The Death Penalty

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  • debate won by the guy that says; "duh it's common sense!"

    this place is an intellectual wasteland.
    Everything not forbidden is compulsory and eveything not compulsory is forbidden. You are free... free to do what the government says you can do.
  • catefrancescatefrances Posts: 29,003
    my argument against the death penalty has nothing to do with possibly executing innocent victims (although that is obviously a concern).

    Man has no business playing God. It is that simple.


    Man plays God every single day. its a by product of our intelligence. and we use science to do it..
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  • my argument against the death penalty has nothing to do with possibly executing innocent victims (although that is obviously a concern).

    Man has no business playing God. It is that simple.


    Man plays God every single day. its a by product of our intelligence. and we use science to do it..


    Man plays God when he murders an innocent victim! Or when he rapes a 14 year old girl and then decides to kill her mom cause her mom came home! That is a man taking away the innocence of a girl, and killing another innocent victim! That man plays God first! EYE FOR AN EYE!
    Theres no time like the present

    A man that stands for nothing....will fall for anything!

    All people need to do more on every level!
  • my argument against the death penalty has nothing to do with possibly executing innocent victims (although that is obviously a concern).

    Man has no business playing God. It is that simple.


    Man plays God every single day. its a by product of our intelligence. and we use science to do it..

    First of all, we are NOT all that intelligent. Just because we have language, the time-binding semantic circuit, and opposable thumbs.... that doesn't rationalize our governments murdering citizens.

    Secondly, your statement is an oxymoron, because truly intelligent species would not go around killing each other as a form of punishment.
    Everything not forbidden is compulsory and eveything not compulsory is forbidden. You are free... free to do what the government says you can do.
  • Byrnzie wrote:
    its nice to know that you love facts....first of all you cannot compare state to state and take those numbers as your only source of result! States with big cities....are different than states without cities! You cannot compare it that way.....Its common sense.....lets see if you can think about this....ready? Many more people would turn evil and up their crimes or rape and murder and armed robbery....if there were NO Capital Punishment! You cannot measure it! Its common sense! You were never disciplined when you were young? This is a form of fear discipline for the weak evil minds out there! For 1/3 of most poor people....prison is better than the poor life they live.....if there was no capital punishment......might as well get a good rape and murder in....so you can go live for free for the rest of your life! For people who are evil.....this rule is a detterent!
    There is no scientific evidence for this...you make me laugh! ITS COMMON SENSE!
    Thats like saying speed limit signs dont limit peoples driving speeds!
    Thats like saying that any form of discipline...doesnt work!
    Its all common sense and necessary!

    States such as idaho, north dakota, nebraska, and many others....cannot be compared to states such as New York, California, Texas, etc. just not the same! ALSO>>>>Cannot compare USA to any other country! Its just not the same! There are many variables in the USA that dont exist anywhere else! HEY At least we arent like China and going out and secretly killing people ......thats what they do! They kill 5000+ per year....we kill about 45!
    Again....i will rule over 310 million people by killing only 45 each year....anyday! Thats totally worth it!


    Interesting response. Can you please now tell us which states in the U.S have no cities? Thanks.


    The death penalty does not work as a deterrent and it never did.

    http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/facts-a ... th-penalty
    March 18, 2011

    Criminologists' Views on Deterrence and the Death Penalty


    A recent survey of the most leading criminologists in the country from found that the overwhelming majority did not believe that the death penalty is a proven deterrent to homicide. Eighty-eight percent of the country’s top criminologists do not believe the death penalty acts as a deterrent to homicide, according to a new study published in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology and authored by Professor Michael Radelet, Chair of the Department of Sociology at the University of Colorado-Boulder, and Traci Lacock, also at Boulder.

    http://deathpenaltycurriculum.org/stude ... ment1b.htm
    '...some criminologists, such as William Bowers of Northeastern University, maintain that the death penalty has the opposite effect: that is, society is brutalized by the use of the death penalty, and this increases the likelihood of more murder. Even most supporters of the death penalty now place little or no weight on deterrence as a serious justification for its continued use.

