America has a cultural divide on death penalty
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22 Comments
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0
Yelnats
The Chinese execute too as well as the Japanese, but you never see them criticizing us for doing so. Human rights? We dare to pick on them? Wrong
0
goodDonkey
Revenge is not good for society. The death penalty is all about revenge and does not pertain to justice.
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Thenewfront
The death penalty is state sanctioned murder. All countries that practise such outdated practises should face trade snactions from the civilised nations.
0
donkusai
Strange how in the US, some (particularly parts of the south) seem to be paranoid about the government having too much power, yet they not only freely give the government the power of life and death, but will kick and scream if anyone suggests taking it away. What a strange little country...
0
likeitis
Wow! Four great comments in a row! My guess is that, as America is now waking up (literaly, not figuratively) that the kicking and screaming donkusai mentioned will commense soon.
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rollonarte
LOL. All the faux outrage from non-Americans
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bebert
Improvements in forensic science mean there is very little chance for the execution of the innocent. As for the expense, legal loopholes could be trimmed and executions could be raffled off on E-Bay for a profit. The United States doesn't execute nearly enough of the losers who have preyed upon society. Considering the density of the prison population and the high murder and rape rates, the U.S. should have an execution rate at least as high as China's. It wouldn't be a bad idea to expand the death penalty to economic mega criminals like Bernie Madoff either. As a deterrent, of course.
0
Wolfpack
The death penalty is necessary if you are interested in justice for the crime of premeditated murder. Anything short of the death penalty for murder - the only punishment possible that is commensurate to the crime - logically implies the lack of justice. A life sentence for murder isn't anything close to justice. This issue has nothing to do with rehabilitation. By the way, Texas is the home state of former Democrat President Lyndon Johnson.
The regional "diversity" mentioned in the article is what America is all about. Here we go again - Liberals that say they are for diversity but against diversity that they disagree with. It's too bad that they are just as upset about the shariah sanctioned murder on the part of Muslims.
0
Molenir
Bebert - Good Post. You hear about people saying how the state should never execute people. How the EU is so much more enlightened and civilized. But to put it simply, there is no better place to commit pre-meditated murder then the EU. Where a life sentence is no more then 30 years (20 with good behavior),and they don't bother with the death penalty.
On a separate note, what the author of the article suggests, that Obama could appoint judges who wouldn't impose the death penalty. This is, quite frankly, nonsense. It is the states who sentence people to death. While the Federal government can and occasionally does impose the death penalty, it is so rare as to be not even worth discussing.
0
adaydream
I used to be a avid supporter of the death penalty.
After numerous cases where innocent people have been on death for several years and wound up being vindicated, I started falling away from being an avid supporter.
There was a time when being sentenced to a life sentence meant staying in prison 7 years. But since then laws have changed and sentencing guidelines have changed. Life in prison now means life in prison.
Then the cost of supporting the death penalty started getting to great.
Now I'm happy if with these guys winding up in prison for the rest of their life. If they are innocent, they don't die for something they didn't do and it doesn't cost us as much. Just how I look at it now. < :-)
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buddha4brains
My biggest problem with the death penalty is that it too often is motivated by politics, race, economics and other factors rather than by justice.
Yelnats: Unlike China, Japan, and most other nations the United States was founded on the idea of individual freedom so to execute an innocent person is a direct assault on one of the pillars of America - otherwise America is just another state.
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Thenewfront
Check out the WM3 if you want to see why America shouldn't have the death sentence, and forensics doesn'T solve all issues.
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goodDonkey
Yet somehow their murder rate is so much lower than ours. Their overall crime rate is lower than ours. Of course it is not a fair comparison because they have stricter gun laws that work to lower the murder rate.
Molenir obviously believes that a life or two aren't really that important; "not even worth discussing."
I find the lives of the victims of murder to be very significant. These conservatives will try to tell you that I am less concerned about the life of someone who was murdered. I abhor someone who is a murderer and feel sorry for the victims, their families and friends. I know that sometimes young classmates of a child murdered can be traumatized even when they did not have a close relationship with the victim. My concerned with the victim, those with relationships to the victim and society as a whole does not diminish my disgust for the death penalty. But conversely my disgust with the death penalty does not diminish my concerns for the victims.
We have now seen numerous times how victim's families are asking that the perpetrator not be sentenced to death but serve their life in prison. They are able to clearly see the barbaric nature of the death penalty and want no part of it. They care for their loved ones deeply but are intelligent enough to understand the limits of justice.
There is no way we will ever convince these knuckledraggers on this thread that they are stuck with an archaic mindset. The best we can hope for is for the old ideas to fade away with all of our deaths. Those who wish to hold onto this old ideology will certainly do their best to train their children to harbor revenge but the human spirit is hurling towards progress at an amazing speed and it cannot be stopped. The evolution of intellect will prevail but it may take more than a century still. Meanwhile the ghouls can relish in the executions.
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Molenir
See, I have the opposite opinion. With foresenics becoming better and better, the odds of wrongfully convicting someone become less and less. These animals deserve to pay with their lives, not with life.
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buddha4brains
So what you are saying is that 1 or 5 or 10 wrongful convictions is better than 20. Sad to see that you value human life so poorly.
Regardless of whether forensics is improving, it costs tax money. Since tax revenue is a limited resource it cannot be argued that advanced forensics will be applied in every case that requires it.
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frontandcentre
Is it really any surprise that the bible-thumper states are more keen on capital punishment? Not really. Ignorant, superstitious people are easy to fool and quick to support "righteous" barbarity.
Good luck to the more civilised areas of America to convince these people otherwise. There is no evidence that the death penalty has any impact on murder rates. It is merely dragging the state down to the level of the murderer
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likeitis
Besides DNA testing, what are these wonderful improvements? Some people watch CSI too much and think even the mentally retarded homeless guy gets a regular Gil Grissom working on his case, not to mention a state appointed lawyer reminiscent of Atticus Finch.
Forensics is a wonderful tool, but its no guarantee of perfection. No matter what you do, you simply cannot completely eliminate human error and incompetence from the system. And you sure cannot eliminate plain old corruption. Innocents are still going to die by the state unless the death penalty is eliminated.
0
Molenir
I fail to see how allowing murderers to live, is civilized. When someone is uncivilized, allowing them to live, and potentially murder more people is if anything, uncivilized.
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Hotbox08
Often times, those who are for the death penalty ask those who are against it to try and put themselves in the shoes of the victim's family (e.g. "What if someone you love were killed?" "Wouldn't you want your father's murderer be put to death?"). But they should also ask themselves "What if my mother, father, brother, or sister were wrongly convicted of a crime?" "Would I be supporting the death penalty so strongly?"
0
buddha4brains
Well is executing an innocent man any more civilized? You cannot say a system is just if an innocent man is executed. Or the sentence is tilted toward the death penalty because the accused is black, poor, uneducated and so on. You fail to see because you don't want to.
0
JoeBigs
Here's a question, who has the right to murder? Murder is murder be it Paul Hill and his wingnuts or a man ordered by the courts. Murder is murder no way around it.
Murder is murder no way around it.
Tell me something, what happens if an innocent gets executed? Is that ok or is that murder in the first?
It is so much easier to kill when you can say that state is responsible. If you are a party to murder then blood is also on your hands.
0
Thenewfront
Strange a country so obsessed with the myth of there being a god who has power over life and death , embrace and celebrate state murder.
Well done America, how christian and civilised.
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