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Is the Death Penalty Murder?

Is the Death Penalty Murder?


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Recent high profile executions have resulted in a resurgence of debate about the death penalty. One thing I'm noticing is that, several times now, I have seen a post by someone who has told me in the past that it's wrong to call abortion murder (because abortion is legal) yet calling an execution murder. I do concede that abortion is not legally defined as murder, but then, wouldn't the same be true of the death penalty?

So, what do you think? Is carrying out the death penalty murder? Explain why or why not.
 
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No, as long as it can be proven, without a doubt that the person is guilty of a heinous crime, it is a legitimate form of justice.
 
I believe it is murder.
Its murder by the state.
The only time i can see the death penalty being used is on convicted war criminals.
 
Recent high profile executions have resulted in a resurgence of debate about the death penalty. One thing I'm noticing is that, several times now, I have seen a post by someone who has told me in the past that it's wrong to call abortion murder (because abortion is legal) yet calling an execution murder. I do concede that abortion is not legally defined as murder, but then, wouldn't the same be true of the death penalty?

So, what do you think? Is carrying out the death penalty murder? Explain why or why not.

Depends I suppose. Is murder the unlawful killing of another? In that case, it wouldn't be murder as the death penalty is currently lawful. It's still in a gray area and I can see people making argument to it being so.

Regardless, I think the best approach with the death penalty would be to end it.
 
It depends on how you define murder. If it's following through with a conscious decision to commit homicide, then I would classify execution as murder. If a homicide is committed in self defense or by accident, I wouldn't call it murder.

One thing I'm noticing is that, several times now, I have seen a post by someone who has told me in the past that it's wrong to call abortion murder (because abortion is legal) yet calling an execution murder. I do concede that abortion is not legally defined as murder, but then, wouldn't the same be true of the death penalty?

Given my comment above, we would have to determine what "homicide" is. If homicide is the act of killing a human being, we would have to determine whether or not a zygote or fetus is a human being. We wouldn't have to make this determination with an execution. When does something make the transition from a clump of cells to an actual human being? If the argument is that anything with full human DNA in it is a human, then my saliva and hair follicles should be considered humans right?
 
Recent high profile executions have resulted in a resurgence of debate about the death penalty. One thing I'm noticing is that, several times now, I have seen a post by someone who has told me in the past that it's wrong to call abortion murder (because abortion is legal) yet calling an execution murder. I do concede that abortion is not legally defined as murder, but then, wouldn't the same be true of the death penalty?

So, what do you think? Is carrying out the death penalty murder? Explain why or why not.

Congratz, you used to perfect example. If you are using the definition of the word murder, then neither executions nor abortions are murder, since both are legal. In both cased it is emotional rhetoric.
 
The death penalty is absolutely muder if they execute an innocent man. And given that our justice system is hardly perfect in this country, the possibility of executing even one innocent man is reason enough to ban the policy.
 
IMO, not just murder, but premeditated murder. And there is no evidence that I have seen that it is an effective deterrent. I think life in prison without parole is a more effective deterrent. To me it seems just a throwback to humankind's barbaric past that we have not been able to shake loose from, just as with other conservative countries like Iran.
 
The only crime about the death penalty is that it is more expensive than imprisoning a man for the rest of his life.
 
Neither the Death Penalty or Abortion are murder due to the fact they are both legal. That of course doesn't man either are right or wrong.
 
Does murder have to be illegal for it to be considered murder from a moral stand point? Obviously if it's legal it's not murder from a legal stand point, but what if the law is wrong?
 
I believe it is murder.
Its murder by the state.
The only time i can see the death penalty being used is on convicted war criminals.

No, death penalty is a form of punishment/justice.

and why is a war criminal any different than mass murderer?
 
Does murder have to be illegal for it to be considered murder from a moral stand point? Obviously if it's legal it's not murder from a legal stand point, but what if the law is wrong?

There is a difference between moral and legal. The definition of murder however depends on the law. If you called either the death penalty or abortion "immoral killing", that is fine, but if you call either murder, then you are misusing the word.
 
There is a difference between moral and legal. The definition of murder however depends on the law. If you called either the death penalty or abortion "immoral killing", that is fine, but if you call either murder, then you are misusing the word.

In that case we might as well just check the law books, answer the OP and close the thread. It's legal in some places, and in others it isn't.
 
silly question... of course it's not murder... it's not illegal.


you can call it homicide all day long and be right.... but call it murder once and you are wrong.
 
Recent high profile executions have resulted in a resurgence of debate about the death penalty. One thing I'm noticing is that, several times now, I have seen a post by someone who has told me in the past that it's wrong to call abortion murder (because abortion is legal) yet calling an execution murder. I do concede that abortion is not legally defined as murder, but then, wouldn't the same be true of the death penalty?

So, what do you think? Is carrying out the death penalty murder? Explain why or why not.
It's only murder when the person is innocent.

I think when people say "murder" they really just mean "unjust killing" and even though that's not the definition of murder, I think that's how a lot of people define it personally and colloquially.
 
In that case we might as well just check the law books, answer the OP and close the thread. It's legal in some places, and in others it isn't.

This is actually his point I think. It's not that the law decides what is moral or not. It is that the word murder depends on the law.
 
Neither the Death Penalty or Abortion are murder due to the fact they are both legal. That of course doesn't man either are right or wrong.

Right in that murder is simply a legal term. Nobody has been convicted of murder so no it's not murder. It is either right or wrong though. CP is wrong. While it is not murder it's not any better than what the criminal has been convicted of doing.
 
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Recent high profile executions have resulted in a resurgence of debate about the death penalty. One thing I'm noticing is that, several times now, I have seen a post by someone who has told me in the past that it's wrong to call abortion murder (because abortion is legal) yet calling an execution murder. I do concede that abortion is not legally defined as murder, but then, wouldn't the same be true of the death penalty?

So, what do you think? Is carrying out the death penalty murder? Explain why or why not.

Legally, no. Morally, what Dash said in post #2.
 
IMO, there are persuasive arguments against the death penalty.

Hyperbole is not one of them.
 
Execution is not murder by its very definition. Execution is a legal form of punishment for certain crimes in certain states. It is not murder even if an innocent man is executed; it is a tragedy and a failure of our justice system.

The death penalty should be used rarely and only with the most heinous of crimes, where guilt has been established by myriad corroborated physical evidence beyond all reasonable doubt. It should never be used in a purely circumstantial case, it should never be used as a legal lever to coerce plea bargained confessions or testimony against another, it should never be used as a political tool to enhance a prosecutor or D.A.'s reputation. And because it is used 95% of the time for all the cases it should not be used on, it has become a travesty and has lost credence when used in those rare cases where it is appropriate and deserved.

BTW, the death penalty is an important issue to debate. I'm disappointed that it was used as a link to abortion. :(
 
Nope, murder is a legal term that means killing someone not sanctioned by law. As the death penalty, like it or not, is legal, it cannot, by definition, be murder.
 
The only crime about the death penalty is that it is more expensive than imprisoning a man for the rest of his life.

I think that's one of its saving graces.
 
The only crime about the death penalty is that it is more expensive than imprisoning a man for the rest of his life.

The only reason it's expensive is they allow them to appeal endlessly, not because they can give evidence they are factually innocent, but because they don't like the sentence. Require convicts to have a reasonable level of doubt that they were correctly convicted, cut down on the cost.
 
No. The definition of murder is the unlawful killing of a person, so executions are by definition not murder. That doesn't mean it's necessarily right, but it's not murder.
 
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