    States in the United States that do not employ the death penalty generally have lower murder rates than states that do. The same is true when the U.S. is compared to countries similar to it. The U.S., with the death penalty, has a higher murder rate than the countries of Europe or Canada, which do not use the death penalty.

    The death penalty is not a deterrent because most people who commit murders either do not expect to be caught or do not carefully weigh the differences between a possible execution and life in prison before they act. Frequently, murders are committed in moments of passion or anger, or by criminals who are substance abusers and acted impulsively. As someone who presided over many of Texas's executions, former Texas Attorney General Jim Mattox has remarked, "It is my own experience that those executed in Texas were not deterred by the existence of the death penalty law. I think in most cases you'll find that the murder was committed under severe drug and alcohol abuse."

    There is no conclusive proof that the death penalty acts as a better deterrent than the threat of life imprisonment. A survey of the former and present presidents of the country's top academic criminological societies found that 84% of these experts rejected the notion that research had demonstrated any deterrent effect from the death penalty .
    Theres no time like the present

    A man that stands for nothing....will fall for anything!

    All people need to do more on every level!
  • ByrnzieByrnzie Posts: 21,037
    States such as idaho, north dakota, nebraska, and many others....cannot be compared to states such as New York, California, Texas, etc. just not the same! ALSO>>>>Cannot compare USA to any other country! Its just not the same! There are many variables in the USA that dont exist anywhere else! HEY At least we arent like China and going out and secretly killing people ......thats what they do! They kill 5000+ per year....we kill about 45!
    Again....i will rule over 310 million people by killing only 45 each year....anyday! Thats totally worth it!I

    Who's comparing New York state to Idaho? You are. You're cherry picking. Why not compare Wyoming (death penalty)to Illinois (no death penalty)? Or Montana (death penalty) to New Jersey (No death penalty)?

    88% of the country’s top criminologists do not believe the death penalty acts as a deterrent. What's your view on that?
  • catefrancescatefrances Posts: 29,003
    my argument against the death penalty has nothing to do with possibly executing innocent victims (although that is obviously a concern).

    Man has no business playing God. It is that simple.


    Man plays God every single day. its a by product of our intelligence. and we use science to do it..


    Man plays God when he murders an innocent victim! Or when he rapes a 14 year old girl and then decides to kill her mom cause her mom came home! That is a man taking away the innocence of a girl, and killing another innocent victim! That man plays God first! EYE FOR AN EYE!


    disagree.

    do you think the capacity to kill isnt innate in all mankind? do you somehow think its not a part of our makeup? i do not see killing as playing God. i do however see revenge as playing God. who we, as a society choose to kill, and in fact that we choose to kill under the guise of justice, says a lot about us as a supposed civilised society. the fact that we choose to kill as some sort of perverse justice IS imo playing God. when we say killing is wrong and then kill a killer.. what is that? do not think for one second that i am of the opinion that murder is ok and that all murderes should be given a walk. i do not. they should be deprived of their liberty for deproving someone else of theirs. but i do not support capital punishment, which no matter which way you cut it, IS murder, for ANY reason.
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  • catefrancescatefrances Posts: 29,003
    my argument against the death penalty has nothing to do with possibly executing innocent victims (although that is obviously a concern).

    Man has no business playing God. It is that simple.


    Man plays God every single day. its a by product of our intelligence. and we use science to do it..

    First of all, we are NOT all that intelligent. Just because we have language, the time-binding semantic circuit, and opposable thumbs.... that doesn't rationalize our governments murdering citizens.

    Secondly, your statement is an oxymoron, because truly intelligent species would not go around killing each other as a form of punishment.


    firstly.. we ARE intelligent. look at all weve accomplished. our advanced societies are not a measure of a non intellgent species. however there are some issues where we tend to go with our gut, our instinct if you prefer. you hurt me, i hurt you back. you kill one of mine, i kill one of yours. thats old testament talk and it needs to be gotten past if we as a species expect to advance.

    and secondly, i think you missed my point. i am AGAINST capital punishment. mankind plays God every day through advancements in medical technology. we can now give the infertile, a child. we can now keep a person alive... if we were to separate them from the machines helping them breath and leave it to nature, they would die.
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  • we play God everytime we perform an abortion! I bet you are pro choice! LOL
    How can you be for aboriton and against Capital Punishment? WOW
    Theres no time like the present

    A man that stands for nothing....will fall for anything!

