What do you think about the death penality?

I am for it. Why pay tax payers money for someone that murders? If they murdered my loved one I sure would want justice.

I'm so sorry to hear about this little friend. How sad that things like this happen.
I am for the death penalty in cases of this nature.

I completely agree with the death penalty, and think it isn't used near often enough. We have some pretty nasty guys taking up space in our prisons, and our tax dollars are going to keep murderers and rapists alive. :(

How terrible for your dauther and her friend! In cases like this I agree with the death penalty. In an ideal world where justice is equal for everyone, I would want to see serious crimes get the DP. But I agree that so many times the guys with the big bucks get away with...well, murder. The little guy gets the rap and unfair representation. I wish this wasn't the case. Money and politics should never be a factor. Don't you wish we had a solution for this?

Cat Bits, Bountiful Breaks, and Boners

I used to be all for it. But after the last week where two guys were realized because they were innocent after spending many many years in prison. One man in Dallas was freed after 26 years for a rape that he always said he didn't do. DNA proved he was telling the truth but how do you repair 26 years he was 20 when locked up and just turned 47 What if he had been executed? And the case of the man who was freed after spending 20 years in jail for killing his parents. He won a new trial and just this week ALL CHARGES WERE DROPPED!
Of course in certain concrete cases such as Timothy Mcveigh who took great pleasure in stating his guilt in the Oklahoma Bombing that killed so many children and babies like Bailee Almon (the kid that firefighter was holding) in that famous gut wretching picture. I wanted him dead I watched the coverage of his execution and wished I was pulling the switch

that should be released not realized

I used to be in favor of it, as long as it was by lethal injection; but changed my mind. I heard on the news that 2 or 3 drugs are given to someone when they are given a lethal injection- one of which paralyzes them. there were problems with people having heartattacks during it, but no way to let anyone know since they were paralyzed. I think this is cruel and unusual punishment- and if someone kills someone, why do we stoop to their level to show what they did was wrong?

Civilized societies have laws that allow for appropriate punishments for crimes. It's really not stooping to their level to punish someone for a crime brutally committed.
The punishment must be severe sometimes, if for nothing more than a deterrent.
I value our legal system. I know it's not perfect, but it's much better than many.

Very difficult question! I am for life imprisonment, If I was God then maybe I would have an answer.

I am totally FOR IT, let the punishment fit the crime I say

I don't know. I think if someone murders someone else then they should die the same way, but when I throw religion into it then it is up to God...

I cannot see a single good reason for the death penalty. Firstly, it is totally illogical and makes a mockery of the legal system that employs it. If murder is so wrong, what sensible (rather than emotive) justification can there be that makes something so wrong so right? What's sauce for the goose should be sauce for the gander, shouldn't it?
There id no deterrent effect with the death penalty - how can there be? Few killings are made in the cold, sane light of day, they are the product of the heat of the moment, mental disorder (either transient or deep set), accident - all things that will not respond to deterrence. Statistics bear this up.
So, if it is not a logical outcome of the legal process and is not a deterrent, what is the point of it? It can only be revenge. As Gandhi said, "An eye for an eye leaves everybody blind." What does blind revenge (by proxy - it's illegal otherwise!) solve? Very little, not even genuine closure as the revenge is taken out of the victim's relative's hands. It doesn't bring the victim back, it doesn't make the neighbourhood a better place. It does give a few sick people a cheap thrill, it does give the more annoyingly self-righteous a tune to beat their drum to for a while. But little more.
Then thought needs to be given to the procedure that ends up with the judicial murder. The life of the accused hangs upon the quality of the evidence against him/her (wjhich is rarely 100% secure), upon the skill of the defence team and, on occasion, on political expediency. The history of posthumous acquittals shows that the system is far from perfect and, to my mind, one wrongful execution is one too many.
Thus, my complete, total, absolute opposition to capital punishment. The usual response at this point is that I may feel different if my daughter was raped and murdered and no doubt I would, I would be less than human if I didn't. But that urge for revenge would be my urge for revenge not an urge for someone else to carry out that revenge for me. Also, thankfully, the surviving victims are not the arbiters of justice. Justice needs to be as objective as possible, you cannot decide a person's future, especially if one possible outcome is death, on subjective feelings alone.

I think that the major crimes should be punished by death. It not only gets rid of the criminal, but also frees up a lot of space for those of lesser crimes. Too many of them get suspended sentences because of over crowded jails. I know there has been a lot of good come out of the death row prisoners. There are some who turn over a new leaf, however most of them don't. Rape of a small child should carry a much higher penalty.
We feed and house too many people in this country with welfare and disability. Many of them are able to work at some job.

I am in favor if there incontrovertible proof - eye witnesses, evidence including DNA and lack of remorse by the offender - it seems he/she has nothing to gain by living on, then yes, let that person go on to their end. But, if there is a single doubt or a piece of questionable evidence - NO - keep working to find the answer for the doubt. It also disturbs me that some people kill children and are not charged with murder - a baby that cries and gets shaken to death or drowned or beaten to death is just as dead and it was personal, intended, malice and aforethought, purely evil or unconcerned that they bore the responsibilty for that life - do not send them to jail for years while you seek to redeem them but let them suffer the same fate as their victims.

"It also disturbs me that some people kill children and are not charged with murder - a baby that cries and gets shaken to death or drowned or beaten to death is just as dead and it was personal, intended, malice and aforethought, purely evil or unconcerned that they bore the responsibilty for that life - do not send them to jail for years while you seek to redeem them but let them suffer the same fate as their victims."
I take it you are not a parent or, if you are, you are a very lucky one. I remember back many years to when my daughter was born and had the dreaded 3-month colic, which meant she didn't sleep for the first 12 weeks of her life. I did the night shift, my wife the day shift. I am a very laid-back, patient type who finds it easy to cope with such things but even I at times harboured murderous thoughts towards the end of a week of sleepless nights on top of a full-time job. Now, imagine someone less equipped to deal with stress, without the promise of a partner taking over at dawn, with added money worries, etc. and many baby murders, by shaking to death, can become all too horribly understandable.

