Do you support the death penalty?

[Chocoholic]

Do you support or oppose the death penalty?

[Hollow]

I support it in some cases.

[Chocoholic]

I think that anyone who intentionally takes an innocent life should lose their own. The system should be fixed so that trials get it right the first time and the person doesn't get to sit around for 15-20 years waiting to be executed.

[Czas na Zywiec]

I honestly think that it is more of a punishment to be in solitary confinement for the rest of your life than to be executed. I mean if your in jail the rest of your life, it's definanly more miserable than being dead. I mean I personally don't know what it's like to be dead, but I would hate it if I was in jail for 60+ years.:(

[Bootsy Whoosh]

I do not support the death penalty.

There are too many screw ups within our justice system, and not enough fail safes to insure innocent people don't end up on death row. There have been at least 99 people since 1971 that have been exonerated of their crimes, after being proven innocent when they were previously on death row.

In my mind, even one single erroneuos execution is too many, and until the justice system can be fixed so that there is a higher level of confidence, I think the death penalty should be put on immediate halt.

Additionally, I think it is a little bit telling that America is the only industrialized nation that continues this practice.

[Truth]

I dont support it just because i believe in people getting second chances..... If someone kills someone because they killed 2 people or something its a little mean to kill the Killer and have the Killer probably go to hell forever..... Of course who knows... Is the Governement 100% sure what happens after death? No... Do people stay in Hell Forever? Err Souls i should say...... we don't know, I dont know why im rambling on but i don't support it.....

[vienna waits]

I support it in any case that involves the criminal killing someone. No other punishment is enough if you ask me. Anyone cruel and sick enough to kill someone out of pleasure deserves the death penalty.

[Mossopp]

I support it in some cases.
I believe that rapists should be killed. In the case of sex crimes there is unequivocal biological evidence with which to convict someone, so there would be no doubts as to whether you are executing the real offender. But I agree with WingsFan - offenders shouldn't be sitting around on death row for years. Fry 'em straight away!

[Meg07945]

Right. I don't really support it or hate it. I think its ok in some cases. If someone commits a mass murder, we should kill him/her regardless. If its one person, it really depends. If there weren't any witnesses, then you can never be sure if it was murder or whatnot. I dunno

[Ags2000]

I have a question for those of you that answered that you were not in favor of the death or the ones that said that if the only murdered one person maybe not.

Have any of you ever had a family member or a good friend murdered?

D

[Mijada]

I support it in some cases. I also think they need to get rid of the appeals process in some of these cases. That's why people sit on death row for so long. Sometimes it ends up costing the government more money to pay for these appeals than it would to give the person life in prison.

[Max Whittaker]

Originally posted by Ags2000
I have a question for those of you that answered that you were not in favor of the death or the ones that said that if the only murdered one person maybe not.

Have any of you ever had a family member or a good friend murdered?

D No. But the way I see it, killing the killer won't bring the killed back. And to kill just for revenge is a sad, sad reason.





I do not support it. To lock the jerks up for life is an infinitely worse punishment, I believe. Suppose a man killed another man, and was locked up for life, he'd have to live with the fact that a man is not alive any more and his family is in grief because of him for the rest of his life, which would be considerably longer than if he were not on death row.


That's just the way I see it. It makes no sense to kill him because his suffering would then be over,possibly. The family of the man he killed will have to live with it for the rest of their lives and they are innocent! Why not let the murderer live with it?

[Beruche]

I don't support it all. In my opinion a better punishment would be life in jail even if it was something terrible. The death penalty would just be like giving them the easy way out because life is worse than death in my opinion and if I were going to get the death penalty I would be alot happier than if I were going to jail for a long time or forever.

[Max Whittaker]

Originally posted by JOblairJOblair
I don't support it all. In my opinion a better punishment would be life in jail even if it was something terrible. The death penalty would just be like giving them the easy way out because life is worse than death in my opinion and if I were going to get the death penalty I would be alot happier than if I were going to jail for a long time or forever.

Yeah. There was this guy who murdered someone and at the trial he asked to be put to death because he didn't want to live anymore. And can you believe it? They gave him what he asked for! For killing someone, he got what he wanted! He got the death penalty! That's why I'm against it.

[Babes_Cat]

Originally posted by JOblairJOblair
I don't support it all. In my opinion a better punishment would be life in jail even if it was something terrible. The death penalty would just be like giving them the easy way out because life is worse than death in my opinion and if I were going to get the death penalty I would be alot happier than if I were going to jail for a long time or forever.

