The death penalty. Capital punishment. Today abolished in most European nations and practiced almost everywhere else, in the forms of the electric chair, lethal injection, the gas chamber, hanging, stoning, beheading, and firing squad. There may be more forms today, although I'm not currently aware of them, at least not if they are legal and practiced by government organisations.

Even today, there is a major controversy over the issue.

Supporters often say that the death penalty is just retribution for crimes committed by the executed, that it protects society, etc. Opponents may contend that the death penalty is unjust, uncessary, and barbarian.

So...what is your take? Do you support the death penalty? If so, in what cases/circumstances? Why? If not, then why would you not execute someone, say a mass murderer? If your argument for your side/beliefs includes religious beliefs, feel free to state that. I happen to be religious too.

Whichever is your view, please be respectful of other views, and also, please type a literate, appropriately capitalized and punctuated response. Without correct grammar, your posts (and therefore also your arguments) are significantly harder to read, and therefore to understand. Please don't attack others, especially those who disagree with your beliefs on this issue, or your religious/political views in general. It's rather mean and rude when that happens.

So....yea or nay for the death penalty? And, since this is a psychological experiment (I study psychology), please include your gender, area of the world (if uncomfortable providing country), and religion (atheism counts).




Now that you want to know what I think, I vehemently oppose the death penalty in any form for any offender (including people like Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein). I have mostly religious reasons for this, in that (being Christian) God alone is Judge of all mankind, and we are all equally sinful and wrongdoing, so who are we to judge one another? Then, as a secular reason, what if the person were to be proved innocent after execution? And isn't executing someone overkill, when you can just as easily protect society by imprisoning them? Not that I support mass imprisonment, mind you. I am a female from America.

I'm divided on this topic. On the one hand, I do believe that those who take the lives of others should lose theirs. But on the other hand, humanity should not have the final rule. I am a Christian also, and believe that God will take care of them. I think that all murderers and anyone else who gets the death penalty should be forced to rot in a prison cell with four walls of stone for 24 hours a day, no yard time.

However, I do believe that Adolph Hitler and Saddam Hussein deserved the death penalty (though Hitler killed himself.) They were sick bastards. Anyway, that's my opinion.

Female, Texas, United States, and Christian.

A lot of people's first objection to the death penalty is that 'What if they didn't do it?" That's cops/investigator/prosecution's fault but imagine putting a young person into jail or the penitentiary for the first time along with mass murderers and rapists who haven't been executed. We have all heard of what happens when the small and weak are preyed upon.

That poor kid is one day going to be released. People make mistakes and I don't think he/she should be punished like that for his mistake. I believe in the death penalty because there are people that are beyond help. Our prisons are over crowded as it is and there are thousands of other people's lives at stake: Officers and other inmates.

If it is proven without a doubt such as two or more witnesses to the crime, I believe that the threat should be terminated.

For large figures such as Adolf Hitler and Saddam Hussein yes because personally they were large political figures to their people, even though death only brought most of them glory in their home-land, if they somewhat were able to escape or be let free that would be a very touchy subject as well a dangerous one. Though in general someone like that even capturing could be dangerous even though it happens but all-in-all I find death to be nothing more than a simple escape. What is more open? Getting killed or being sent to prison the rest of your life? Personally I would want death, you wouldn't be happy in prison and I believing in God find myself in paradise one day so I believe prison is no more than a fluke. Rapist, and other such acts need to go to prison forever and never get out, no death, just being locked up. On the other hand prisons are overflowing, if we don't kill the hardened criminals less room will be made and take in note if their was a prison riot or breakout and how bad that would inflict us? I have different views of this but seeing our justice system, to hell, if they are proved to guilty by a jury or their peers then if you shed mans blood yours should also be shed. If it was an accident, maybe not, in a car accident and you kill someone, no. But if I'm walking into someones house with a gun and kill them purposely you don't deserve to be in society or prison. On the other hand, self-defense would be another exception. Serial killers deserve to die even though it is an escape I believe God can take care of them because that is out of our hands. So I find the Death Penalty a good thing in the sense that it is in no way abused at all.

You have to admit, though, that the death penalty is a humongous waste of money. We take forever to kill someone, which costs millions of taxpayer's money. Can't be abused, Proclaimer? What if we kill innocent people? Is that not abuse in its worst form? Yes, there are varying degrees of crimes, but I don't believe you should get a life sentence for rape. For one, who says you can't reform? Yes, prison seems to not help, but it actually does. Unless its murder, I do not even consider the death penalty. If it's murder, I chuck it out unless its mass murder.

Well, actually, the Death penalty wouldn't make that much of a difference in terms of the amount of Prisoners. There aren't enough people killed by it to warrant using it as an excuse to cut down the prison population. If a couple dozen people get out of prison, it's not going to do much compared to the thousands aready in it.

This may sound radical, but watering down, taxing, then legalizing marujauna only in specific outlets, along with freeing the less, shall we say, prolific abusers would help reduce the prison population much more significantly, along with supply the government with a hefty sum. Now, even I, a somewhat more extreme social liberal, have some doubts that this would be a good idea. But it would free more people and help not only reduce, but very possibly get rid of prison debt. In addition, it might but a dent, however small, in the underground drug market, which would be much more significant than a lot of our actions in the so-called war on drugs.

I don't want to derail this topic, but I felt that it was necesary to point out that their are more effective ways of fixing some of these problems than the death penalty.

For me it really depends on the crime.
I read about someone who raped/killed two kids under ten so yes I do believe he got his rightful place in the death penalty although I am Christian and believe that it is God's choice to when a life should end.

I'm split on the topic although I kind of side with a life for a life most of the time.

