Do you believe in capitol punishment, and does it really work?
442799
Texas has the highest number of death row inmates and kill more criminals per year than any other state yet they have a higher than average crime rate.  So does it work no, not really. On the other hand do I believe in it.. yes I do 100%. If you kill some one your life is no longer yours. Plus it is so much cheaper for the taxpayers. They just need to hurry up the process and let criminals have less apeals, and quit bogging down the court system on deadmen walking. Kill them already. If they were innocent they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
240893
Yes.\n\nThe death penalty is not about getting even.  It's about controlling criminal intent.  Once criminals see that you are easy on violent crime, crimes will multiply.\n\nStates that have and enforce the death penalty have far fewer violent crimes.  Criminals there are afraid of the consequences of murder.  That's good for all of us.
837329
The Death Penalty is a harsh sentence, the harshest that society can give, but I support it.\n\nIf a person killed 15 people then how can his one death pay back that crime?  Why don’t we kill him 15 times!  You can medically induce a heart attack and then bring them back with a defibrillator.  Of course this would be cruel and unusual punishment and it would be illegal according to the 5th amendment.  The Death Penalty has been challenged several times in the Supreme Court on the grounds of it being cruel and unusual punishment, it has been upheld each time.\n\nI have mixed feelings about the Death Penalty.  People claim that it isn’t a determent to crime; people still murder each other.  I also think that that it is used too often, my state is famous for it.\n\nHowever, the Death Penalty does have some advantages.  It is the ultimate determent for the murder.  John Wayne Gacy, a serial killer, will never kill anyone again.  Even if he was given a life term for each person that we know he killed, he would still be a threat to his guards and other prisoners.  What’s to stop him from committing murder in prison?  Are you going to give him another life term?  That wouldn’t be a determent.  And if he should escape then he will go back to murdering people again.  However, if the Death Penalty was a possibility then he might think twice about committing another murder.  We can’t ask him if this is so, because he is dead, and I think that is a good thing.\n\nCharles Manson is as crazy as ever.  He built a “family” and inspired them to go on a killing spree.  Charles Manson wants to do nothing more than to incite hate and violence.  To that end he has had a tattoo or brand of the Nazi symbol placed on his forehead.  If he escapes from prison there is no doubt what he will do.  He will start another “family” and send it too off on a killing spree.  Manson has even said he will do this.  If he were dead, killed by the Death Penalty, then that wouldn’t be a threat.  As it is we have to keep him locked up for the rest of his natural life.  He is a threat to his guards, other prisoners, and a continuing threat to society itself.  We can’t kill him though because he didn’t go on the killing spree himself, he only inspired it.  Meanwhile I have to spend my tax money to help support him for the rest of his natural life.\n\nThe Death Penalty has its advantages.  It is something to hold over prisoners.  If they murder another prisoner then they could have to face it.  It also prevents us from supporting a prisoner for the rest of his life.  That’s a cruel fact, but true.  It will also prevent a murderer from ever killing again.\n\nWhen the Death Penalty is applied it should be done so only as a last resort and under special circumstances.\n--  First a higher standard of guilt should be met.  The jury must be sure, beyond a SHADOW of doubt that the accused is actually guilty.  A murderer can be convicted if beyond a REASONABLE doubt the jury considers him guilty.  A higher standard should be held for the application of the death penalty.  Just how stringent that standard should be is up to the Judge’s instructions, and the jury.  Also our legal system is based on the idea that we would rather not convict 100 people, if that means convicting 1 innocent person.\n--  Second the person should be considered a continuing threat to society.  A man who finds out his wife is cheating on him and then kills her, may not be a continuing threat to society (unless he gets married again).  He may be unstable and should be sentenced to a long prison term, but I don’t think he should be subject to the Death Penalty.  The ultimate penalty should only be applied only to people who are likely to murder again; preferable only to people who have committed multiple murders and proved that they will kill again, if given the chance.\nIn some states there is another condition that can cause the Death Penalty to apply.  In New York it is call
1014529
Absolutely.  There are only certain crimes that carry the death penalty and there are a number of reviews that take place before an execution takes place.  Once the person has been found guilty and the reviews have taken place, the punishment fits the crime.
402395
In Michigan we do not have capitol punishment. We have not had it since 1842. Life in prison with out possibility of parole means just that and we do not have any more crime then Texas. In fact probably less.
452823
I want to say I believe.  As a matter of fact most of my life I was the strongest supporter of the death penalty....UNTIL\n\nUnlike some of the other people who have posted to this question....I have first hand experience to what happens when you are incarcerated.  \nThere is no internet, gym, phone time, lounge time....\nMost inmates get limited 10 minute calls once a week to people who are on their call list.....NO INTERNET......, NO GYM, lounge time is confined to your bunk....which usually doesn't even have a pillow.  Showers are with others and you crap in front of the guards.  \nOh and death row inmates or lifers get worse than that.  \nAll you have in prison is time to think.  What could be worse than your mind killing you slowly.  Every day you have to think about what you did, the people you lost and/or affected.  Day in and day out....memories, thoughts.....that is a slow horrible death.....and that is what they deserve.  Every day to live with the consequence of what they did.\nThat is MY complete torture....but I can't honestly say that if something was to happen to my children TOMORROW and they arrested the person who did it....that I wouldn't want him to die and know he was in the ground.  BUT...what I am trying to say is slow, mental death....is PURE TORTURE.\n\nJust my thoughts though.
