The Death Penalty

You know besides China, the United States is the only developed country that still has the death penatly?

;) Unless you've caught the man on videotape and he/she's done the crime more than once, (the 3-chances thing, kind of) I don't believe in the death penalty. It's FAR too permanent. lol

Well I live in Texas and I am behind the death penalty. If you put a harsh consequence more people will realize that the crime is not worth it. But if you kill someone and the punishment is five min. in time out....there would be more crimes.

" Don't Mess With Texas!" <---Get it?

Fatsack4, by your logic, which makes no sence to me, there should be no crimes commited within the U.S. You are saying that becase America still has the death penalty, people who would have commited crimes aren't, because they are afraid of the consiquences? No, look at our crime rates, better yet look at the crime rates in Texas. It isn't the punishment people are afraid of, they are sill commiting the crimes. Have you taken a soci. class? Deviants, or people who commit crimes are not the kind of people who look at consiquenses in the perspective that normal people do. Crime is a psycholigical issue, that necisitates reform, not death.

You'll have to pardon me on this one, it'll be kind of long because as I've been reading, different thoughts have been popping into my mind so I'd like to get them all out there, if you don't mind!
This is my opinion on it:

I'm okay with it, so long as the person it tried and proven guilty. I don't think it should be handed out like candy, that's just wrong. But I don't think it should ever be eliminated for the simple fact that there are people out there like Jack the Ripper, Osama Bin Laden, ot Charles Manson.

What some people (and I don't know if that's any of you) don't realize is the process that the death penalty has. You aren't just proven guilty then thrown in a chair to have chemicals shot in your arm. You are in jail for some time (some people years and years) before you are ever killed. And, during this time, you have full access to your lawyer and are allowed to make appeals the entire time you are in jail. The sentance isn't "final" in that there's no way out of it, there is and there are many people who DO get out of it.

However, with that being said, while I support the death penalty I'm a firm believer in the thought that "Death is freedom". Or, as Shakespeare put it : "'tis happiness to die". I think death is too nice a sentance for some people. They should have to live out the rest of their lives knowing the crimes they commited and the horrors they did.

In terms of age and death penalty, I certainly think no 10 year old should be put on death row, and no one whose mentally incompetent should either. But with that comes a whole 'nother slew of questions: what age is old enough to know well enough of you actions and their consequences? At what age are you morally responsible?

Another thought: What if it happened to you? You found out your mom, daughter, sister, brother, best friend, father, grandma, teacher, whatever was raped/murderered/tortured. What would be the first thing to come to your mind? It's easy to look at it all subjectively, in the third-person point of view. But, what if it happened to you? Would you be so quick to just say, "let him live?" I know some of you will stick true to the whole anti-death penatly when you answer that and some of you may believe it and God bless you for being so forgiving. But make sure you're answering that honestly and now just because you want to stick to your guns.

And speaking of God, another thing people say against the death penalty is how it's so anti-christian, the whole "turn the other cheek" thing. I know some (a lot of you) may not be chrisitian or religious what-so-ever, and if this doesn't apply to you, simply skip over it. However, what I will say is that that thought is wrong. Even God believed there were some people who just couldn't be saved, and he stuck them down. I forget the exact book and verse (though I can find it if you want me to), but in the bible there is a verse that supports this. From what I've heard, it's sort of lumped under with the whole "war" thing, where it's for the betterment of society, the protection of societal values and beliefs.

I could say a LOT more about this, but I won't. If anyone would like to shoot a point at me (whether anti or pro) feel free and I'll respond as best as I can. The Death Penalty is a gray subject, there are pros and cons and there always will be. But, I don't think that means its wrong -- a lot of things are like that.

Another point for the death penalty is the cost to keep a prisoner in jail for the remainder of their life. This is paid for through taxes. What would you rather have your taxes go toward, keeping a murderer alive in jail or paying for education improvements in your community?

More info here: http://deathpenalty.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=001000

No matter how bad a crime is no one deserves to die. because death is a gift.

I'm against it. The government should have no power to say who lives and who dies.

I think that the death penalty should be kept in use, but only for the most extreme of crimes. Even so, there should be no doubt that the accused has committed the crime in order to prevent accidentally killing an innocent person.

I advocate the death penalty since Criminals have no purpose in the world...

Jail only acts as a burden to the hard working american.

Killing the crimial is cheaper, and can be used as an intimidating force to end crime.