Do you support the Death Penalty?

[Anonymous]

If there are nuances to your answer don’t hesitate to include them.

[nightdrot]

No, I do not. The purpose of the law in general and the penal system in particular is first and foremost, to protect society, second to punish the guilty and third and least, to reform the criminal if possible. In that order.

Capital punishment, generally speaking, does not seem to afford those benefits. First, it is the surety of punishment, not its severity, that is a deterrent to crime. If an individual is sure that they will be punished, they will likely not act. If that individual believes that they might get away with it, they will likely run the risk.

So in that sense, capital punishment fails its first and most important test. It does not deter and therefore it does not protect the society. Throw in that it applies only in cases of premeditation - crimes of passion are not premeditated - and the range of those whom capital punishment applies becomes proportionately smaller.

Secondly, it is axiomatic that we shape our laws and then our laws shape us. In that context, capital punishment reflects - and is a result of - the society's treatment of life as a means rather than an end. In this it is the parallel of the abortion argument. The planted axiom of liberal abortion laws is that life has no value save that which each individual attributes to it, therefore the law has no proper standing to afford it protection.

Capital punishment is a case of the society deciding that the value of life is contingent rather than absolute. That action decides life's value rather than life's inherent worth. When the society places vengeance over any inherent value to life, it will apt in its larger context to see more of the former and value the latter less and less.

To be sure, in the matter of capital punishment that is at the margins and dealing with decidedly unsympathetic individuals. Arguably the case can be made that "killing the killer" suggests that society places a much higher value on life. However, on balance, the inspiration of capital punishment is vengeance and not justice and thus both the value of life and the value of justice is undermined.

Beyond that, humans are imperfect and there are issues related to failings of the legal system. In the question of justice, the accidental execution of the innocent is not an injustice that can be undone. Indeed, it is what suggests that vengeance - and not justice - is what inspires laws that condone capital punishment.

In short, capital punishment harms society with too few countervailing benefits.

[Telekinetic-Potato]

I think that the death penalty should be very rare and extremely publicized. I also don't know how I feel about this shit where we put someone on death row for decades. Especially with how hard it is for these people to get an appeal. But the death penalty should be limited to people who commit crimes against the freedom of our country, repeat offender rapists and murderers who have very clearly demonstrated a complete lack of regard for the public. And maybe whoever was responsible for Ben and Jerry's taking away the flavor they used to do with Cinnabon.

[clovertheminotaur]

I agree with this. While not an end all solution to every violent case, it's cruel to innocent civilians to let people this dangerous have the chance to prey upon them. However, life in prison should probably be our go to given that it's still a permanent removal of the prisoner

[whirled_up_girl]

I guess what I have a problem is three things. First being absolutely sure the person being sent to death is really guilty. I feel like there have been too many cases where innocent people have been put to death, even one such case would be too many in my opinion. The second thing is that some violent crimes are committed by a people who are mentally ill, now sometimes they are found incompetent and unable to stand trial but other times they are not and I fear that sometimes we put people to death that are truly incapable of controlling their actions. I still think the punishment should be severe though even if it's not death, at the very least institutionalized, manly to keep the public safe. The third thing is as a nurse I find it disturbing that we expect health care professionals and others to be executioners. I remember reading about a doctor who hated administering lethal injections, he would pray for his soul constantly but he kept doing them because he knew doing it wrong could cause unnecessary suffering and be inhumane. So given all those reasons I don't support it.

[ShellyB]

Basically no but I can imagine special cases where I would, for example if we had video of somebody going into a school and killing 20 kids, I would support it in a situation like that, but I don't know how to write the law so it would only apply to cases like that where there is no doubt they did something so horrible. It might be easier to just get rid of it and then a person like I described would go to prison for a thousand years (dying in prison) maybe that is really as harsh a punishment as killing them?

For what I would call a normal murder convict, I do not support it because what if you're wrong? If you put them in prison, you can at least try to fix it later if you realize they were wrongly convicted. If they are dead there is nothing you can do, so, I think you'd need to be absolutely 100 percent sure, not 98 percent or 99 percent, to consider execution.

I am glad I don't need to write these laws but anyway that is my opinion!

[davado88]

You do realise those school shootings are orchestrated by the powers that be as a psyops for gun control?

[OlderAndWiser]

My First Time Watching Someone Die: Oh, the Frailty of Life...

[MyOwnMan2]

It's just like watching a bug die. All life wants to live.

[Rei13]

I support it, however there should be no shadow of a doubt that the person committed the crime and only in extreme situations. If someone intentionally murdered someone, for example, I do not care if that person is mentally ill or not they still did something that can never be taken back. Their victim will never live the life they should have lived and it is only fair that the perpetrator meets that same fate. There would be few exceptions as to why someone shouldn’t meet that fate. Accidental etc.

[NaultD]

No.

"Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster... for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you."
Friedrich W. Nietzsche

To give mercy is not for the sake of the culprit but to the humanity that had to bear witness such atrocities. To continue finding and being in humanity with fellow neighbors, family, and friends. With also seeing how easily twisted manipulated and destroyed our fabric of trust we can still hold true to ourselves and to the ones we love.

Let us put dangerous people away and powerless and give them their daily bread. For our own sake not to be them abusive for the sake of abuse.

[Miristheiss]

Absolutely.

I'm only in support of it for cut and dry cases. There are some cases where guilt and innocence is not on trial. They are just trying to get someone life and not the death sentence and bringing up their troubled childhood... etc.

If they committed a horrible offense, execute them.

If it is a circumstantial case and a lot of evidence and testimony has to be used to point at one person. Life sentence. There is too much room for error in those cases and people have been proven innocent years later and released.

I am for it but only in the no brainer cases where they are actually caught red handed or turn themselves in or caught on video... etc.

[abc3643]

I support the Megadeth Penalty!

https://www.youtube.com/embed/rdEupVsL07Ehttps://www.youtube.com/embed/2ZqYtb94GqU

[BCRanger10]

Having to listen to Dave Mustaine's voice would be a pretty harsh punishment.

[BlackBeauty90]

Yes.

In fact having lost family members & friends to such people I've always felt that the death penalty should also be applied to habitual drunk or habitual intoxicated drivers. As in if you've been repeatedly charged for this crime & yet you still do it, there's no mercy. It is no secret that when impaired you are putting yourself & others at risk and my ideology is - kill someone, their family should kill you.

[lightbulb27]

I support it for people doing street racing, street takeovers and a lot of other offenses. Now required to get control of society.

I wouldn't keep it around for long... ideally, you retrain people to be loving, considerate, respectful, disciplined. That's the real solution.

[strateguy632]

in a jury system absolutely support death penalty to deter murder but only for murder. not other crimes even accomplice of mureder accessory etc.

what about theory? FRANCE ALREADY TESTED the year the death penalty got canceled the murder RATE increased , not only more total per year with population growth but rate! those french fools should immediately reinstate the deterrent.

as long as accusers must prove then the killing was done on a proven guilty.

[dynamicyandere]

I’d support it only for extreme cases.


For example, a serial rapist and murderer that everyone votes unanimously as being a danger to society.


Or perhaps a mass shooter that fired an automatic weapon into a crowd of innocent unarmed civilians.


Things along those lines where there is no hope for rehabilitation, and they’ve proven to be a very clear danger to women, children, and people in general.

[dynamicyandere]

I just don’t want to be paying federal tax dollars to keep child rapists warm, sheltered, and fed, for the entirety of their life sentence. That money should be allocated elsewhere.

[jb2622]

In a perfect world sure, but justice is not perfect, I'd be more inclined to see a life in prison where some labor was done that benefits society at least that can be undone with back pay to a degree when it comes out a mistake was made. Plus these days peaple are terrified to work probably a better deterrent.

[jahaims]

Too much nuance to it but yes. Basically if the criminal justice system was accurate and didn't have between a 5% to 8% false incarnation rate I would. Like if mind reading was a thing. I am not morally apposed to killing given the correct circumstances.

[Anonymous]

Ted Bundy more than fucking deserved it. But at the same time, it can be a difficult one, not all people are truly guilty, meaning they don't deserve to die. These things are difficult, which could possibly mean that I don't agree with the death penalty...

[DextroShade]

Yes and it should be expanded to include crimes like child molestation, sex trafficking, and child genital mutilation aka "gender-affirming care". It should also be expedited with no mandatory appeals and pointless delays. We should do it like the Japanese where the condemned don't know the execution date.

[dolemite58]

yes but i think it should be reserved for the most heinous of murders and rapists. There could be someone on death row for a crime that they actually didn’t do. Then there’s guys like ted bundy or john wayne gacy that committed heinous murders numerous times and there’s no question of if they’re guilty or not.

[Anonymous]

I personally think life in prison without parole is worse than death. Imagine spending 12 hours a day or more locked up in a cage everyday for the rest of your life. Not fun

[Opinion Owner]

Actually I just googled it. In the USA
23 hours in their cells on weekdays, and in many, 24 hours in their cells on weekends.

[Siri137]

No, I don't, and simply because the risk of executing someone who is actually innocent is way too high. Better to allow a murderer to sit in prison than take the chance you may end up ending someone's life who didn't deserve to die.

[ObscuredBeyond]

Anyone who would bomb a crisis pregnancy center to promote abortion deserves to suffer when they're executed, the same as the unborn suffer during abortions. No anesthetic at all! Made to feel everything!

[AviatorTom]

I think executions should be in public, televised and streamed live over the Internet. If we as a society can't do that, then maybe we should rethink the death penalty.

[LaFemmeFatale_1]

No… I don’t and would never support death penalty.

[jshm2]

Depends on the crime.

But the main problem with death is that there is no way to bring back the person if there is a miscarriage of justice.