The government does pay to keep each person in jail and it does cost alot. I'm not saying that everyone that gets life should get the death penelty I'm just saying that it costs alot.

Ummm... I guess I'm only for it if the crime was that great but still, it makes me uneasy to think about that.

[Kristina]

I don't support it at all, two wrongs don't make a right. I think prison is more of a torture, because when the lethal injection is given it lets 'em off easy, killing the criminal is certainly not gonna solve the problem. :talk:

[ILuvJoandBlair]

Originally posted by Ags2000
I have a question for those of you that answered that you were not in favor of the death or the ones that said that if the only murdered one person maybe not.

Have any of you ever had a family member or a good friend murdered?

D

Yes, I have. See, the way I see it is two wrongs don't make a right. What leasson is the person learning, from being sentenced to death. I also think that no one, absolutly no one has the right to take another persons life, no matter what they did. Your not God and don't have the right to take someone elses life. Just my opinion though.

[°Bubbly Blonde°]

No way do I support the death penalty. I believe in getting people help with their troubles. If I ever had a family member murdered, it would be hard, but I would know that putting the that person to death for killing my family member wouldn't bring he/she back! So no, the death penalty is WAY out of date. And I mean, do we ever really KNOW that that person is the RIGHT person we just executed! No, we will never be 100 percent sure! Why take that chance?

[Bootsy Whoosh]

Originally posted by Teddys_Gurl
The government does pay to keep each person in jail and it does cost alot. I'm not saying that everyone that gets life should get the death penelty I'm just saying that it costs alot.


It cost more money to keep someone on death row than it does to keep someone in prison for life, and those on death row die sooner.

Originally posted by Ags2000
I have a question for those of you that answered that you were not in favor of the death or the ones that said that if the only murdered one person maybe not.

Have any of you ever had a family member or a good friend murdered?

D

No, I have not. Does that somehow make my judgement less worthy? It shouldn't, because no one, not even myself, can presume to know how I would feel if someone I know had been murdered.

Does everyone here who supports the death penalty know someone who has been murdered? I highly doubt it. Does the nearly 60-70% of the population that supports the death penalty know someone who was murdered? I highly doubt that as well.

So why do people so often feel the need to inquire about the murder-of-someone-you-know history of people who oppose the death penalty? The point is irrelevant.

Originally posted by Mossopp
I believe that rapists should be killed. In the case of sex crimes there is unequivocal biological evidence with which to convict someone, so there would be no doubts as to whether you are executing the real offender. But I agree with WingsFan - offenders shouldn't be sitting around on death row for years. Fry 'em straight away!

DNA evidence is not introduced in all criminal trials. Many times prosecutors feel they can make a case without it, and the extremely high cost of the testing leads prosecutors to do without it if they can. If the defendant chooses to have DNA testing as a means of proving their innocence, the defendant has to pay for it. Many defendants are too poor to pay for DNA testing.


I find it interesting that many who support the death penalty simply don’t address the issue that innocent people are executed. It is not fiction, it is proven fact that due to the inherent fallibility of any legal system, that innocent people are sent to jail and that innocent people are executed. You may argue that it is an unavoidable problem, and that people who are innocent would still be sent to jail whether or not there was a death penality. However, there is a tremendous difference between sending an innocent person to jail for life, because they can later be exonerated. Once someone is dead, it's all over for them, innocent or not.

Let me ask a version of the question asked above (though really this question is equally moot): How would you feel if someone in your family or someone you knew was on death row for a crime they didn't commit?

Are the lives of the executed innocents simply an "acceptable loss"? I think that's a repulsive point of view. To simply ignore the problem is not any better.

[Kitt]

What is the death penalty supposed to accomplish?
Deterent to others - I don't believe it is and most all studies say that it isn't.
Ending the life of the offender - It does do that along with a lot of wrongfully convicted innocents.
Also, it sometimes complicates the possibility of a conviction when a conviction should be the outcome of a trial but the jury is reluctant to convict because of the death penalty.
It is much more expensive than life in prison and always will be regardless of the "fry 'em quick " pontificators.
Putting people to death legally - no matter how much you might think they deserve it, and there are a lot of cold blooded monsters that would be hard to shed a tear for - puts a strain on the moral fiber of a society.
My own opinion is that the death penalty brings havok on the court system, society, and the families of the victim and the convicted.

