The Death Penalty

[Felda]

There should be a death penalty because I think it should be an eye for an eye and if I ever killed someone I hope that I am put to the death penalty because no one that kills should be alive. Unless you count defending from people like the army does. They kill people all the time and you don't see them getting the death penalty so this is a very controversial subject. Along with the subject of stem cell research.

[mercer_sensei]

Interesting topic felda, I might just go start a thread about stem cell research

[skullreken]

It's the states responsibility to preserve life so what kind of message does it send when they take it? I think the process devalues life overall and leaves the tools in place for a bad regime to abuse it's power we all say it will never happen but history has shown that hard times and unrest are the times when those regimes get their chance to take over Nazi Germany and Communist Russia are two key examples.
I personally don't think the death penalty should stand because as you see in international trends from so called "civilized" countries that practice it there is an unfair distribution in the death sentence mainly focusing on people from poorer backgrounds and minority ethnicities. Also I attended a seminar by a woman falsely accused of murdering her husband she spent ten years on death row and new evidence that finally cleared her name was discovered months before her execution she said the only thing keeping her going was the hope that the truth would come out and now that she has been released she lives a fuller life than she did before her ordeal.
Also there have been cases where people who really can't be held responsible for their actions have been executed one example was when a mentally retarded man incapable of making his own decisions and susceptible to the influence of others was used by another person as a tool of murder the orchestrator got a life sentence while the person he took advantage of was executed, that in my opinion was a gross miscarriage of justice.
Over all I think executing a murder is too good for a punishment a lifetime of solitary confinement has a much more devastating effect on a human mentally and physically force them face the consequences of their actions by making live in pure isolation physically denying them all the pleasures that their victims could have enjoyed if I were in that position I'd rather be dead

[kami]

Originally Posted by mercer_sensei

If they didnt think that killing was wrong, then they wouldnt have killed. They obviously dont agree that every life is important, or they wouldnt have killed, therefore, by us leaving them alive, we are inserting our values on them.

I don't think that's necessarily the case. Only people who are insane (literally meaning can't tell right from wrong) don't think killing is bad. There have been many murderers that weren't insane and did what they did knowing is was wrong.

Originally Posted by skullreken

I personally don't think the death penalty should stand because as you see in international trends from so called "civilized" countries that practice it there is an unfair distribution in the death sentence mainly focusing on people from poorer backgrounds and minority ethnicities.

This is a very good point. At least in the US, I know that the people on death row have a major over representation, relative to the population, of African-Americans.

Originally Posted by skullreken

Over all I think executing a murder is too good for a punishment a lifetime of solitary confinement has a much more devastating effect on a human mentally and physically force them face the consequences of their actions by making live in pure isolation physically denying them all the pleasures that their victims could have enjoyed if I were in that position I'd rather be dead

This is also a very good point. Killing someone is not necessarily a harsher punishment than keeping them alive. I would rather die than spend a lifetime in jail with no hope of getting out. Plus, if people are kept alive, it is possible they will change and want to repent for their crimes.

[mercer_sensei]

Im trying to be compassionate, but my compassion for these people is non-existent... I understand how leaving them alive may be worse torture on them, and may even give them a chance at repenting and whatnot, but still, Im not necessarily for torturing people just for fun, so why would I want to torture them by leaving them in the prisons? I wouldnt. I would just kill them, this creates more room in our prison system for the people with non-capital punishment crimes, which there are to many crimes in this country anyway... Did you know that if a friend comes over to your house, it is illegal to give them a glass of milk to drink? Yeah, there are people serving time in the prisons for giving neighbors milk... so I say kill off those who deserve to die and make room for those who deserve to be there, those damn people who give to the needy...

[Tankjan]

I'm 100% against death penalty, but I guess it's for different reasons than most of you mentioned. I was growing up in the country under the communist regime. Death penalty was at that time way of solving all kinds of problems: from true fighting with criminals to supressing political dissent. We had empty shops - someone was supposed to pay for that, so a man was sentenced to death and killed [three others were sentencened to lifetime imprisonement]. Soviet Union was our biggest friend? So we were falsely accusing members of resistence movement from World War II and killing them in the name of the law.

Of course, after 1989 we apologized their families.

Each government wants more power. Giving it a power to kill its own citizens destroys the last frontier.

[Murasame]

The reason why I'm against death penalty is because I think all kinds of penalties should be based on providing some kind of rehabilitation for the criminals to adapt to the society again. It's should not be about revenge or simply to "punish" the criminal because s/he "deserves it". Such an act such as death penalty is in the end completely pointless and will not change anything what has been done.
Perhaps the victims relatives will feel a little better, but that’s not certain.

To mentally break down a individual for the rest of his lifetime in a prison cell is just as pointless to give him or her death penalty because both penalties is only about punish the criminal or getting revenge. It won’t provide an opportunity for the criminal to rehabilitate.

[kami]

Governments and people in power should set an example of how they want their citizens to behave. Governments are a reflection of the people, and vice versa. So if the government kills, what does that say about the people?

[mercer_sensei]

Originally Posted by Murasame

The reason why I'm against death penalty is because I think all kinds of penalties should be based on providing some kind of rehabilitation for the criminals to adapt to the society again. It's should not be about revenge or simply to "punish" the criminal because s/he "deserves it". Such an act such as death penalty is in the end completely pointless and will not change anything what has been done.
Perhaps the victims relatives will feel a little better, but that’s not certain.

To mentally break down a individual for the rest of his lifetime in a prison cell is just as pointless to give him or her death penalty because both penalties is only about punish the criminal or getting revenge. It won’t provide an opportunity for the criminal to rehabilitate.

So what about the people who are beyond rehabilitation? Those cold blooded murders that dont care how or who they step on to get what they want? We should just put them through a rehabilitation program and set them free?? So they can just kill again?? If this were to happen, the numbers of murders would sky-rocket cause there would be no "punishment" for killing someone. People could just go to the rehabilitation center, put on a convincing act, get released, and kill again.

Originally Posted by kami

Governments and people in power should set an example of how they want their citizens to behave. Governments are a reflection of the people, and vice versa. So if the government kills, what does that say about the people?

The government only represents their own personal interests. Their interests at any given point may change due to their desire to getting reelected, but not because they want those things, but because those things get them reelected. Government today is full of pompous bastards that kick scream and claw to do everything they can to make themselves another dollar. So I dont see how the government condoning the death penalty will make them look any worse.

[Murasame]

So what about the people who are beyond rehabilitation? Those cold blooded murders that dont care how or who they step on to get what they want? We should just put them through a rehabilitation program and set them free?? So they can just kill again?? If this were to happen, the numbers of murders would sky-rocket cause there would be no "punishment" for killing someone. People could just go to the rehabilitation center, put on a convincing act, get released, and kill again.

I never said they wouldn't be punished for committing a crime, but the punishment should only be about to help the criminal to adapt to the society again. To do so rehabilitation in jail is probably a good solution, instead of getting rid of all the problems by killing them.

But you're right about that this will not work on everybody. There will always be someone beyond rehabilitation and thus a lifetime in jail is probably the best solution.