Should the death penalty be abolished?

[Ryan Miller]

Death penalty: the punishment of execution, administered to someone legally convicted of a capital crime

 

[Micchan]

But here in the first world it is abolished.

 

[Dabawss]

they say an eye for an eye... the death penalty should be for murder cases only, governed by the state. the problem is - with the death penalty is that :

[1] - there are many who have sat on death row for years wrongfully accused years if not decades later

[2] - there IS a case that the current "administration" of the death penalty is in itself cruel and unusual punishment. when a person sits on death row for over 10 years, it ceases to be the death penalty but cruel and unusual punishment in the wait one has to endure to get the conviction processed and completed

here is a fact... until such a time when the courts can with 100% certainty, convict the right person for the right crime.... no "final" or un-doable sentence should ever be handed out

 

[schirminator]

Some people are simply too much of a threat to society to be released. A serial killer will never stop killing. I do think that there needs to be zero doubt that the person was guilty and that it is reserved for the absolute worst of human beings. If someone kills 20 people, they shouldn't be allowed life in prison because they still have their life which is a lot more than he/she gave those 20 people. On top of that, the resources it takes to support that single person the rest of their life causes funding issues

 

[Pope John Paul II]

Firing squad is best method of execution.

 

[Woot]

I think it's just one degree higher of punishment than a life sentence and there's plenty of people who have earned it. The only drawback is that there's no takebacks if you find out later they were innocent. But that can be solved by requiring a higher standard of evidence, restricting it to people who were basically caught red handed or confessed, rather than abolishing the death penalty.

 

[Azaghul]

I think it's just one degree higher of punishment than a life sentence and there's plenty of people who have earned it. The only drawback is that there's no takebacks if you find out later they were innocent. But that can be solved by requiring a higher standard of evidence, restricting it to people who were basically caught red handed or confessed, rather than abolishing the death penalty.

Even confessions are notoriously unreliable.

There's been way too many cases of innocent, or questionably guilty people being executed for me to be OK with it.

 

[Rin]

But that can be solved by requiring a higher standard of evidence, restricting it to people who were basically caught red handed or confessed, rather than abolishing the death penalty.

But that's exactly what they do now. That's why death penalties cost so much more than simply life imprisonment.

I'm not opposed to the death penalty in itself, just that it's impractical.

 

[Sargun]

The death penalty does not work.

It does not decrease crime.  It does not make us safer.  It costs more money.  It is barbaric and inhumane.  You are giving authority to the state to execute people who are innocent of crimes because the justice system is not perfect.  You can ostensibly "fix" a 40 year illegal prison sentence by letting them out, giving them so much money they can retire for life, and moving on.  You cannot fix a dead man.

There is no justification for the death penalty and anyone who argues otherwise does not care about money, public safety, or criminal justice.