185445
i say we put on a harsher punishment system such as singapore. its proven it works, and if you know your not sopossed to do something, it would make you think twice before doing it.
755586
No. Revenge is not what we are looking for. True justice is. I believe in very strict punishment but let the jury decide.
75457
The death penalty is not a deterrent; those who are against the death penalty claim that recent studies in the US do not support the view that capital punishment acts as a deterrent. It is also argued that anyone who would be deterred by the death penalty would already have been deterred by life in prison, and people that are not deterred by that would not be stopped by any punishment. This argument is typically supported by claims that those states that have implemented the death penalty recently have not had a reduction of violent crime. A stronger variant of this argument suggests that criminals who believe they will face the death penalty are more likely to use violence or murder to avoid capture, and that therefore the death penalty might theoretically even increase the rate of violent crime.\n\nAbove from:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_penalty\n\nI agree, especially when the time from conviction to execution takes years.
910170
No. Capital punishment is revenge not justice.\n\nIf a con doing an armed robbery is shot dead at the scene by coips then that is justice. Murdering them months or years later is not!
1148421
I don't believe in capital punishment.  I think it's a much greater punishment to let a criminal rot in hellish prisons for endless years.  It's in no way a deterent for capital crimes.
884151
If the severity of punishment were a real and viable tool, then the death penalty should have worked years ago.  The fact of that matter is, it deters no one.  People still commit murder all of the time. All you can do (after the fact) is lock them up without possibility of parole.
1167641
Given that it's sold by criminals, what do you think the chances are that it's legit and really works?
1152773
No, I do not.\n\nIf we had capitol punishment here in Britain we might already have executed a few people who were acquitted several years later.\nAlso, why is it assumed that capitol punishment is worse than life imprisonment (and I mean life). Some prisoners commit suicide in prison.\n\nAnother problem with capitol punishment is that the condemmed person's family probably suffer as much as they do.\n\nLeaving aside the religious arguament that "though shalt not kill)\nI do this, not because I do not believe in it, but because you could go on writing for ever about the morality of it.\n\nYou have to remember also, that the state is carrying out executions in cold blood. The murderer may have had some reason for doing what he did, no matter how twisted. Also, on a personal level, what does it say about the person/persons who are prepared to kill other people as part of their job, and no, it is not the same as the military doing it.\nPlease don't give me the response, "It's my duty" or, "somebody has to do it. You are operating on a personal level when you are doing a job.\n\nI find it particularly distasteful, when executions are turned into circuses, as in th US. If you have to execute people, I am sure that the state can be trusted to do the job without about two hundred and fifty Madam la Farges' looking on. At least the person should be allowed to die with some sort of dignity. Whist I am on this subject, let me also say that I am disgusted and appalled that some women seem have been directly involved in carrying out executions. Particularly because women tend to personalise things more than men. I have to wonder what their real motivation is, because it is nearly always men that are executed. Please don't give me "it's only a job" or equal opportunities stuff.\n\nFinally, I would like to set a little test for those who, from afar, think that they believe in capitol punishment.\nWould you be personally prepared to carry it out? Would you still believe in it if it was a member of your own family. Would you be prepared to carry it out yourself in those circumstances.It's easy letting someone else carry it out, particularly when you don't know the condemmed.\n\nThere aren't any good reasons for capitol punishment, except that it saves the cost of keeping the prisoner in jail.\n\nFinally, I am not a soppy liberal, I think that life should mean life.
268411
I fully support capital punishment. The only real problem with capital punishment is how long it takes from conviction and sentencing to execution. Upon conviction and imposition of the death sentence, there should be an immediate and thourough appeal review. If that review also concurrs with the conviction and sentence then sentence should be carried out expeditiously. In my opinion the time between sentence and exectution should be less than 30 days.\n\nAll punishments should be swift and sure. Then they really WILL act as deterrents. Even without the deterrent factor, removing a murderer from society will always be a wortwhile act.\n\nWhile we are at it we should return capital punishment to desertion and treason.
577993
Depends on the crime. \n\nIf a 35 year old man raped your 11 year old child, and beat her to death with a tire iron, does he deserve death or life in prison? I say death.\n\nIf an 18 year old man kills a store clerk for 20 bucks in the cash register, does he deserve death or life in prison? For that I say life in prison.\n\nI'm a US citizen and have a deep respect for Australia, I love your country, but as far as Capitol Punishment, the crime itself needs to determine the punishment. So I say, bring it back for certain crimes.
849705
For certain crimes, I believe it is beneficial.  I won't start a big rally here but if you look at countries and states that have capital punishment in place for violent crimes, their crime rates are incredibly lower than ours.  Eye for an eye......sorry.