is just a calculated risk to them at this point.

3.)"Most criminals are mentally ill"

Well, one of the leading aruguements against punishment of criminals is that they'd have to be mentally ill knowing the potential consequences.

However, there are several problems with this.

a.)A large number are not diagnosed as mentally ill.
b.)The legal definition of mentally ill is not related to the medical.

4.) "The government does not have the right..."

In United States, the constitution says that the government can not infringe upon your life, liberty, or property without due process of law.

To sum up, if you're heard in court and convicted, you can be sentenced to death.

(that's an obvious one I know)

5.) "Captial Punishment is petty." "Capital Punishment is wrong." "Revenge is wrong, ect ect ect"

What a lot of you are failing to grasp is the hardened criminal will not change.

In fact, sending many to prison in turn makes them into hardened criminals as they are forced to deal with the violence, black market, gangs, drugs, rape and everything else assosiated with prison life.

Some people just deserve to die.

Is captial punishment used more than it's needed? Probably.

Is the institution of capital punishment utterly wrong? Not at all.

People need to understand that some people are just not going to change. Some people are going to go out and murder again.

Hell the rate of sex offenders that return to prison because of another sex crime is in the upper 80-100%

Society seems to have this mindset now that they can fix all the worlds wrongs if they just sit down and talk with the person. Unfortunately, this simply doesn't work.

Not to mention that a large variety of the more extreme cases will be killed in jail.

Even murderers don't like child molesters.

In some cases where their cases are very much televised, death is a lot more humanitarian than sending them to a Level 6 Maximum security prison like "The Swamp" in Illinois where they can be raped or murdered by an inmate with a shard of rusty metal and an eye for fame lest they isolate themselves from everyone that would attempt that.

6.) "Executing prisoners costs more than incarcerating them"

This is one of the most misunderstood facts. The act of execution is substantially less then the act of incarceration.

HOWEVER, it is the courts that tie this up. It is the fact that once the governments puts up the money for them to get through the appeals process it does cost more. However, this is a court issue not a death sentence issue and many people don't realize that.

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In conclusion...

Prison isn't a bed of roses people.

Prison does not rehabilitate inmates.

Prison is in a lot of ways worse than the death penalty.

The only difference is those faced with the death penalty don't get out for good behavior after serving 20 years of a 40 year sentence. And they don't get out ready to victimize others for the same crime again.

Now I know with the increase in "truth in sentencing" this is becoming more uncommon, but either way, very few people spend a full life sentence in prison.

Anyways, I like to think I'm in the middle of the arguement.

My own personal belief is that the corrections system as a a whole needs serious reforms be it execution, incarceration, probation, or whatever.

Edited by: Chaossaber314

I'm not sure if I support it. Some people really deserve to die a painfull death, but then some who are killed (very few) are wrongly convicted.

Thats pretty much the only reason I'm undecided. Some people out there disgust me so much that I'd put them down if I had the chance.

ITs wrong poeriod you can look at stats all you want but at the end of the day their just numbers and really what gives goverment the right to kill another person. If some one killed some one i love id kill them myself.