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Death Penalty, for or against

Do you support the death penalty?


  • Total voters
    134
There is no emotion in my position. I've no desire for vengeance, no blood lust, no feelings of inadequacy to assuage.

Killing a helpless harmless captive is pointless. Just simple logic and reason.
Assuming we accept the premise.

And yes, your emotional investment is plain, or you wouldn't use the language you've employed here.
 
Do you think he gives a ****?

Some do, some don't. But ultimately - who cares?

Rapists and murderers should not write the rules for us. Forever reacting to their actions is a dead end.
 
Those who are enlightened do not kill for emotional satisfaction.

Oh my. If you only knew how right you are about that. I do not favor the death penalty because it emotionally satisfies me. I favor it because I have no emotional investment, and because it is a reasonable response to kill someone who has killed. There is no vengeance in my position.
 
Or even prior to that.

That's not true. Plenty of people have expressed remorse for their crimes. :shrug: Whether or not they mean is for God to judge I suppose.
 
And yes, your emotional investment is plain, or you wouldn't use the language you've employed here.

Nonsense.

Those who are satisfied by killing captives represent the emotional position herein.
 
Some do, some don't. But ultimately - who cares?

Rapists and murderers should not write the rules for us. Forever reacting to their actions is a dead end.

Poignant!
 
I don't judge the value of anyone's life. I don't know enough about anyone to do that.

That you would judge someone's life as disposable is grotesque. It's disgusting base egoism driven by ugly emotion.

It's not me who judges life as disposable. It is those who kill for no reason. My position is that it is reasonable to apply equal justice when someone kills for no reason.
 
Oh, but there is emotion in it. It is pity for murderers. That is an emotional response. It is not logical, nor reasonable, nor the position of justice.

I don't think you've a mature grasp of justice. You think there's justice to be found for individuals through the justice system. That's nonsense. It's up to each individual to make themselves whole again. The justice system is for making society whole, not individuals.

Justice demands the balancing of a wrongful act.

There is no balancing death without the power to grant life.
 
The rarity of a prisoner in max security and solitary managing to kill someone is sufficient that we, as a society, have taken all reasonable action. Other prisoners are there of their own actions and guards are volunteers. That extremely minor exposure of society to the convict is far more ethically acceptable than slaughtering helpless people.

The sad fact is that is possibly more cruel to cage folks up with no human contact than to execute them. Just becuase a person is in prison does not mean that they should be rendered helpless not to become the prey of those with nothing left to lose. If given the choice of solitary for life or death I would choose death.

America's Most Isolated Federal Prisoner Describes 10,220 Days in Extreme Solitary Confinement - Solitary Watch

Sentenced to life as a teen, prisoner learning to swap solitary for society | Tampa Bay Times

Solitary Confinement: A Punishment In Need Of Reform | RedState
 
It's not me who judges life as disposable. It is those who kill for no reason. My position is that it is reasonable to apply equal justice when someone kills for no reason.

So, others decide the value of life for you. Murderers nonetheless. You might want to look for more astute ethical advisers.
 
Oh my. If you only knew how right you are about that. I do not favor the death penalty because it emotionally satisfies me. I favor it because I have no emotional investment, and because it is a reasonable response to kill someone who has killed. There is no vengeance in my position.

Your position serves no purpose except emotional satisfaction. Killing someone in no way makes another whole.
 
If given the choice of solitary for life or death I would choose death.

What makes you think you've the right to choose for others?
 
Some do, some don't. But ultimately - who cares?

Rapists and murderers should not write the rules for us. Forever reacting to their actions is a dead end.
Dude, I think we can safely assume that a guy who commits rape and buries people alive is someone who won't be spending much time wrestling with his conscience.

I don't accept the charge of equivalency, either. The judiciary acts in the interests of society at large, not as an instrument of unprovoked aggression.
 
That's not true. Plenty of people have expressed remorse for their crimes. :shrug: Whether or not they mean is for God to judge I suppose.
Crocodile tears for the most part, I'm sure. A parole board won't be impressed with indifference. If you believe this guy felt bad about what he did, I pity you in your naivete.
 
Oh, but there is emotion in it. It is pity for murderers. That is an emotional response. It is not logical, nor reasonable, nor the position of justice. Justice demands the balancing of a wrongful act.


I believe Justice is more about lawfulness and equity, not just balancing perfectly, which isn't realistic. The Law has to be applied, so that Justice is tempered with mercy or we lose our humanity and ability to have compassion, even if the criminal had none. It doesn't mean that we don't punish or hold people accountable but if even one innocent person is killed with the death penalty, it's too high a price for retribution. We must hold ourselves to a higher standard than that of the law breaker and merciless.
 