[Kay Scarpetta]

No.. I don't. Like someone else said, it's not going to bring the dead person[people] back. Why go and kill another person? I think being locked up forever is worse. You must sit there, just everyday of your life, thinking of what you've done. After a while, you KNOW your going to feel guilty, and you just have to live with it forever. And to me, living with the guilt of killing someone is worse punishment

[Ags2000]

No, I have not. Does that somehow make my judgement less worthy? It shouldn't, because no one, not even myself, can presume to know how I would feel if someone I know had been murdered.

No it does not. I was just asking the question out of curiosity.

Does everyone here who supports the death penalty know someone who has been murdered? I highly doubt it. Does the nearly 60-70% of the population that supports the death penalty know someone who was murdered? I highly doubt that as well.

I have. My grandfather was murdered and then I had a friend in high school that was gunned down in the middle of the street. For both of them, their killers have never been caught.

I find it interesting that many who support the death penalty simply don’t address the issue that innocent people are executed.

I know that that happens, and I agree that it needs to be changed, but some people just don't deserve to keep on living. It is getting to the point where the criminal has more rights then the victim, and that's wrong. The victim didn't have anybody on their side saying, oh don't kill them keep them alive.

Why should the killer get a second chance. They didn't care about giving their victim a second chance.

Let me ask a version of the question asked above (though really this question is equally moot): How would you feel if someone in your family or someone you knew was on death row for a crime they didn't commit?

Good question, the answer is I don't know. Some of these questions you can't answer until it has happened to you.

Are the lives of the executed innocents simply an "acceptable loss"? I think that's a repulsive point of view. To simply ignore the problem is not any better. [/B][/QUOTE]

[Bootsy Whoosh]

I have. My grandfather was murdered and then I had a friend in high school that was gunned down in the middle of the street. For both of them, their killers have never been caught.

:( Sorry to hear that. :( I hope that someday their killers are found.

I know that that happens, and I agree that it needs to be changed, but some people just don't deserve to keep on living. It is getting to the point where the criminal has more rights then the victim, and that's wrong. The victim didn't have anybody on their side saying, oh don't kill them keep them alive.

Why should the killer get a second chance. They didn't care about giving their victim a second chance.


The only thing I have to say to this is that generally, people who are opposed to the death penalty are not opposed because they feel sorry for the criminal, or because they think the criminal should get a second chance, or because they are big softies or bleeding hearts. They are against it mostly for two reasons: either the system allows innocents to get through too easily, or because they feel life in prison is a more severe punishment.

If the system were improved to the point that innocents didn't slip through, then very likely I would rethink my position and would probably support it in some cases. But until that happens, I have to be opposed.

[JDS84]

I support in some cases. Like for instance the two guys who killed this women in my hometown. Shot her in the head then shot her twice when she tried to run. Then she was took back in the house and the house was set on fire. I think they should get the chair. Another istance Scott Pennington who murdered 1 teacher and 1 janitior at my high school should get the chair.

[sue z q]

I say the death penalty is the right option in some, select, extreme cases. I don't particularily approve of or like the idea of taxpayers paying for medical and food supplies for people who have mass murdered, raped, been traitors to America, or other hideous, perverted crimes. A person should recieve a punishment fitting the crime they committed. Hopefully, our judges are smart enough to be able to make those decisions, objectivelly, impartially, and do justice towards everyone, the ultimate goal of our courts system.

[Jordan]

ABSOLUTELY...........100%...............WITHOUT A DOUBT...............KILL THE KILLERS............COMPLETELY. Why give them life in prison and overcroud prisons? Kill the sick serial murderers, or murderers in general. They no longer deserve to live. :mad: :mad: :mad:

[Bootsy Whoosh]

Originally posted by Jordan
Why give them life in prison and overcroud prisons?

Sorry but I just can't let this one slide. The prisons are not overcrowded because of violent killers and rapists. They are overcrowded because of our nation's absolutely insane drug laws. Killing every killer in the land will not relieve prison overcrowding.

[wren]

In Canada there is no death penalty! It is difficult for me to decide either way. You have criminals like Ted Bundy (who got the electric chair in Florida in 1989) who obviously are NOT going to reform.....hard topic.

[Brad]

Originally posted by Bootsy Whoosh


Sorry but I just can't let this one slide. The prisons are not overcrowded because of violent killers and rapists. They are overcrowded because of our nation's absolutely insane drug laws.

Amen to that.

[Faith]

I am totally 100% for the death penalty. People who kill people deserve too know the pain the victim felt when they knew the were dying. To me its justice.

[Barnabas1]

I am for it because if someone kills somebody, they could get them to promise they would never do it, but they might not really mean it.;)

[Christopher]

Originally posted by Willow4ever1981
To me its justice.

