Should the U.S. Abolish the Death Penalty?
The death penalty has provoked heated discussion since biblical times, and today the debate remains as controversial as ever. Is such a sentence ever justified? Capital punishment is an intensely emotional topic for everyone involved because it sits at the intersection of life, death and the very definition of the word 'justice.'








The Idea that Many People on Death Row are Innocent is Nonsense
Removing Doubt
I'm all for the death penalty. I don't think we use it enough.
That said I think we need to use all of the technology available to make sure we are executing the correct person. If there is DNA available it should be automatically tested. If someone else admits to the crime after the the fact. It needs to be seriously investigated. If witnesses recant after the trial we need to know why and their claims need to be taken seriously. If its discovered that the prosecutor or law enforcement withheld evidence there should be severe punishment. We're talking about a persons life.
I've frequently heard the statement "Twelve men and women found him/her guilty". Those twelve had to make the decision based on the facts at hand and when the "facts" change the decision may change.
Yes - we will inevitably execute someone who is innocent but we should do everything we can to eliminate that possibility.
- Aegiltheugly
September 23, 2008 2:12PM
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Removing Doubt???????
You just made the good case for abolishment of the death penalty , look at what you wrote. How to make sure we are excuting the right person(s), hello the only way to be sure is to not murder them. There are some evil people in this world who do some some awful ugly things, however we are not God, we do not have the right to decide who lives or who dies in the name of justice.
That being said the death penalty is nothing more than legal murder powered by revenge, not justice. It does not deter anything, it is not cost effective, it cost millions in appeals process, and keeps the survivers of the victims wounds open and exposed. There is no such thing as closure for the families, even if the person who killed their loved dies, the pain of losing their loved one does not go away because someone stuck a needle in the killers arm.
I think keeping the inmates alive serves a dual purpose, first they could be innocent, and second prison is no kiddie park, life if one could call it life is having to remember what they did to be where they are at. No closure for them either, actually it is more punishing than death, because once they are gone they are gone, don't have to deal with their behavior any more. If you ask me death is too good for the killers who are guilty on death row.
Do you know or have you ever been in a prison, not the crap we watch on tv, a real prison? If you had you might think differently about how great the inmates don't have it. There are times when death would be better than life to some of the inmates. They have no future period, and that is good enough for me. If they seek redemption they will have to admit their crimes as well as participate in seeking forgiveness. Life means life is a sentence I can live with, no parole ever.
On the flip side of that coin is what about the people who have been excuted and were not guilty. I wonder if you had to administer the drugs to kill another person, then found out they were innocent of the crime they were put on death row for, how would you deal? Would you say "Yes we will inevitably execute someone who is innocent (but) we should do everyting we can to eliminate that possibility." Therefore that one person life was taken, now we find out he was innocent, but that's the breaks you win some you lose some. What if that person who was being executed was you, and all you can say is I'm innocent, and no body is listening because your the convicted killer who is about to die.
- lfschrawyer1 May 29, 2009 6:27PM
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