Your position on the death penalty

[Redefeatbush04]

What does everyone think about capital punishment?

[Redefeatbush04]

For most serious crimes only choose neither for nor against

[Redefeatbush04]

Personally, I don't see why we should pay extra for something that can't be reversed in the event that new evidence emerges. I'm strongly against the death penalty.

[Redefeatbush04]

Personally, I don't see why we should pay extra for something that can't be reversed in the event that new evidence emerges. I'm strongly against the death penalty.

Wait...what? You're against it now?

John Kerry supporters...

I've always been against it and the record will show that. I think you are a bit confused because I said "for most serious crimes only choose neither for nor against", I said that in responce to carioca who says he believes the death penalty should be used only in extreme cases, such as mass-murder/genocide. It was an instruction not a viewpoint.

[Redefeatbush04]

I think it should only be used when dealing with especially gruesome crimes(rape/murder of a child, mass murder, etc.).

Lets say someone is convicted of rape and sentenced to death. Through our tax money, they are painfully electrocuted. Evidence shows up 2 months later vindicating him. The problem is he is dead. Death is not reversable. Furthermore you have just spent a ton of money on NOTHING, far more than you would have had he been sentenced to life in prison.

[Redefeatbush04]

.

- innocent people get executed *

This is war.  Some Innocent people will die, but far more innocent will be saved since these criminals will not be able to propagate their crimes on the unwilling public.

Why not just lock them up for life. No innocent people die. They will not be able to commit any further crimes. We also save money. The united states is the only developed nation, other than japan, to still have the death penalty. Sure lots of other nations have it (Iraq, North Korea, China, Iran), but most have abolished it.

[Redefeatbush04]

This is probably the issue where people can call me an extremist. Murderers took a life, and they don't deserve to keep theirs, and they will spend an eternity in hell for it. I don't care if you're a nun, you're insane, or you're ten years old, if you killed someone, it's over. Manslaughter is a completely different story.

If you believe they spend an eternity in hell, why should they deserve to suffer their last minutes on earth. One murder does not justify another murder. It does no good, only harm.

[Redefeatbush04]

Murder is killing an innocent person.  Executing a person guilty of a capital crime is punishment and justice.

I guess murder might have been a bad term for it.  Murder implies that the killing is illegal.  State-sanctioned killing, by its very nature, can never be "murder."

Murder by definition is the "premeditated killing of one human being by another"

[Redefeatbush04]

in favor of, NJ has it but doesnt use it really anymore.

we have people on death row

[Redefeatbush04]

All the guilty people I would happily torture to death.

What would that accomplish?

[Redefeatbush04]

All the guilty people I would happily torture to death.

What would that accomplish?

Okay, maybe not torture. But if someone killed my sister or something, I would want to know that bastard is either dead or suffering.

Once again....what would that accomplish

[Redefeatbush04]

I strongly support the death penalty.

I think that the liberals who argue against the death penalty are making the classic liberal mistake of establishing moral equivalence between good and evil.  To equate the vicious cold-blooded killing of innocent people with the execution of a person guilty of those killings is totally wrong.  But this is an integral part of the liberal mindset.

Since Philip seems incapable of providing an answer perhaps you can....what does this accomplish? What benefits does the death penalty provide that life in prison would not? The first problem with the death penalty is cost. Several states have done studies comparing the costs of death penalty cases to non-death penalty cases and the result is always the same: death penalty cost more than life in prison. The state of Tennesee concluded that death penalty cases were 48% more costly, which is a nominal figure when compared to the study by Kansas, which found the death penalty to be 70% more expensive.

I feel it is not worth the excessively high costs to do something that cannot be reversed in the event that new evidence emerges. This inability to reverse death is a huge problem. If someone is vindicated of murder after getting the death penalty, the government has just killed an innocent man who cannot be allowed to returen to his family and a normal life because.....well......he is dead. The most common reason that people have for supporting the death penalty is revenge. Sure their are a few weaker reasons such as "the prisons are overcrowding" or "it will make criminals scared" but the truth is that most just want to see some suffering. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. What kind of crap is that. Ghandi says it will leave the whole world blind. Jesus condemns the expression (which interestingl enough is supported in old testament). One murder does not justify another however "evil" that person may be.

So you say that it lowers crime. How come the states that have no death penalty are the states with the lowest murder rates? And that doesn't even include government authorized murder. I want a constitutional amendment banning cruel and unusual punishment so that the death penalty, legal in 38 states, will be ruled unconstitutional and the United States can join the rest of the industrial world in abolishing it.