    All people need to do more on every level!
  • catefrancescatefrances Posts: 29,003
    we play God everytime we perform an abortion! I bet you are pro choice! LOL
    How can you be for aboriton and against Capital Punishment? WOW

    this is true.. we do play God, for want of a better term, when we perform an abortion. not a point i can dispute nor am i trying to.
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  • EZ1221CEZ1221C Posts: 2,645
    we play God everytime we perform an abortion! I bet you are pro choice! LOL
    How can you be for aboriton and against Capital Punishment? WOW
    let me ask you your question: how can you be against abortion, but for capital punishment? since both are "playing God" in your eyes, shouldn't you be against both?
    PLAY THE SOUTH
  • ByrnzieByrnzie Posts: 21,037
    we play God everytime we perform an abortion! I bet you are pro choice! LOL
    How can you be for aboriton and against Capital Punishment? WOW

    An unborn fetus isn't a human being.
  • EZ1221CEZ1221C Posts: 2,645
    we play God everytime we perform an abortion! I bet you are pro choice! LOL
    How can you be for aboriton and against Capital Punishment? WOW
    also to me at least being pro choice is more than just "playing god" it is about freedom, the very freedom the conservatives tout, the freedom of choice.
    PLAY THE SOUTH
  • catefrancescatefrances Posts: 29,003
    EZ1221C wrote:
    we play God everytime we perform an abortion! I bet you are pro choice! LOL
    How can you be for aboriton and against Capital Punishment? WOW
    also to me at least being pro choice is more than just "playing god" it is about freedom, the very freedom the conservatives tout, the freedom of choice.

    but then theyll argue that the baby didnt have a choice.
    hear my name
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  • we play God everytime we perform an abortion! I bet you are pro choice! LOL
    How can you be for aboriton and against Capital Punishment? WOW

    you're about 5 incarnations of this thread too late. go back and read a bit. this is all done and tired.
    Gimli 1993
    Fargo 2003
    Winnipeg 2005
    Winnipeg 2011
    St. Paul 2014


  • its nice to know that you love facts....first of all you cannot compare state to state and take those numbers as your only source of result! States with big cities....are different than states without cities! You cannot compare it that way.....Its common sense.....lets see if you can think about this....ready? Many more people would turn evil and up their crimes or rape and murder and armed robbery....if there were NO Capital Punishment! You cannot measure it! Its common sense! You were never disciplined when you were young? This is a form of fear discipline for the weak evil minds out there! For 1/3 of most poor people....prison is better than the poor life they live.....if there was no capital punishment......might as well get a good rape and murder in....so you can go live for free for the rest of your life! For people who are evil.....this rule is a detterent!
    There is no scientific evidence for this...you make me laugh! ITS COMMON SENSE!
    Thats like saying speed limit signs dont limit peoples driving speeds!
    Thats like saying that any form of discipline...doesnt work!
    Its all common sense and necessary!
    If you cannot prove something using stats, it isn't true. And there are some forms of discipline that DON'T work. And 1/3 of most poor people quote, can you prove that?
    Believe me, when I was growin up, I thought the worst thing you could turn out to be was normal, So I say freaks in the most complementary way. Here's a song by a fellow freak - E.V
  • pandorapandora Posts: 21,855
    I don't think the death penalty is a deterrent at all...
    taking a life makes no sense to me be that by a murderer or the state.

    NO killing is common sense.
    Try explaining capital punishment to a child. They have great innocent simple common sense.
    Tell the child when a person kills that is wrong but the punishment is to be killed.
    That makes no sense.
    Two wrongs never make a right ...just two wrongs.