Sirius Baren wrote:I think Hitler should've lived with his mistake

What if he isn't repentant and instead doesn't see the wrong in what he did? There are rumors that Hitler even killed people in his family that were of Jewish blood. We've seen pictures of children, mothers and fathers all killed. He order that babies were held by mothers and shot, sometimes even thrown in the air and shot with machine guns as target practice. Do you think him spending a little time behind bars, which he has done before, would cause some sort of epiphany in this man? If my knowledge serves me correctly, I do believe he wrote a lot of his racist and evil ideas down when he was imprisoned in a wonderful book called the Third Reich.

In a case where it is proven, they should suffer death. Even Kings in the bible ruled over their people and set out laws. Of course, they did it with God's will in mind. Living in the United States, a lot of our laws are based on predictions from the Bible. Even our slavery laws were based on them! Did you know penitentiaries were created so that criminals would repent but that is not always the case. Hitler could instead organize the racist that reside in the jails and become a safety hazard.

But that is inhumane and border lining torture. You have to remember these people still have families. At least with them dead, they or no one else will suffer.

AliceInWonderland wrote:But that is inhumane and border lining torture. You have to remember these people still have families. At least with them dead, they or no one else will suffer.

Wait, if they're killed, wouldn't their families suffer even more? Knowing that there's not even a hope that they'll see their mom/dad again? Having that hope is a lot more consoling than not having it.

Also, you guys are failing to take into account the fact that humans have a survival instinct. Sure, some people do kill themselves, but many, many more people live in much more difficult situations. If the prisoners wanted to die, they would have attempted to kill themselves already. You can say that if you were in their position, you'd prefer to die, but just saying it doesn't mean squat, you actually have to have that happen to you.

Male, Alabama, agnostic

First off, I'm rather bemused by all the people who are apparently against the death penalty because they're Christian. Old Testament rulers all practiced execution, and were portrayed as the good guys who were enforcing God's laws. Even when Jesus was set to be executed, he did not argue that the government had no right to do so; he argued that he had not commited the crime he was accused of, but he made no point that the crime didn't warrent such punishment.

But anyway, as stated above, I'm agnostic, so that makes little difference to me.

I believe that a punishment should be proportional to the crime in question. Murder in the first degree, and crimes of a similarly heinous nature, are vile enough to exceed the amount of punishment provided by prison. Even more so here in America, where we have the most overcrowded and inneficient prison system in the world, with each prisoner costing thousands of tax dollars to keep around. Personally, I don't like my money as a citizen going to fund lodging for murderers and rapists.

And those who have commited the most heinous crimes of all--war crimes, genocide, and the like--often can't be effectively imprisoned. People like, say, Sadaam Hussein, are too influencial for that--they have friends, followers, people who would secure their escape or at least make their imprisonment far less painful than it should be.

On the point many are making that "what if an innocent gets convicted by mistake?"--That's what we have detectives and courts for in the first place! To make sure that doesn't happen! Sure, sometimes mistakes are made. But so far as I can tell, that is exceedingly rare (and unfortunately those cases were a court does make a wrong decision, such as the case of O.J. Simpson, tend to get much more well-reported by sensationalist media.) If it happens, it is a problem with the court and the police departments, not with the concept of capital punishment itself.

Im agianst the Death Penalty Not because im Christan. Im agianst it for the following reasons

1. The Court System we have today as well much of the goverment itself is corrupt and becoming poisned slowly. A blind person could see that are current system and the people that are running it are apparently not capable of running it because of the vast mistakes they have made and continue to make, and thats not the worst of it. The worst part is, the refuse to learn from the mistakes, but the constantly keep making the mistakes despite what has happened.


2. If a person commits a crime, a large federal offense, something so terrible they should be killed and get the Death Penalty, I think everyone on this planet despite what anyone says deserves annother chance, everyone or mostly everyone has the ability to get the help they need to get them back on the right track.

I am against the Death Penalty, but not for obvious reasons.

I believe that dying is the easy way out. If I was faced with the option of dying or spending the rest of my life in an isolated cell, I would much rather die. And what's more, there could be uses for the people on death row.

Medical testing. If they die, they die, but at least they served some kind of purpose. They gave back to society.

Kansas,U.S.A,Earth, Milky Way. Male; Agnostic.

I'm for the death penalty, but only for people who murdered or repeated crimes after they were released or repeated same crimes over and over before caught. If they took a life or were given another chance, their live deserves to be taken from them. Make them pay for what they did. LA, that medical testing would be another option, but what if the criminals banded together and killed the scientists, just like the movies. And Rion yes, the Law system is corrupted and slowly starting to crumble from within. I would also consider torture to criminals. Well major offenses anyway.

The Fire that Darkens from Within. -Blackfire

blackfire825 wrote:Kansas,U.S.A,Earth, Milky Way. Male; Agnostic.

I'm for the death penalty, but only for people who murdered or repeated crimes after they were released or repeated same crimes over and over before caught. If they took a life or were given another chance, their live deserves to be taken from them. Make them pay for what they did. LA, that medical testing would be another option, but what if the criminals banded together and killed the scientists, just like the movies. And Rion yes, the Law system is corrupted and slowly starting to crumble from within. I would also consider torture to criminals. Well major offenses anyway.

The Fire that Darkens from Within. -Blackfire

That is a valid argument, but it's not like they would just be chilling with the scientists unwatched. There would be guards with guns, etc.

Well still, if they were all in a big room, they could still get out. I mean like 10-30 prisoner against like 5-15 guards and defenseless scientists. But what if for some unknown reason they're weren't guards they could easily break out.

Sounds like an interesting idea for a roleplay.

Treali Storm wrote:Sounds like an interesting idea for a roleplay.

Indeed it does. Funny how these things work out.

I'm already running a roleplay and am working on building another one already, so my hands are full. Anyone ready to volunteer to host this?