We have faith in our system. No, life in prison is not adequate for the types of crimes that warrent the death penalty. We are not talking about the type of crime where someone merely shoots another in a fit of passion. We are talking about people who hack someone to death with an axe. No, life in prison is NOT adequate. Perhaps you haven't seen our prisons. Private cells, telephone, TV, computer access, better food than many of us have, rent furnished, no worry about keeping a job. Sorry, that doesn't cut it.
People have to know that there are consequences for their actions. Everyone here in the states knows that the consequences are death. It's their own choice.
You see, we believe in individual responsibility. There are many freedoms here, we expect people to deal well with those freedoms and the opportunities that are the birthright of all Americans. A recent study has come out that says that even our poorest citizens live better then the middleclass in Sweden. What excuse is there for failure to obey the simple law that says "Don't KILL"?
You can not be paralyzed by fear that you will make a mistake. You have to enforce the laws as best you can. We have a lengthy proceedure to assure that an innocent man is not executed. As to DNA, the prosecutor, the defense, and usually a third party conducts the tests. If these tests do not match, then there is "reasonable doubt", nobody can be executed when there is reasonable doubt.
There was recently a man who raped and killed his daughter who claimed innocence. His execution was stayed because there was reasonable doubt. DNA samples were taken and when they came back it was found that the skin beneath the nails of the child was her fathers, and the semen was his as well. He was executed. He was executed, he should have been. Can you think of any crime as heineous as raping and killing your own child? How long do you think this man would have lived in prison? Instead of being left to the mercy of his fellow inmates, he was gently put to sleep.
We do not hang people, nor pump their bodies full of electricity, we show them much more kindness then they showed to their victems. It is not an easy thing, and it's something that we do not relish, but it is a duty that we owe to each other as human beings to make sure that those among us who are unable to follow the simple rules are taken care of in a way that will leave the rest of us as safe as is possible.
There is no evidence that the death penalty has any more deterrent value than life in prison with no possibility of parole. The death penalty was revoked in Britain over 30 years ago and the murder rate has gone up and down within the same range that it did during the time we had capital punishment.
If the death penalty is about deterrence then why does the US execute people who have been shown to be mentally ill? Obviously, they would not have been deterred by the death penalty.
There was recently a man who raped and killed his daughter who claimed innocence... Can you think of any crime as heineous as raping and killing your own child?
No, I can not. Anyone who could do that obviously isn't in a rational state of mind to begin with. Therefore, I doubt that they even considered the punishment should they be caught. Also many of the people who commit terrible crimes like this and the mass-murderers: Ryan and Hamilton, committed suicide afterwards. Thus they would not have been detered by the death penalty anyway.
The use of the death penalty in America is about revenge, not deterrence. Personally, If I had committed a capital offence I would prefer to die painlessly and quickly rather than spend 40 years in prison living with what I had done. Perhaps, American prisons are better than British prisons, but they are still full of extremely unpleasant individuals, so I'd rather not spend 40 years in one. Why do you think so many people are willing to do suicide bombings - because they will not have to live with the consequences.
The problem is that innocent people have been executed in the USA and will continue to be executed. The money that is saved by the US government by executing people is at the expense of the lives of innocent people - what could be more immoral than that?
He keeps trying to switch the argument to the state of Russian prisons. As far as I can tell, he was well trained...or under the misguided opinion that we on FR, the dark primitives only need to be presented by these "enlightened" arguments and will quickly see the "light" and head on over. He's used a lot of hysterical emotions rather then numbers, which when I brought them up (like the fact that the error rate on executions is less then 1% over a 27 year period), he quickly resorts back to emotions. What can I say?