    I also beg to differ that prison would ever be desired over freedom, no matter how poor one is.
    Freedom is a basic human need.
  • pandora wrote:
    I also beg to differ that prison would ever be desired over freedom, no matter how poor one is.
    Freedom is a basic human need.

    actually, in colder climates such as where I live, sometimes homeless people commit petty crimes to get thrown in jail for the night or two, get a solid meal and a warm sleep.

    but no, you're right, no one's going to commit murder so they can have something to eat for 25 years. at least, I've never heard of any cases like that.
    Gimli 1993
    Fargo 2003
    Winnipeg 2005
    Winnipeg 2011
    St. Paul 2014
  • pjhawkspjhawks Posts: 12,566
    Life in prison is also a punishment. Executions are nothing more than vengeance. Honestly, I think that's why there are many people who really don't care if the evidence used to secure a conviction is even close to going beyond a reasonable doubt. The blood lust of the masses needs to be satisfied.

    yes it is but some cases call for an execution while some call for life in prisonment. not all cases call for either. i think anyone could make the argument that the death pentaly is used waytoo often, but i don't believe in saying it never should be or could be used. in some cases death is absolutely just and justice. and if you believe in heavan and hell well some people just deserve to go directly to hell and this world is better off the sooner some of those go. that's just my opinion.
  • pjhawks wrote:
    yes it is but some cases call for an execution while some call for life in prisonment. not all cases call for either. i think anyone could make the argument that the death pentaly is used waytoo often, but i don't believe in saying it never should be or could be used. in some cases death is absolutely just and justice. and if you believe in heavan and hell well some people just deserve to go directly to hell and this world is better off the sooner some of those go. that's just my opinion.

    if the christian god is all forgiving of all those that repent/believe, then this guy just got a fast track to heaven. way to "punish" him, America.

    please explain to me how killing someone is more just than locking them up and throwing away the key? how is the world better off? none of us on the outside of those prison walls would know any different, would we?
    Gimli 1993
    Fargo 2003
    Winnipeg 2005
    Winnipeg 2011
    St. Paul 2014
  • Godfather.Godfather. Posts: 12,504
    pandora wrote:
    I also beg to differ that prison would ever be desired over freedom, no matter how poor one is.
    Freedom is a basic human need.

    actually, in colder climates such as where I live, sometimes homeless people commit petty crimes to get thrown in jail for the night or two, get a solid meal and a warm sleep.

    but no, you're right, no one's going to commit murder so they can have something to eat for 25 years. at least, I've never heard of any cases like that.

    I have seen guy's in jail that got busted purpesly to get out of the rain and have a meal...no shit I'm not kidding one time it was like "old home week" in county lock up and they were talking about what they did to get in jail most got busted for urinating in public some for stealing from the liquor stores.

    Godfather.
  • pandorapandora Posts: 21,855
    we play God everytime we perform an abortion! I bet you are pro choice! LOL
    How can you be for aboriton and against Capital Punishment? WOW
    I am and see why you don't understand how I can be and of course you will not agree with me.
    but...

    Pro choice is just that ... the right to choose. Woman were given this choice not as a right to kill
    but as the right to choose and be safe.
    The right was given and should not be taken away now,
    can not be taken away.

    It is necessary for protecting women.

    But it is a choice and much can be done, is being done, to help women choose life
    when this is a possibility for them

    Capital punishment is killing someone who has killed. It is not what a civilized country
    should do, it does not deter anyone from killing, innocent people end up dead,
    and above all else the guilty can and do change in prison. They interact with people everyday...
    some negative some positive but it is through interaction that humans learn on their paths.
    To execute, Lord I despise that word, stops the chance for someone to walk their path and the
    opportunity to become a better person on it.
  • pjhawkspjhawks Posts: 12,566
    pjhawks wrote:
    yes it is but some cases call for an execution while some call for life in prisonment. not all cases call for either. i think anyone could make the argument that the death pentaly is used waytoo often, but i don't believe in saying it never should be or could be used. in some cases death is absolutely just and justice. and if you believe in heavan and hell well some people just deserve to go directly to hell and this world is better off the sooner some of those go. that's just my opinion.

    if the christian god is all forgiving of all those that repent/believe, then this guy just got a fast track to heaven. way to "punish" him, America.

    please explain to me how killing someone is more just than locking them up and throwing away the key? how is the world better off? none of us on the outside of those prison walls would know any different, would we?

    simple it rids the world of evil. should this evil person be allowed to interact with others giving them a possible chance of killing again? a few give up that right. i'm not saying all cases but some just do.

    and being against it for some religious belief well that is not a thought out logical argument in my opinion.
  • pandorapandora Posts: 21,855
    I believe in evil but not everyone who kills is evil. I agree with some crimes,
    its perhaps obvious they were committed for the joy of killing alone,
    which one could reason as evil. There is a strong power there.

