Capital Punishment

[So the Heroes Fall]

I support abolition of the death penalty.

[Gustaf]

This is a tough issue...although I am not in favour of being lenient on criminals, I don't think the state should kill its citizens in peace time. However, I do think death penalty is justfied in war times, for treahcery.

[??????????]

If you take away someones constitutionally guaranteed right to live then you yourself lose your rights. The state has every right to execute a guilty person for murder. And the law should be strongly enforced more so then now. Save the state the money and get the execution over with within a year of the trial.

[KEmperor]

I agree with States

[TexasGurl]

it's a bad thing.

[Gustaf]

If you take away someones constitutionally guaranteed right to live then you yourself lose your rights. The state has every right to execute a guilty person for murder. And the law should be strongly enforced more so then now. Save the state the money and get the execution over with within a year of the trial.

Every now and then innocent people are executed. You do lose some of your rights when you commit a crime, but that's besides the point.

[??????????]

Very very few innocent people are actually convicted. Of course a criminal in jail is going to say, "I didn't do it." That's just human nature.

[angus]

I don't support capital punishment for anyone under any circumstances.  But I do support majority rule, legislative policy, and judicial restraint.  So, since only about 20% of all Republicans and about 35% of Democrats and others want to abolish capital punishment, I won't begin ranting about its practice.  This seems less likely to be abolished, in our lifetimes, even than abortion.  We are the most populist nation in the world by some measures.  It's the reason Elian Gonzales had to go back to cuba, and it's the reason that we still practice capital punishment.  That's just the way it is.

[Gustaf]

Very very few innocent people are actually convicted. Of course a criminal in jail is going to say, "I didn't do it." That's just human nature.

I didn't base my statement on what the convicted themselves say. I don't think there are a lot, but there are still a few. I am just uncomfortable with the state killing people in peacetime.

[WalterMitty]

im opposed to capital punishment.

[Fritz]

I think capital punishment is barbaric and uncivilised.

Innocent people do get wrongly convicted.  Capital punishment is not reversable.

Because of the appeals process, capital punishment ends up being more costly to society.

Finally, capital punishment does not deter crime.

[Lunar]

A mixed bag here.  On one hand, I don't really think the state should be distributed death.  On the other hand, I think murderers should die.  Heh.

[Duke Fan]

I support hanging or the chair for especially brutal murders(i.e. killing and torture of children). Get rid of lethal injection, because it isn't a real punishment.

[klrbzzz]

Abolish it, and make prison-life a "living hell"!!!!!

[Duke Fan]

Abolish it, and make prison-life a "living hell"!!!!!

I can deal with that

[ShapeShifter]

Biggest contradiction - Pro-Capital Punishment and Pro-Life.

It always makes me laugh.

[Gustaf]

Biggest contradiction - Pro-Capital Punishment and Pro-Life.

It always makes me laugh.

Not really. There's a difference between innocent children and criminals.

Anyway, I also think murderers should die...but I try not to let my emotions carry me away on issues like this one.

[migrendel]

Well, I have been said to take contradictory stands. But I feel that capital punishment deprives a person of fundamental social liberty, just as denying them reproductive rights does. The institution of capital punishment, while in itself indicative of archaism that one sees in lashing and the pillory, has failed society in manifold ways. The system which treats its affluent and established citizens to a comparatively bearable punishment metes out inhumane justice to its poor and minority members. This to me reveals a dialectic which inquires as to social position and then punishes, rather than seeking justice. For those reasons, I can see no justification for perpetuating this injustice. We cannot expect to fine tune the machinery of death and receive fair results.

[ShapeShifter]

Biggest contradiction - Pro-Capital Punishment and Pro-Life.

It always makes me laugh.

Not really. There's a difference between innocent children and criminals.

Anyway, I also think murderers should die...but I try not to let my emotions carry me away on issues like this one.

Those who are pro-life always talk about respecting life. Yada Yada. Blah Blah. And then turns around saying, killing criminals are okay. Make me laugh all the time.

[Duke Fan]

Biggest contradiction - Pro-Capital Punishment and Pro-Life.

It always makes me laugh.

Anybody that says being pro-life and pro-capital punishment is contradictory needs to take a look in the mirror because that also means being pro-choice and anti-capital punishment is a contradiction.

[ShapeShifter]

Biggest contradiction - Pro-Capital Punishment and Pro-Life.

It always makes me laugh.

Anybody that says being pro-life and pro-capital punishment is contradictory needs to take a look in the mirror because that also means being pro-choice and anti-capital punishment is a contradiction.

Why would I need to look in the mirror?

I am not Pro-choice. I am indifferent. I can care less about that issue because I am not a woman.

On, capital punishment - my worries are innocent people getting killed.

so, where is the contradiction?

[12th Doctor]

I can't choose one of these, because my stance is more complicated than one of these choices.  I believe that the death penalty should be used for only the most hanous criminals (i.e. Saddam Hussien, Nazi leaders, Timothy McVeigh) and only when we can prove beyond a shaddow of a doubt that they did it.

However, I am also appaled by our current prison system.  The fact that these people get to kick back, watch cable T.V., get full wieght rooms, full library privilages and tons of other things that we are struggling to provide for our own families sickens me, and as long as those are the condidtions in many prisons, I will continue to support the death penalty as it stands.

Also, life in prison should mean life in prison and until that is changed I will continue to support the current usage of the death penalty.

[Duke Fan]

Biggest contradiction - Pro-Capital Punishment and Pro-Life.

It always makes me laugh.

Anybody that says being pro-life and pro-capital punishment is contradictory needs to take a look in the mirror because that also means being pro-choice and anti-capital punishment is a contradiction.

Why would I need to look in the mirror?

I am not Pro-choice. I am indifferent. I can care less about that issue because I am not a woman.

On, capital punishment - my worries are innocent people getting killed.

so, where is the contradiction?

You are indifferant about abortion? So if somebody banned ALL abortion you wouldn't care?

Most of your fellow democrats here are pro abortion and anti capital punishment. That is just as much a contradiction as being pro life and pro death penalty.

[ShapeShifter]

Biggest contradiction - Pro-Capital Punishment and Pro-Life.

It always makes me laugh.

Anybody that says being pro-life and pro-capital punishment is contradictory needs to take a look in the mirror because that also means being pro-choice and anti-capital punishment is a contradiction.

Why would I need to look in the mirror?

I am not Pro-choice. I am indifferent. I can care less about that issue because I am not a woman.

On, capital punishment - my worries are innocent people getting killed.

so, where is the contradiction?

You are indifferant about abortion? So if somebody banned ALL abortion you wouldn't care?

Most of your fellow democrats here are pro abortion and anti capital punishment. That is just as much a contradiction as being pro life and pro death penalty.

If Abortion was to be ban, I wouldn't care because it does not affect me.

I am not accountable for my "fellow democrats"

[Nation]

An extremely flawed system that's come way too close more than once to executing an innocent person.

Put a federal moratorium on the death penalty, re-examine the cases, and I would hope that would lead to a conclusion to get rid of capital punsihment, and replace it with life in prison w/o parole.

In turn, you need to get the drug offenders(not sellers) who are taking up way too much of taxpayers money being spent on drug offenders -- totally unnecessary -- when they could be spent on keeping real criminals in jail.