Death sentence. Yes or no?

[McDonaldsGuy]

sundin13 said:

McDonaldsGuy said:

The first 2 sentences are perfect. The death penalty isn't revenge because it's given by a neutral jury.

The third sentence makes sense too - basically, if you don't give the murderer the death penalty, you are saying his life is worth more than the victims. It's basically saying when you take away someone's life, the COST (value) is your own. Thinking of my brother or mother possibly getting murdered makes me nearly faint, and to think the murderer is having kids or doing cocaine behind bars makes me angry.

a) The death penalty is 100% constitutional

b) The death penalty only has a high cost because of stupid appeals

c) DNA testing has made the death penalty very accurate, and there should just be a different level of guilt determined for death penalty cases (beyond a shadow of a doubt for eample)

d) Life without parole isn't truly life without parole - many prisoners have gotten out of prison despite having LWOP and prison life isn't bad. In fact, many prisoners prefer it.

1. I don't think whether or not it is revenge matters, but your reasoning for defending that point was a joke...literally.

2. We don't live by Hammurabi's Code and we do not pick punishments on the grounds of whether or not you would be angry in a hypothetical situation. This alongside the fact that the death penalty drags out the case, prevents families from moving on and generally makes things more difficult for the family really weakens the case for the death penalty.

3. The death penalty could be considered cruel and unusual punishment by some and it has been debated at length

4. The reason behind the cost of the death penalty is irrelevant, however, the purpose of the appeal process is to ensure that only those who are deemed to deserve the death penalty receive the death penalty

5. The current system of determing guilt, even with the inclusion of DNA evidence is far from perfect.

6. Out of curiousity, what are some examples of prisoners being set free despite life without parole? It is difficult to comment on in a vacuum. Also, prison isn't exactly the greatest place on earth, prison suicide is fairly common, prison rape is fairly common etc, while lethal injection is essentially nothing... While you say that prisoners prefer life in prison, some prefer the death penalty.

All of these reasons put together (and the other ones mentioned) make a pretty strong case against the death penalty, wheras the arguments behind the death penalty seem to be extremely weak, boiling down to nothing but "an eye for an eye".

1. It's a perfectly good argument because a lot of people claim the death penalty is "revenge," but it's not revenge because it's handed down by a neutral jury

2. That's because of the appeals process, which isn't even constitutional.

3. The fifth amendment states "nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation." So yeah, the death penalty is OK. It's not cruel or unusual because their crimes are cruel and unusual. The constitution is based off of the Social Contract by John Locke which explicitly states that when someone intentionally murders another person they forfeit their own life.

4. It is not irrelevant dude. The reasons are never irrelevant. How is it irrelevant? Lawyers being greedy is super relevant brotha.

5. Which is why standards for death penalty cases should be higher.

6. The fact that the VAST majority (90%+) of prisoners prefer life in prison over the death penalty may have something to do with it. Lol @ you bringing up prison rape and all that. Man this isn't the movies. THIS IS REAL LIFE.