There are people other than political ‘liberals’ who are entirely against the death penalty.
I guess this is where I will part with a lot of Freepers, but I am against the death penalty.
For one thing, you can’t take it back, if you’ve made a mistake, or if some corruption of evidence was involved.(We’ve seen a number of people exonerated by DNA evidence in recent years.)
For another, a wealthy person facing a charge that might result in the death penalty, has a much better chance than a poor person, so it is not equitable.
(I know a very good black man, with a very common African American name, who was arrested for something of which he was innocent, and held in jail for a month. He was assigned a public defender, because he had no money to pay a lawyer. The lawyer did very little for him, and my friend languished there, losing work time and pay until finally they came and said, You are released. They finally figured out that they had the wrong guy. What might have happened to him, if he had been jailed for murder, when someone with the same name was the real suspect? I realize that this is only anecdotal, but we know that these things happen!)
Many years ago, I read a book that was written by a doctor who had been a medical expert/coroner at Sing Sing for a long time. I wish I could remember the title, but this man proved to me that the death penalty is NOT a deterrent. I will try to find the title of that book.
As a Christian, I also can’t buy the “eye for an eye” notion; it seems to me that one of the revolutionary aspects of Christianity over preceding history, was leaving “eye for an eye” behind. And, I believe that redemption is *possible* for anyone, even if not probable. God is the only one who knows what’s possible for any of us. A human being can redeem himself and live a spiritually productive life, even if in prison for all of his days. If he can’t - well, at least he’s in prison for all of his days.)
Sorry if this offends; but I have to stick up for what I believe. I admit that it’s very difficult to maintain this belief, when faced with mass murderers, vicious psychopaths, out-and-out traitors, etc. But my intellect, and my faith, cause me to believe that the death penalty makes no real sense, and is barbarous.
-JT
While your comments are reasonable and legitimate, they address a whole other perspective that departs from the issues at hand. Yes, the poor, mostly black end up with a far less equitable legal system than those that are better off, but you will find those who are for capital punishment and those who are against still will nevertheless end up split along the liberal-conservative point of view. Also, in these cases, those that were executed via injection never denied their guilt in the crimes.
in case you are interested...
“How the Death Penalty Saves Lives”
http://www.heritage.org/research/commentary/2014/9/how-the-death-penalty-saves-lives
A murderer may achieve redemption. He might also murder again. He might murder a guard, another prisoner, or escape and murder someone on the outside. Once he's dead, he can no longer hurt anyone else.
I could go for reserving execution for murderers who had multiple prior convictions for violent crimes. If someone had been convicted twice before for robbery, and then is convicted for capital murder and executed, then if it later turns out he was innocent of the murder, then his execution won't bother me. People with no prior criminal record can get life.
I appreciate your honest response.
I myself am against the death penalty for a similar reason; I don’t trust the government not to make a mistake. Even one innocent man executed is far too many.