Meh', I support the death penalty would really like it to be kept.
Then don't you call yourself "pro-life" ever again.
Because the life of murderer, serial rapist and terrorist are the same as a life of an innocent baby. If you sincerely believe that you're a retard.
Yes, they are equal. All lives are beautiful in the eyes of God, and each deserves the chance to make the most of their only time on earth, which includes the chance of redemption.
But what if you believe, that if you have taken a life of another person, that you've taken away you're chance to be equal in the human world. I just don't care about a person who has ruined a person's life or taken their lives directly and I believe they deserve to die, god can forgive them of course.
I completely agree that we ought to give convicted murders a chance at redemption if possible and that their lives are of equal value (I am against the death penalty), but there is still an objective difference between killing an innocent person and a guilty person. While I do believe we ought to ban capital punishment I agree with Gramps that the 'You can't be pro life and pro death penalty' is ridiculous and probably counterproductive to both causes (of course taking the phrase 'pro life' as a reference to abortion; trying to give it an alternative definition in American discourse is about as intellectually honest as taking 'pro choice' as a reference to homeschooling laws).
I agree. I'm an advocate of capital punishment not on the grounds that it's a deterrent or anything but it's simple fairness. If you take a life, your own should be forfeit. You should not have the ability to spend your life on the taxpayer dime, being fed three (bad, yes, but still) meals a day and having a bed. You took away someone's ability to experience that freely and your own should be forfeited.
There are arguments - good ones - to limit (not eliminate) the use of capital punishment (e.g. being unclear if the person in question committed the crime, lack of DNA testing, etc) but I don't see how being pro-life extends to being opposed to the death penalty. The logical rebuttal is that the unborn did not deserve their death. A guilty killer has taken a life and should reasonably expect his own to be forfeit, by his very actions.
Additionally, the death penalty should be extended for involvement in terrorism. For example, you might not have directly participated in an act that might be terroristic in nature but you were a participant that caused their death. That merits the death penalty. Lastly, I can see taking a life if you do something so heinous you directly affect your victim so traumatically that their life path is altered in a deeply negative sense (violent rape). That last one is more subjective, I'll admit.
Redemption is one thing too; but the debt to society is one that should be paid. Prisoners can and do try to redeem themselves before their execution (the Georgia lady who murdered her husband ran an effective ministry or social work thing, before her execution, for example).
There are many good reasons to carry out capital punishment as a just society. They should not be ignored.