I believe that if a person kills someone rapes an murders child he he or she should die the same way. They shouldn't get to live for years after they commit the crime either.

Sometimes I think the death penalty is the easy way out for these offenders. I do believe, however, that criminals have it too easy in the jail system. I think they should be forced to live with some kind of slow torture....especially the ones who commit the most heinous of crimes. I know that sounds cruel, but I'm a firm believer that some people are simply evil and should never again see the light of day.

Like most of the western world, the UK has no death penalty any more. I think this is a good thing.

I'm for it, cruel and unusual no I don't think so. What does anyone think that the person who was murdered went through. I hate the thought of my tax dollars supporting these animals. They should not be allowed to live, they didn't let their victims live did they.

I beleive there will always be some people who will need to be terminated. Some that just kill and have not remorse.

I'm for the death penalty in certain cases.

I am for the death penalty in most cases where the evidence is "open and shut". If there is ANY doubt life in prison. I think the death penalty should be carried out a lot quicker. People given the death penalty remain in prisons for many years before they are actually put down.

I"m all for it in certain circumstances: premeditated murder, felony murder, murdering a witness/officer of the court (did you know that lawyers are officers of the court?). Recently I think the US Supreme Court decided to hear a case about the death penalty for serial rape of minors or something like that (very Law & Order SVU). I'm not certain how I feel about that b/c basically my theory on the death penalty is that when you deprive a person of their life then I feel that you have given up your right to live in society and deserve to be extinguished, especially when you do so in a heinous or premediated manner or to further some other criminal activity.

Complicated stuff, this death penalty.

not an issue for me really, because I am Canadian - we don't have the death penalty at all - even for those cases where it really could be useful (Paul Bernardo comes to mind) .... overall, I think I am glad we dont have it though ....

so many innocent people seem to end up in jail ....

and in some places in the US, from what I have read - far too many people of colour, with serious mental deficiencies, or the poor end up executed

I once heard statistics that many people in certain states in the US felt that accidentally executing innocent people was an 'acceptable risk' Guess they never thought about the fact that it could be them or someone they loved that ended up in that situation - or maybe they figured it wasn't likely since they were not poor, black, or mentally challenged?

I agree with Paul P. in every way. Very well said.

One thing I would like to add is that it costs more to execute prisoners (with all of the appeals, etc.) than to house them for the term of their natural lives. So that argument doesn't hold water either.

I used to be for it but I've heard too many stories about people who were wrongfully convicted.

A study came out last year and states that the death penalty IS a deterrent to crime. Now I don't know if that's true but when they execute a criminal, that's one person who won't be doing any more crimes against society.

Sometimes I'm aginst it when I think of the people on death row who were later proven to be innocent. But in cases where they isn't a shadow of doubt I don't think they should sit in prison and be allowed breathe air.

Paul Bernado and his accomplice, who ihas already been released, shouldn't still be walking on the face of the earth. They should be six feet under it.

The people who were wrongfully convicted were probably done so before DNA became so advanced. It's DNA that has caused the innocent ones to have their convictions overturned now.

"One thing I would like to add is that it costs more to execute prisoners (with all of the appeals, etc.) than to house them for the term of their natural lives. So that argument doesn't hold water either."
dianne j., Jan 6, 2008, 12:24pm EST

Hmmm ..... perhaps we should shorten the appeals process. I think we could also save money by foregoing the lethal injection method, which is far too good for the likes of some of them. Bullets are a lot cheaper.

I am against the death penalty. I do not think that it is applied fairly.

Philosophically I have no issues. Thre are people whose crimes are so heinous, they deserve to die. My problem is in the administration. There are far too many cases that have been overturned when DNA evidence shows that the wrong person was convicted.

I am opposed to the death penalty. I think that the use of execution of another human being for any reason is wrong. There are other ways to punish a criminal without becoming one ourselves.

Site which lists all the countries that still USE the death penalty - read it and see what kind of company we keep. America should have abolished the death penalty on a national scale years and years ago - most civilized western countries have forbidden it for years. You can't even join the European Union if you still have a death penalty on your lawbooks, even if you have not used it for quite some time:

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0777460.html

I have no problem pushing the button,call me I'll do it.They should not be able to sit and wait 20 years either.
Anyone that kills a person in breaking the law,the law should do the same to them.
If we would go back to putting people back on the court square and deal with them like they did alot of years ago crime would go down.

I am all for it. The only problem that I have is that is costs so much more to follow through with it than it does to just put someone away for life. There is the added security, the automatic appeals, etc. The costs really ratchet up with death penalty cases.

I'm incredibly liberal in nearly every arena except this. There are people starving to death in the world, innocent people are abused and murdered every minute of every day, decent people are homeless and unemployed, little children have to do without adequate healthcare - there are so many people who suffer for reasons beyond their own control. I prefer to focus my attention and energy on saving these people, not caring about rapists and murderers being put to death in a relatively painless manner.

So sorry to hear this happened to your daughter's friend. how terrible. I do believe there are those that deserve the death penalty but it will always be a controversial topic.

I feel for those that are wrongly accused and waste their life behind bars. Maybe all those that deserve it could be placed on some deserted island, left to fend for themselves and have no contact what-so-ever with the rest of the world.

I am behind in comments, but I wanted to let you know I stopped by to view your content and thank you for posting to I was bored :)

I am for it in the case of killing kids, mentally ill, and the disabled. These people can't defend themselves.