Arguments for and against the death penalty

[Schiff for Senate]

The death penalty is a fairly warm-to-hot-button issue; I favour it though I think it should be used in limited cirumstances. However, I've heard good arguments for banning the death penalty, as well as arguments in favour of the death penalty. Do you support or oppose the death penalty, and why? (I didn't make this a poll because that encourages simply voting 'Yes' or 'No' without elaboration or explanation.)

[Schiff for Senate]

The potential of some vanishingly few innocents being put to death is an appropriate price to pay for maintaining the retributive principle that protects and maintains the social contract.  

I oppose ending the death penalty, but this statement is blatantly false, and if you truly believe this, I don't know what to say. Yes, criminals deserve punishment, and I agree that might sometimes (in severe cases)mean the death penalty. But killing innocent people to make sure those who are guilty die too is not a solution at all.This isn't utalitarianism like in the Trolley Problem - it's the polar opposite. It's honestly bloodlust. Yes, those guilty of murder deserve the death penalty, but no, not at the cost of innocent people dying as well. There's not that much of a necessity for the death penalty, at all. This is disturbing, frankly. You are saying that it's so necessary that those guilty of certain crimes die, that this right supercedes the right to life an innocent person holds. This argument - that it's for the greater good, and as long as all the bad get caught it's okay if a few good people go down as well - is a good argument for maintaing the police (some innocent people are jailed, but on the whole, policing is a positive good). On the other hand, condemning an innocent person to death just because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, are misunderstood, and/or they are someone against whom thevidence could be miscontrued - is just sick. Honestly, how would you like it if you or a loved one were at a crime scence (at the wrong place at the wrong time), and the evidence was misinterpreted, you were mistaken as the criminal, and were killed because of prosecutorial misconduct. It's all right to say the death penalty shouldn't be banned, but this argument - that it's all right for some innocent people to die - is deplorable, and is actually a case against the death penalty.

[Schiff for Senate]

I read a post by a Michigander (I think it was a Democrat, or maybe a Green Partier) that made a very compelling case against the death penalty, but can't seem to find it now.

[Schiff for Senate]

I oppose the death penalty because whereas a falsely incarcerated person can be compensated financially if their innocence is discovered, it is impossible to compensate a dead person for their wrongful execution.

If there is even a miniscule chance of a person being wrongfully executed, then there should be no death penalty. Even 1 in 10,000,000 is too many.

True, which is why I do favour scaling down the death penalty's use. If you're absolutely against the death penalty, you oppose it even for people who are undeniably guilty of a crime such as murder. Yes, there can be wrongful executions, so the death penalty should only be used when there's 100% certainty of the criminal's guilt (and the crime is something terrible, like murder). This isn't an all or nothing scenario; if it were, I may lean toward nothing. You can support the death penalty for specific cases - when the criminal's guilt has been proven beyond doubt.

[Schiff for Senate]

Also I love how 'pro-life evangelicals' support the death penalty.

Yes, this is the sick irony and hypocrisy of the rabid religious right. If we're being totally fair and looking at it from their 'perspective,' they could argue abortion is infanticide, whereas the death penalty is used against those convicted of heinous crime, and could then state that they value the life of an 'unborn child' more than that of a criminal. Some of these are good points. But what I find much more hypocritic and disgusting is the aversion of vaccination and mask-wearing by some on the rabid religious right who profess to be pro-life while endangering the lives of those around them - because then they believe the life of a fetus is worth more than the lives of those who are exposed to the unvaccinated religious right. Of course, some on the religious right are reasonable on mask-wearing and vaccination, but many aren't, and that's where the biggest hypocrisy creeps in.

[Schiff for Senate]

Also I love how 'pro-life evangelicals' support the death penalty.

This is not the "own" you guys think it is given you can come to both positions from the due process clause.

Perhaps, but it displays contradiction and hpyocrisy among those who call themselves 'pro-life' but support the death penalty. I support the death penalty (to an extent) but am not necessarily 'pro-life,' or if I am, not nearly to the extent the rabid religious right says it is. It is hypocritical to call yourself 'pro-life' and then support the death penalty, because then you are saying you are only 'pro-life' in some cases and to an extent, that the lives of criminals don't really matter and that 'pro-life' shouldn't extend to criminals. I'm not saying that one can't oppose abortion and simultaneously suppot the death penalty, but only that they are liars if they call themselves 'pro-life.' You can't seriously expect the rabid religious right to care about the due process clause; they either don't know about it or don't care about it in most cases.

[Schiff for Senate]

If it doesn't make your skin crawl to think that the state has granted itself the power to take away your life if it deems you worthy of it, then you've sacrificed as much basic humanity as anyone who you'd feel deserves the death penalty. Even if wrongful convictions and needlessly painful means of execution were a non-issue, the right to have basic control over one's life is ultimate. The sort of mob justice instincts that make people cry for the blood of the condemned are a natural human impulse, but one that is easily curbed in the name of mercy, especially when one realizes that the satisfaction of seeing that blood spilled is short-lived and empty.

Very eloquently written. You make a strong case against the death penalty. This belongs in the 'Political Essays and Deliberation' board, in my opinion.