    But for me, then I find out that this person,
    long before conscious thought was horribly mistreated.
    Beyond understanding,
    this twisted the mind as the torment continued until they were free on their own.
    Then with each kill the hate is released. The pay back for the pain, the pay back to society.

    Because we can not know, even in heinous acts, if evil is present
    we can not use it to condone killing. And also the issue of mental illness comes into play.

    I just don't see where it is ever right to take a life unless it is to preserve your own or another.
  • pjhawkspjhawks Posts: 12,566
    pandora wrote:
    I just don't see where it is ever right to take a life unless it is to preserve your own or another.

    well an executed prisoner will never take another life so it is doing some preservation.
  • pandorapandora Posts: 21,855
    pjhawks wrote:
    pandora wrote:
    I just don't see where it is ever right to take a life unless it is to preserve your own or another.

    well an executed prisoner will never take another life so it is doing some preservation.
    what if he was innocent though ... this the real threat to society.
    I personally want no part of that. One innocent executed shows, to me, the practice fails.
    And was perhaps a message straight from God, one we have not learned yet....
    Don't kill each other.
  • pjhawkspjhawks Posts: 12,566
    pandora wrote:
    pjhawks wrote:
    pandora wrote:
    I just don't see where it is ever right to take a life unless it is to preserve your own or another.

    well an executed prisoner will never take another life so it is doing some preservation.
    what if he was innocent though ... this the real threat to society.
    I personally want no part of that. One innocent executed shows, to me, the practice fails.
    And was perhaps a message straight from God, one we have not learned yet....
    Don't kill each other.

    agree on the innocent men but my belief is there should be 100% certainty of guilt before an execution. to me the issue is not that we do it, but that we do it way too often. as i said i think some cases call for it but would also agree that in most cases it is not called for. saying fully 100% yes or no either way for or against it to me is too strident either way.
  • pandorapandora Posts: 21,855
    pjhawks wrote:
    pandora wrote:
    what if he was innocent though ... this the real threat to society.
    I personally want no part of that. One innocent executed shows, to me, the practice fails.
    And was perhaps a message straight from God, one we have not learned yet....
    Don't kill each other.

    agree on the innocent men but my belief is there should be 100% certainty of guilt before an execution. to me the issue is not that we do it, but that we do it way too often. as i said i think some cases call for it but would also agree that in most cases it is not called for. saying fully 100% yes or no either way for or against it to me is too strident either way.
    I understand your point.

    Law though is so black and white sometimes to the point of ridiculous
    and without common sense.

    And who would ever determine who should die for what crimes?
    How can treason or shooting a peace officer be any worse
    than rape and murder of a young mother in front of her child.

    And what about mistakes we can not ever guarantee they will not be made.

    I will always return to the fact it is all killing, all wrong, even when done by the state.
  • pjhawks wrote:
    and being against it for some religious belief well that is not a thought out logical argument in my opinion.

    HAHA. I think you misunderstood my point.
    Gimli 1993
    Fargo 2003
    Winnipeg 2005
    Winnipeg 2011
    St. Paul 2014
  • He was 14 yrs. 6mos. and 5 days old --- and the youngest person executed in the United States in the 20th Century
    George Junius Stinney, Jr.,

    [b. 1929 - d. 1944]

    In a South Carolina prison sixty-six years ago, guards walked a 14-year-old boy, bible tucked under his arm, to the electric chair. At 5' 1" and 95 pounds, the straps didn’t fit, and an electrode was too big for his leg.

    The switch was pulled and the adult sized death mask fell from George Stinney’s face. Tears streamed from his eyes. Witnesses recoiled in horror as they watched the youngest person executed in the United States in the past century die.


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    Everything not forbidden is compulsory and eveything not compulsory is forbidden. You are free... free to do what the government says you can do.
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