[Crescens]

What do you all think of capital punishment?

1 ) Do you think it is constitutional under the US Constitution? (or, if you're in another country, whatever document is the equivalent of the US Constitution)
2 ) Do you think capital punishment is morally just?
3 ) Do you think capital punishment serves as a deterrent, or prevents crime?
4 ) What measures do you think could be taken to improve US policies toward capital punishment? (for other countries, I don't really know what capital punishment rules are, so I don't know if there's any way if this can apply to you. Answer away if it does.)

Debate away. I'll join in once I see enough interest in the topic.

[Killerconvic]

1) I think capital punishment is constitutional. It is not cruel and unusual. It is only unusual because the US is too soft on severe offenders. We should make harsh penalties the norm, then they won't be unusual.

2) I think capital punishment is morally just, but needs to be harsher.

3) I think capital punishment is a crime deterrent. Well, not currently, because the way the US handles Death Row inmates is very dumb. Did you know that it costs more in the state of Maryland to have someone on Death Row and kill them than to have them rot in prison for life? You know why this is true? Stupidity. There is a minimum of 7 appeals. 7!!! That is a lot of money wasted.

I feel that if a person is proven guilty, just chop off their heads. It would save money. If someone does such a heinous crime making the government want to kill them, then do it by the fastest, cheapest, and easiest way possible. So off with their heads I say. An eye for an eye!

I agree with the firing squad too Crescens

4) Read above ^

[ChickenJane]

[Sproogle]

Until crime stops OFF WITH THEIR HEADS i say...

[Matayahhu]

I admit to not doing much about the whole debate... so instead of stating my opinion I'll ask questions.

1) In European countries where capital punishment is banned, is the crime rate (of felonies) higher or lower than in the US.
2) Why is stem cell research considered immoral but capital punishment considered okay? (is it because a newborn is innocent of anything at all)
3) How many cases have their been where a person on death row in found innocent, and what is the percentage of people on death row who are overall found innocent?
4) Have their been studied which show that capital punishment causes there to be an incentive not to do crime?
5) What is the total objective of executing a prisoner? (To save money? to avenge dead or wronged? To create an incentive not to do crime?)

Also, I myself (a liberal, who typically are strongly against capital punishment) wonder what the objective of a life sentence is? That's slightly related because many conservatives and republicans say that anyone who can be convicted of a life sentence should be executed, and I agree in the sense that if we are going to kill people anyway, why pay to look after someone until their death.
Note that these questions are aimed at punching a whole in the defense of an argument of capital punishment (just incase some one thought I was trying to hide the fact that I am against capital punishment), but also, to further my own knowledge. This isn't something I know a lot about, except people's attitudes toward it, which sometimes annoys me... particularly mentally challenged people who say everyone guilty of any crime should die... as if a human being can not be reformed.
People like this are ignorant to people in society who were not born as well of as they were and are taught the rules of good and bad the same way they are. While I would never defend crime, defending the rights of the person behind it can be important, in that one day, maybe that person can come back changed, reformed and realize what they did was wrong.
However, I see the argument that it is hard to imagine a person who killed 7 people with a knife could ever reform… it just doesn’t seem write me to kill people for killing, it doesn’t really make moral or ethical sense to me.
If anyone can answer these questions truthfully (and perhaps citing their sources) I would be obliged.

[Muler]

1 ) Do you think it is constitutional under the US Constitution? (or, if you're in another country, whatever document is the equivalent of the US Constitution)

Yes I do

2 ) Do you think capital punishment is morally just?

Yes. A passive, leniant, liberal country is never good at keeping their people contained.

3 ) Do you think capital punishment serves as a deterrent, or prevents crime?

Hmm I'll get back to you on that one

4 ) What measures do you think could be taken to improve US policies toward capital punishment? (for other countries, I don't really know what capital punishment rules are, so I don't know if there's any way if this can apply to you. Answer away if it does.)

I would like to see hangings and the Electric Chair to be used (Dont call me gruesome, a lethal injection, a near painless killing is pointless)

[Crescens]

In response to what Matyahhu asked about why the US has a higher crime rate even though we have capital puishment ...

This isn't intended to sound discriminatory against illegal immigrants, but the US tends to have the most illegal immigrants coming in. I don't have the statistics to prove this, but I'm pretty sure most of us can agree on it. May decide to get the statistics one of these days. Illegal immigrants may have come to the US seeking refuge from a corrupt dictatorship in their native country. Other western democracies are stereotyped less than the US is as a "land of opportunity." Many immigrants from other countries may have an instinctive fear of governments due to past experiences. I don't really think capital punishment is the only deciding factor in the amount of crime there is in a country.

I think capital punishment can effectively deter crime. People will be less likely to commit crimes if they have a reason to fear that death will come as a consequence of their crimes. I also think that it is not morally just to let someone who took the lives of others live and leech off of the taxes of those which that person was a threat to.

In response to what Muler said about executions needing to be more painful, I disagree. I think painless executions are fine. However, I think executions need to be decided upon and done more quickly. Criminals will not fear the death penalty if it takes seven years for it to be implemented.

Even if you disagree with me, I am interested in your views and hope you will share them. Hope this debate goes on for a while.

[cheetahx6]

i dont like capital punishment because this ha happened many time someone is sent to death and then someone new evidence arises that the person was inocent and well we cant just bring that person bak and also our whole courth sytem is set up on a lawyer tryin to trick a judge or jury into his way it doesnt matter if the awyer is acually right just that he wins

[Crescens]

* Bump *

Dum dee dum, just a little bit of hard evidence to back up the idea that capital punishment does deter crime...

Since George E. Pataki, the Governor (Rep.) of New York, took office and implemented policies of the death penalty, violent crime has dropped 23%, assaults have dropped 22%, and murder by nearly 33%. (George E. Pataki: The Death Penalty Is A Deterrent) According to Thomas Hobbes, the fear of death is one of the most basic human instincts that motivates them to choose certain actions. I believe that the fear of death is a more effective deterrent than anything else possibly can be.

[Neraphym]

1.) Yes, it is constitutional to kill people for ther crimes. What is meant by "cruel and unusual" is torturing people, not killing them.

2.) No, life is one possesion that no earthly being has the right to take away.

3.) It could be.

4.) I believe the death penalty should be applicable in just two scenarios: Voulentary and Genocide. If someone would rather face death than a life in prison, then I say let them. Personally, if given the choice I would, unless I knew I was innocent. If someone commits genocide, there is no greater crime in my opinion, then screw the courts and put him in a large microwave and watch him melt. Oh, and I think France has outlawed the death penalty.

[Killerconvic]

[Neraphym]

I prefer to put those people in cuba. Seriously, you have some good points. Rape and slavery are bad, but not as bad as Genocide. I'm not saying they should go unpunished. There are some things far worse than death. As for forcing children to appear in pornography, I know nothing about that...

[Killerconvic]

[Neraphym]

1. What I meant by Cuba is guantanamo bay, where our US Bill of Rigths doesn't really exist. There you can do lots of stuff you couldn't do in the US. Either way, that was a joke.

2. What ranks above Genocide? To take the lives away from many, how can there be a greater crime? Oh well, your opinion is what it is.

3. Haiti is not the poorest country in the world.

[Killerconvic]