Death Penalty

I'll take the honor of submitting the first divisive topic in this new era.

My views have changed over the years for several reasons, mostly faith based. But I no longer agree with the death penalty these days. My Christian view just doesn't support the eye for an eye mentality.

That said, I'm very understanding for those that hold a different view. What do you think?

I'm torn, to be honest. The board which must not be named had an opinion that God has divined the government to make these decisions in His name and His honor. I don't agree with that philosophy, especially considering we are open to critiquing the government and our leaders.

Ok, that all being said, I think it depends on the situation. For the most part, I think everyone deserves a chance to make amends and change their lives. On the contrary, we have people blowing themselves up based on their religion. If their ultimate goal was death of themselves, I see no harm or foul in helping them with their jihad sans innocent lives being compromised.

Fair enough my man. I've been torn on the subject for some time now...years in fact. So I deffinitely understand the validity of each argument.

I always enjoy seeing those instances where a victim's family may read a statement in the courtroom urging the judge to withdraw the death penalty. To me, it shows compassion and forgiveness to those don't necessarily deserve to be forgiven. It's those times where I love humanity.

I love seeing that too. It's an extremely hard decision to make, especially given the usual circumstances as to why they have to make it. It really takes someone special to forgive like that.

If you're the person who got murdered, you don't have a second chance to make amends so why should the person who committed the crime be given a second chance?

Murder isn't like any other crime, because you can never re pay it back like you could if you stole a bunch of money or robbed somebody. Once you kill that person, that's it for them.

I support the death penalty for a few reasons

1. You kill somebody, you should be killed for it. You robbed that person of their life so you should be robbed of yours as well

2. Cost. It's too expensive to lock somebody up for a life time and feed them.

3. Inhumane - To me locking somebody up in a concrete structure with a toilet and a bed is almost like torture. Day in and day out locked in the same building for the rest of your life. Ive always thought that locking somebody up was a form of painless torture but it's the only way we have to punish people and deter them from committing crimes. Locking somebody up for their rest of their life, it just seems like killing them is the right thing to do.

4. Where was god when that Innocent person was murdered? He wasn't there to prevent it, so he shouldn't be there when we serve up justice.

For some folk, I say throw the switch, push the plunger, drop the trapdoor. Case by case, for me.

I say it is never the right of a person or a state to take a life. I once supported the death penalty in my youth, but no longer. It is unfairly applied against minorities and there is no doubt in my mind that we have put innocent men to death. If there is ever a chance of killing 1 innocent person, I can't support ever killing any person regardless of how heinous their crimes may have been.

Here's a good article that might give you a perspective you hadn't considered:

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He15man, totally agree with you

He15man wrote:If you're the person who got murdered, you don't have a second chance to make amends so why should the person who committed the crime be given a second chance?

Murder isn't like any other crime, because you can never re pay it back like you could if you stole a bunch of money or robbed somebody. Once you kill that person, that's it for them.

I support the death penalty for a few reasons

1. You kill somebody, you should be killed for it. You robbed that person of their life so you should be robbed of yours as well

2. Cost. It's too expensive to lock somebody up for a life time and feed them.

3. Inhumane - To me locking somebody up in a concrete structure with a toilet and a bed is almost like torture. Day in and day out locked in the same building for the rest of your life. Ive always thought that locking somebody up was a form of painless torture but it's the only way we have to punish people and deter them from committing crimes. Locking somebody up for their rest of their life, it just seems like killing them is the right thing to do.

4. Where was god when that Innocent person was murdered? He wasn't there to prevent it, so he shouldn't be there when we serve up justice.

1. Why do black men face the death penalty at such a disproportionate rate? If you should get killed, why do we only kill if you are black?

2. You've actually got the cost backwards. Because of the tremendous legal fees involved in death penalty cases and the subsequent mandatory appeals, it is actually much more expensive to execute someone.

3. Life imprisonment without parole may be a tougher penalty. All the more reason to use it instead of the death penalty I think.

4. No argument from me that religion shouldn't be used against the death penalty, but it is commonly the other way around. Religious people tend to favor the death penalty.

And again - are you willing to have a death penalty if it means a certain number of innocent people will die because of it?

ufg8rjim wrote:

He15man wrote:If you're the person who got murdered, you don't have a second chance to make amends so why should the person who committed the crime be given a second chance?

Murder isn't like any other crime, because you can never re pay it back like you could if you stole a bunch of money or robbed somebody. Once you kill that person, that's it for them.

I support the death penalty for a few reasons

1. You kill somebody, you should be killed for it. You robbed that person of their life so you should be robbed of yours as well

2. Cost. It's too expensive to lock somebody up for a life time and feed them.

3. Inhumane - To me locking somebody up in a concrete structure with a toilet and a bed is almost like torture. Day in and day out locked in the same building for the rest of your life. Ive always thought that locking somebody up was a form of painless torture but it's the only way we have to punish people and deter them from committing crimes. Locking somebody up for their rest of their life, it just seems like killing them is the right thing to do.

4. Where was god when that Innocent person was murdered? He wasn't there to prevent it, so he shouldn't be there when we serve up justice.

1. Why do black men face the death penalty at such a disproportionate rate? If you should get killed, why do we only kill if you are black?

2. You've actually got the cost backwards. Because of the tremendous legal fees involved in death penalty cases and the subsequent mandatory appeals, it is actually much more expensive to execute someone.

3. Life imprisonment without parole may be a tougher penalty. All the more reason to use it instead of the death penalty I think.

4. No argument from me that religion shouldn't be used against the death penalty, but it is commonly the other way around. Religious people tend to favor the death penalty.

And again - are you willing to have a death penalty if it means a certain number of innocent people will die because of it?

I don't know about the black issue, but if I were innocent and stuck in prison for the rest of my life or being put to death, i would rather be put to death.

Why spend the rest of your life locked up in Prison?

If the wrong person is in prison when we discover our mistake, we can let them out. If we've already decided to kill them, it's sort of too late.

There's a case in Mississippi right now where the evidence supports that a black man is innocent, but the Ms courts refuse to acknowledge the evidence and still sending him to death row.

FriendlyGator wrote:There's a case in Mississippi right now where the evidence supports that a black man is innocent, but the Ms courts refuse to acknowledge the evidence and still sending him to death row.

Believe you are referring to the case of Willie Manning who was convicted of murder despite no physical evidence linking him to the crime. He has continually professed his innocence and asked for DNA testing to be done on evidence connected to the crime that was never tested. Unbelievably, the state Supreme Court actually voted against testing the evidence and gave it's approval to proceed with the execution in separate votes. Thankfully, a stay was issued last week by the court.

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