[Redefeatbush04]

The Death Penalty Worldwide
According to Amnesty International, during 2003 more than 1,146 people were executed in 28 countries, and more than 2,756 people were sentenced to death in 63 countries. See also U.S. Figures.

Death Penalty Outlawed (year)1
Andorra (1990)
Angola (1992)
Australia (1984)
Austria (1950)
Azerbaijan (1998)
Belgium (1996)
Bermuda (1999)
Bosnia-Herzegovina (1997)
Bulgaria (1998)
Cambodia (1989)
Canada (1976)
Cape Verde (1981)
Colombia (1910)
Costa Rica (1877)
Côte d'Ivoire (2000)
Croatia (1990)
Cyprus (1983)
Czech Republic (1990)
Denmark (1933)
Djibouti (1995)
Dominican Republic (1966)
East Timor (1999)
Ecuador (1906)
Estonia (1998)
Finland (1949)
France (1981)
Georgia (1997)
Germany (1987)
Guinea-Bissau (1993)
Haiti (1987)
Honduras (1956)
Hungary (1990)
Iceland (1928)
Ireland (1990)
Italy (1947)
Kiribati (1979)
Liechtenstein (1987)
Lithuania (1998)
Luxembourg (1979)
Macedonia (1991)
 Malta (1971)
Marshall Islands (1986)
Mauritius (1995)
Micronesia (1986)
Moldova (1995)
Monaco (1962)
Mozambique (1990)
Namibia (1990)
Nepal (1990)
Netherlands (1870)
New Zealand (1961)
Nicaragua (1979)
Norway (1905)
Palau (n.a.)
Panama (1903)
Paraguay (1992)
Poland (1997)
Portugal (1867)
Romania (1989)
Samoa (2004)
San Marino (1848)
São Tomé and Príncipe (1990)
Serbia and Montenegro (2002)
Seychelles (1993)
Slovak Republic (1990)
Slovenia (1989)
Solomon Islands (1966)
South Africa (1995)
Spain (1978)
Sweden (1921)
Switzerland (1942)
Turkmenistan (1999)
Tuvalu (1978)
Ukraine (1999)
United Kingdom (1973)
Uruguay (1907)
Vanuatu (1980)
Vatican City State (1969)
Venezuela (1863)
 

Death Penalty Permitted in Exceptional Cases2
Albania (2000)
Argentina (1984)
Armenia (2003)
Bolivia (1997)
Brazil (1979)
Chile (2001)
Cook Islands (n.a.)
El Salvador (1983)
 Fiji (1979)
Greece (1993)
Israel (1954)
Latvia (1999)
Mexico (n.a.)
Peru (1979)
Turkey (2004)
 

De Facto Ban on Death Penalty3 (year)4
Algeria (1993)
Benin (1987)
Bhutan (1964)
Brunei Darussalam (1957)
Burkina Faso (1988)
Central African Republic (1981)
Congo (Republic) (1982)
Gambia (1981)
Grenada (1978)
Kenya (n.a.)
Madagascar (1958)
Maldives (1952)
 Mali (1980)
Mauritania (1987)
Nauru (1968)
Niger (1976)
Papua New Guinea (1950)
Russian Federation (1999)
Senegal (1967)
Sri Lanka (1976)
Suriname (1982)
Togo (n.a.)
Tonga (1982)
Tunisia (1990)
 

Death Penalty Permitted
Afghanistan
Antigua and Barbuda
Bahamas
Bahrain
Bangladesh
Barbados
Belarus
Belize
Botswana
Burundi
Cameroon
Chad
China (People's Republic)
Comoros
Congo (Democratic Republic)
Cuba
Dominica
Egypt
Equatorial Guinea
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Gabon
Ghana
Guatemala
Guinea
Guyana
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Jamaica
Japan
Jordan
Kazakhstan
Korea, North
Korea, South
Kuwait
Kyrgyzstan
Laos
 Lebanon
Lesotho
Liberia
Libya
Malawi
Malaysia
Mongolia
Morocco
Myanmar
Nigeria
Oman
Pakistan
Palestinian Authority
Philippines
Qatar
Rwanda
St. Kitts and Nevis
St. Lucia
St. Vincent and the Grenadines
Saudi Arabia
Sierra Leone
Singapore
Somalia
Sudan
Swaziland
Syria
Taiwan
Tajikistan
Tanzania
Thailand
Trinidad and Tobago
Uganda
United Arab Emirates
United States of America
Uzbekistan
Vietnam
Yemen
Zambia
Zimbabwe
 

[Redefeatbush04]

Save the people their lives and their money.

(sigh)....you would save more lives if you used the criminals for medical experiments instead. You would save more money if you used the criminals for medical experiments instead. That is all. Thank you.