MontanaHatchet said:
The death penalty is a terrible idea. While the actions that would lead to the death penalty are horrible, that doesn't really justify death. It's a matter of consistent justice. Back in ancient cultures, people would have their ears or hands cut off for simple robbery. Nowadays, it would be a few days or weeks in jail (it would definitely help if I had more knowledge of crime).
You're saying we've created punishments that do not deter crime, and in fact have the inverse effect and can actually create crime. By have such relaxed punishments it's easier for someone to get into criminal activities inevitably climing the ladder and reaching murder.
One of the main problems with the death penalty is that it's really backwards. Hangings and torture used to be commonplace, but now torture is looked upon as an incredibly cruel action and hanging is unheard of. As a society, we should be moving towards arrest and restraint rather than murder. Hell, watch the movie Batman Begins if you want to learn a little more.
Again, how is being easy on criminals advancing society, we're making it easier to be a criminal, we're not preventing crime at all. Last time I checked the death penalty did not consist of torture.
Life is precious, or at least I think so in my oh-so crazy mind. After all, once you lose it, you aren't getting another one. And you don't realize how precious life is until you're dead (although you don't "realize" anything at all). Take a lesson from the third crusades, when the crusaders didn't have the resources to house their captives and chose to slaughter them instead. Back then, they really had no other option. But in today's society, we have the resources to house people for life, and we shouldn't end a person's life just because it's more convenient to the government and taxpayers.
Why should life remain precious for those who did not appreciate life? How is confining them for life and denying them almost every satisfaction of life so different from ending it?
Just take a look at some of the top countries for executions. The top 6 consist of China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, the U.S., and Iraq (in 2007). With the government it has, it should seem a little strange to anyone for the U.S. to fall into this bracket. Some of the top countries for capital punishment have less money and more oppressive governments, but there's really no excuse in the United States. You say I have no argument against it, but you've presented no good arguments for it because the same recycled cliches and "what if" scenarios that frankly don't interest me.
The death penalty isn't carried out so often here, 53 42 (sorry, that was 2006) people were sentenced to death in 2007, out of 300 million, that's not so bad especially considering that 4 of the 5 countries up there are smaller than the US. Way to twist the facts.