Dude, I think we can safely assume that a guy who commits rape and buries people alive is someone who won't be spending much time wrestling with his conscience.

I don't accept the charge of equivalency, either. The judiciary acts in the interests of society at large, not as an instrument of unprovoked aggression.

Karla Faye Tucker, not a guy but a brutal murderer nonetheless, who allegedly repented in prison, even the brother of one of her victims believed that she was truly sorry for what she had done. Not that it excuses what she did, but her sentence could have been commuted but wasn't.

Karla Faye Tucker - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
Your position serves no purpose except emotional satisfaction. Killing someone in no way makes another whole.
Justicd isnt about making someone whole. It is only about equitable payment for crime.
 
Justicd isnt about making someone whole. It is only about equitable payment for crime.

Nonsense. Justice is about validating the existence of society itself. It's not about satisfying the blood lust of individuals.

There's a bigger picture that you are completely missing here.
 
I don't accept the charge of equivalency, either. The judiciary acts in the interests of society at large, not as an instrument of unprovoked aggression.

Ah, there it is: "the interests of society at large". What the hell does it even mean - outside of totalitarian utopias?

And there's no equivalency - unless you insist on introducing it, by erasing the difference between killing in self-defense and killing someone defenseless.
 
Dumb question. for starters, most people aren't psychopaths who rape and murder others. That alone makes "us" better.

Killing is killing. The end result is the same no matter who is doing the killing.


That's how evil spreads. Such is life.. the family of the sickos responsible for many of these terrible crimes are not the priority.

No, evil spreads from rotten vengeful brains, and thankfully it's not up to someone like you to decide what is and is not a priority. The death penalty is not necessary, is expensive and puts blood on all of our hands.
 
The death penalty is in the news again in America because states are turning to new, untested drug concoctions to use for lethal injection, and sometimes the drugs being used in executions cause complications and prolonged dying. There was a case a few months ago out of Ohio, but the story coming out of Oklahoma seems the most controversial yet. It actually delayed another man's execution.

A link to the story is below...



So do you favor the death penalty?

Do you think the death penalty will last in America considering the declining availability of traditional lethal injection drugs?



Oklahoma’s horrible ‘botched execution’ shows again why the death penalty should be abolished

Though I am strongly against capital punishment, I don't think that the messy execution shows anything. If capital punishment were effective, fail proof and inexpensive it would all right . But it is none of the above.
 
Crocodile tears for the most part, I'm sure. A parole board won't be impressed with indifference. If you believe this guy felt bad about what he did, I pity you in your naivete.

Here's some really interesting information. It's about murder victims' family members who are against the death penalty. What would you say to them?

New Voices - Victims' Families | Death Penalty Information Center

Murder Victims' Families Testify in Maryland on the Death Penalty

Family members of murder victims testified before the Maryland Senate Judiciary Committee on March 6 about the painful toll the death penalty has taken on their lives, stating that the resources spent on seeking death sentences could be better used elsewhere. "I've watched too many families go through this to make me believe the system will ever work," said Kathy Garcia, whose nephew was murdered 20 years ago. She continued, "The death penalty divides families at the very time they need each other the most." Other family members of murdered victims agreed, suggesting that the money spent on the death penalty could be better used in providing counseling and other support to survivors. Vicki Schieber (pictured), whose daughter was murdered in Philadelphia in 1998, told the committee that years of death penalty appeals are excruciating to families. "The system is just too painful," she said.

Ronald Carlson wanted vengeance when his sister was murdered in 1983 in Texas. But when he witnessed the execution in 1998 of the person who committed the murder he changed his mind. In a recent op-ed in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Carlson said he had no opinion on capital punishment before his sister’s death and remembers feeling hatred and “would have killed those responsible with my own hands if given the opportunity.” But he later discovered that, “Watching the execution left me with horror and emptiness, confirming what I had already come to realize: Capital punishment only continues the violence that has a powerful, corrosive effect on society.”

Carlson said he sympathizes with other victims’ families, understanding how they would want to see those who killed their love ones suffer the same fate. But, he said, “[O]ur justice system should not be dictated by vengeance.” He asked, “As a society, shouldn’t we be more civilized than the murderers we condemn?” Carlson has spent over half of his life examining this issue and has come to believe, “We as a society should not be involved in the practice of killing people.”
(R. Carlson, “Time to end the death penalty’s cycle of violence,” Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, August 3, 2008).
 
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