I don't support capital punishment for the same reason that I don't believe in god: I've heard a lot of convincing arguments that are against it and not one convincing argument that is for it. Could somebody please present me with a convincing argument that is in favor of the death penalty?
If the death penalty actually didn't have so many loopholes and went a lot faster it would be the cheaper solution. The only reason it's more expensive than life in prison is because they get like as many appeals. Which are mandatory, like a guy can't even accept that he's gonna die and say "just do it next week" He has to go through these appeals for years. I say they get 2 appeals, still guilty, death. Also less people in prison. If you know anything about the US criminal system as of late, the prisons are so full that they actually have to let violent criminals out early just to have more room. US is in so much debt that building more prisons is out of the question and there are so many people doing life that they could just whack off and make room for rapists and other people. And obviously a dead person can't commit another crime. Those are really the only reasons for capital punishment. I just feel that it is unfair for a tax payer to pay for a murderer or rapist to live the rest of their lives in prison. Some people in prison actually live pretty above average lives while the tax payer has to work for the rest of their lives. Life in prison to some is worse than death, in some cases it is, but in many it isn't.
Even now, with the long, expensive, thorough trials, innocent people have been executed. Shortening the amount of time and decreasing the amount of people used in these trials that it takes to prove someone guilty would only increase the chance of a false accusation and the execution of an innocent person. The prisons are overflowing because people are being convicted of increasingly petty crimes, like possession. Not every convict is a repeat offender. In fact, many murders happen in the heat of the moment, say, finding your wife bangin' her tennis couch, going ape(*)(*)(*)(*), and blowing her head off. These kinds of people rarely repeat their crime. Pre-meditated, planned out homicides make up less than 10% of total homicides. Tax payers spend a colossal amount of money on maintaining capital punishment in their state. If they abolish the death penalty, that huge sum of tax-payers' money can be donated to victim relief charities, crime prevention establishments, and other beneficial organizations. The point of the death penalty is to take the dangerous people out of society; prison does that, too, and at a lower price.
And the death penalty isn't? Think about the friends and family of the convicted. How would you feel if one of your loved ones was on death row?
I think the death penalty should be reserved for the very worst offenders. At the very least, such an offender should have to have intentionally killed two people for personal gain, not out of rage or political motivation. In addition, there should have to be absolutely no doubt that the person is guilty, even more stringent requirements of proof than normal life-sentences. In this way, we can have a deterrent beyond life in prison. For example, if someone has already killed one person, they might just reason that they are going to spend the rest of their life in prison after they get caught and have nothing else to lose, so might as well kill more people, steal from more people at gunpoint.
The death penalty really hasn't proved to be much of a deterrent. There are a lot of death penalty states that have high crime rates, but there are also a lot of death penalty states that have low crime rates, same with states that don't practice capital punishment. In fact, the South has the highest crime rate, and yet, they carry out 85% of the nation's executions. The only death penalty state that could possibly have a deterrent effect is Texas because they've executed more people since of the end of the moratorium in 1976 than any other state. Simply put, not enough people are executed in most states to have a deterrent effect; out of the 15,000 homicides that occur every year, only forty-to-sixty convicts are executed. Some people aren't even aware if the death penalty is enforced in their state or not, and if they are, they might be aware of the fact that they'll be waiting on death row for fifteen-to-twenty years before they get executed, so deterrence is a dismissible argument.
If you take someones life you forfeit your own? Say it was your child who got murdered in cold blood, your kid is dead, your lives are ruined and you will carry all that pain, guilt and anger to the grave. Your killer loses his freedom, but he still gets to enjoy a hot shower, bed, food, recreation, etc. He's a psychopath so he probably doesn't feel any remorse, he might even take pride in what he did. If he behaves himself he might even get out someday - hope and opportunity while your kid has none. Do you think that's justice? I think the problem with capital punishment is some people see it as a hateful thing, like lowering ourselves to the killers level. In truth it's the punishment most befitting of the crime, the only reasonable justice there is for that type of evil.
If I had a kid, whom I loved more than anything, and he/she was murdered, would I want revenge? Of course I would. Would capital punishment seem like a really good idea? Of course it would, but I would know that if the murderer was put to death, my child would still be dead; it wouldn't give me closure because closure doesn't exist, and even if it did, I wouldn't want it because what would it mean? That some important part of me had gone numb? No. I guess your argument is based on a personal experience with which everyone deals differently.
lol it's not based on a personal experience. I think it would be easier for the victims families to move on knowing the murderer had been adequately punished. A jail sentence is too soft for someone who takes the life of another.
Based on an example of a personal experience. . . anyway. Not every family that has lost a loved one to a murderer wants to put that murderer to death. http://www.mvfr.org/
There is only one "convincing" argument for capital punishment. Capital punishment completely prevents the criminal from ever committing another crime of any kind against anyone. No other sentence can do that. But, personally, I find revenge or vengeance is a quite excellent reason for Capital Punishment
As others in the thread have noted. Dead murderers don't reoffend. I'm middle of the road, tending towards being against the death penalty now (vehemently pro-death penalty at one time), although at times I backslide.
I can't imagine anything worse. If guilty, I would choose the death penalty over life in prison. In terms of costs, though, it costs more (under the current system) to kill an offender than it does to house them in maximum security for life. Why? Lawyers, judges and courts cost more to keep up than do prison guards and prisons.
If they did a heinous crime, I would be happy that justice was served. Now, if they were falsely convicted, it would the worst thing I can imagine.
Agreed! if any in my family committed any violent crime, I personally would turn them in and not whine if they ended up dead.
