Do you support a death penalty?

I don't like it that people like Scott Peterson get to live around 20 years after conviction with tax payers supporting his evil ass

I voted Yes, but I have to add some things. The way the world is right now, yeah, I feel we still need a capital punishment measure. Now, I am not for this because it is 'the right thing to do'. No. I think it is a primitive method of punishment and appeals to a crude sense of how to reduce criminality on the whole.

However, I also think unless the Governments around the world start realizing it's better to pump more money into rehabilitation programs in prison, and reducing repeat offences or crime in general by fixing the more root problems... until something that like becomes part of the accepted global wisdom and practices... I think capital punishment is necessary, not to punish criminals, but to maintain a sense of social sanity.

So that people feel that horrible actions have horrible consequences, and it is not a 'free for all' out there. It might sound inconsequential, that effect of the death penalty, but society works not on laws themselves, but more on most people agreeing on the laws and system as functional to some extent(however flawed it may be).


Therefore, my position is that the death penalty, while being primitive and not the ideal option, is a social necessity right now. Having said that, I would be very much for higher standards for deciding on the cases it should be applied in. I also hope for a future when social programs and prison policies have changed so much, that the death penalty can be removed entirely.

In some cases because some people are monsters.

I don't like it that POS like Manson and his followers got to live many years in prison because California overturned the Death Penalty after their convictions

Absolutely ! Especially those that injure children !

No I don’t. Humans don’t have the power to give life in this world neither should they be taking life away from others. And I know what some people will say “then people shouldn’t be killing other people” which is true but 2 wrongs don’t make a right.

I’m not sure. On one hand, sometimes I hear about the crimes some people commit, and I think, [i]That bastard deserves to die.[/i] On the other hand, I can’t stand the idea of an innocent person being falsely convicted and penalized with death.

Yes, but if it was done the way I would want it done, it would be extremely rare.

- Did the person kill or seriously injure/torture people or animals?
—On more than one occasion
—And they have not been rehabilitated after their first offense; show no remorse, etc.
—And psychiatrists and psychologists do not believe they will ever change: are they likely to do it again?
—Are we 99.9% sure that this is the person who did the crimes?


Only if all the answers are “yes” would I be in favor of the death penalty. IMHO, its only justification is to protect the rest of the world from extremely dangerous people.

I respect other opinions, but I'm opposed in all circumstances. I favor life without parole as the most extreme form of punishment, and I find it hard to argue that the death penalty satisfies any additional purpose beyond revenge. I don't think a civilized society should put its citizens to death. If you look at the economics, the legal costs make it more expensive than life imprisonment. If you look at the legal history, it has been administered unfairly, with too much variation on race, economic status, and quality of legal representation. Again, I respect other views.

It depends ...