To me it's just an easy way out of crime. I'd rather see people who kill or do very horrible things to others spend the rest of their life in prison than dying.

[¤I Love Clay Aiken¤]

I support it for some cases.

Some people just DESERVE to die. And I agree with WingsFan..whats with that sitting around for 15-20 years? My God..why dont they just give them a million dollars?
In some cases, Im against it. Some poeple ARE wrongly accused. Like that guy (in Mass.??:confused: ) who was in jail for 30 years, and then finally let out when they found out he was INNOCENT. They should only put them to death if its 100% that they are guilty, and only death penalties for the ones who did something really really sick.

[¤I Love Clay Aiken¤]

Originally posted by Silver Daze


To me it's just an easy way out of crime. I'd rather see people who kill or do very horrible things to others spend the rest of their life in prison than dying.
Yeah..what do they get in jail? Hmm...a gym, cable TV, a cafeteria....thats not punishment, its luxery for some people.
Didnt anyone hear on the news a couple times that the convcits in jail got all pissed because the cable had been off?!?! My God..I think cable is the least of their worries.

[Crimson and Clover]

i do not support the death penalty. two wrongs dont make a right and it costs less tax money to keep someone in prison then it does to execute them. also as we have been seeing many of these people on death row have been proved innocent with DNA testing, so only god knows how many innocent people the government has killed.

[Hollow]

Originally posted by Babalu
I am for it because if someone kills somebody, they could get them to promise they would never do it, but they might not really mean it.;)
They dont make em promise not to do it again if they dont kill em...they send em to jail for petes sake...

Anyways WAKE UP PPL, COMMANDMENT #6 - THOU SHALT NOT KILL. Its not Thou shalt not kill unless it's the death penalty... Whats wrong w/ just putting em in a secured jail? Who cares if they get a TV it's not like they can kill ne1, which would be the reason WHY they were put in jail. If they dont get as much of a punishment as u want em to, suck it, ur not involved so dont let it bother u.

[Kitt]

Originally posted by ~°~RockAngel89~°~

They dont make em promise not to do it again if they dont kill em...they send em to jail for petes sake...

Anyways WAKE UP PPL, COMMANDMENT #6 - THOU SHALT NOT KILL. Its not Thou shalt not kill unless it's the death penalty... Whats wrong w/ just putting em in a secured jail? Who cares if they get a TV it's not like they can kill ne1, which would be the reason WHY they were put in jail. If they dont get as much of a punishment as u want em to, suck it, ur not involved so dont let it bother u. Good one, Rockangel. To be honest I don't usually agree with you but your logic is good on this on in my humble opinion. It cracks me up that people use that old thing about convicts getting to watch TV. Is that supposed to make us conclude that prison is fun? A lot of death row inmates and other criminals are in lockdown 23 hrs a day, everyday. Imagine your life being like that, just for one or two or three days, people. Now come on, does that sound like a great way to spend the rest of your life? We need to kill them all Just so they can't hang out in an eight by ten cell having all kinds of fun everyday?

[Kitt]

messed up

[Georgia's on my Mind]

I am against anyone killing anyone....it doesnt solve anything.

[Fleet]

Originally posted by ~°~RockAngel89~°~
Whats wrong w/ just putting em in a secured jail? Who cares if they get a TV it's not like they can kill ne1, which would be the reason WHY they were put in jail.

Sadly, sometimes even in jail they kill (another prisoner or a guard). :(

Hopefully, it does not happen often.

[¤I Love Clay Aiken¤]

Originally posted by ~°~RockAngel89~°~

They dont make em promise not to do it again if they dont kill em...they send em to jail for petes sake...

Anyways WAKE UP PPL, COMMANDMENT #6 - THOU SHALT NOT KILL. Its not Thou shalt not kill unless it's the death penalty... Whats wrong w/ just putting em in a secured jail? Who cares if they get a TV it's not like they can kill ne1, which would be the reason WHY they were put in jail. If they dont get as much of a punishment as u want em to, suck it, ur not involved so dont let it bother u.
Yeah..well, they ask Charles Manson each time if hed kill again. My God..what a bunch of morons, the guy is seriously sick! But I know he gets TONS of fanmail.:rolleyes:

As for Commandment #6. Yeah, but people who arent religous dont follow that. Im religious, but some people are just sick ba$tards. Like this Sniper person, they deserve to die- and so does Osama Bin Laden. Im sorry, but if we got Osama here in the US, Id hope theyd put that man to death ASAP.