How does capital punishment violate human rights?
545875
It's inhumane and there are too many mistakes made. Over a 100 that we know about convicted and on death row but later found to be innocent. Wasn't it Chicago that just coughed up 13 million for a wrongful conviction. And before DNA, those 100 would be laying in the ground pushing up daisies.\n\nThey are putting incompetents and people who were 16 when they committed their crime to death. They were kids. You must be from Taxes or Florida, who has had the most wrongful convictions in the US!!!
741820
The problem is our judicial system is very flawed.  There are many innocent people in jail, and guilty ones in the street.  I agree some people are given lighter sentences than what they deserve and others harsher than they deserve.  But our system is what it is, if you don't plan on getting out there and trying to make a change then there is no point in complaining about it.  I am back and forth on the issue of the death penalty,  but to answer your question, yes there should be certain criteria for sending someone to deathrow.   There should be certain regulations.  But every crime is different, and until it happens to you or someone in your family it is hard to say.  and that goes for being the defendant or the victim.  it is hard on both families.
1132314
The soldier kills because he is ordered to. that however does not ease the morality issue.\n\nMurder in self defense as well as murder for family or personal honor are not punishable in many countries. \n\nIt is a rather complicated issue that one cannot impose rules.\n\nYou are either against all sorts of killing (as you probably are) or you accept it as a fact of life.
4117
Correction, more than a hundred countries still have death penalties, some still using firing squads, public hangings, stoning and three still chop off the victim's heads.\nFor Christians the problem is one of bending "Thou shall not kill."  For others it may or may not be a moral issue.\nPersonally, I do not see any moral action in killing a human to punish him or her for killing another.
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.
824193
Most countries have the laws you mention; they will vary from one country to another. Unfortunately as in the west there are differences over what is just. For example in parts of the US it's seen as acceptable to execute teenagers with learning difficulties in other parts of the US and in Europe this is seen as barbaric.\nAnother issue is that people break the law; again this happens all over the world. \nOn top of that you have the people in control who have a vested interest in preventing change; again this applies to the the west as well as the east.
249928
Calling the punishment severe is based on modern westernized ideals.  Hanging seems a lot more humane than burying someone up to thier neck (while they are alive) and then throwing stones at thier heads until they die, or worse.  The western world's veiw of harsh punishment has nothing on the ways that Arab countried have traditionally killed thier citizens. Hanging probably seems like they are being rewarded with a quick death, so I doubt that it would effect the actions of insurgents/ terrorists.  Westerners don't have the stomach to do things that would get the bad guy's attention.
671691
it is very unfair isn't it! unfortunately this is the way there gov. is run, can you imagine the poor person being in a prison in china.although he should be punished for taking another life but only once
899735
If your homeless a night in jail is better than a night on the street. Just kidding.  But seriously, out of all the human rights injustices going on around the world, this is the one you chose to ask about?  There is genocide in the Darfur, innocent Iraqi's are getting tortured and blown away.  Honestly, call me when they start killing these people for being homeless otherwise i would say its a bad law but not a human rights violation.
1034800
Execution can be viewed as the physical manifestation of Justice carried out on those found guilty of killing.\n\nI doubt death penalty advocates are really getting off knowing that criminals are dying.  The argument that never seems to be heard is that, aside from being a (alleged) deterrent to crime, the death penalty allows Justice to be done.  When one takes another life, it isn't hypocritical to take the life of the killer-- it is Justice.  It would threaten our integrity as a Just society, a crime far worse than hypocrisy some would argue, if our society allowed one of the most heinous crimes to go (relatively) unpunished.
1060997
Convicted felons can be deprived of certain rights that otherwise are guaranteed by the constitution. This is an ancient and accepted legal tradition known as "civil death."  \n\nThis deprivation of rights is limited however to those things which are construed as being privileges of citizenship rather than fundamental human rights. Gun ownership, voting, the practice of certain professions, and holding civic office are the most prominent of such privileges.
7092
Capital punishment is not ethical and it only shows the inability of a certain governemnt to control its sitiuation!
830952
Waging war without justification.\nHolding prisoners without giving them due consideration, legal representation, or any rights.\n\n"Crimes against humanity: murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other inhumane acts committed against civilian populations, before or during the war; or persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds in execution of or in connection with any crime within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal, whether or not in violation of the domestic law of the country where perpetrated."
2165
The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. It violates the right to life. It is irrevocable and can be inflicted on the innocent and has never been shown to deter crime more effectively than other punishments.\nNo I don't believe in the Death Penalty.\nCheck out the link below for more information.
928609
I think that if the death penalty is warranted, than it doesn't matter how the peson dies.  The whole idea that lethal injection is "inhumane" is irrelevant.  And hypocritical.  You're killing someone, but you don't want to hurt them???  Absurd.  Lethal injection is fine, but too expensive.  Bullets are cheap, I think a single gunshot to the brain is the best way to carry out a death penalty sentence.
1132558
I am in favour of a death penalty.  If you want to believe that a life sentence is going to teach a murderer anything, then YOU pay for it.  If you want to pay room and board for a prisoner for the rest of his/her life, you're welcome to try, but you have no right to ask someone else to do it.\nImprisonment means you and I are forced to take care of criminals, and for those in the habit of taking by force, what better life can you imagine?  Abolishment of the death penalty is every dishonest person's dream.  It's the path to a life of coercion with impunity.  It's become far too easy to forget about the victims.  What about their rights?  The issue of victim's rights also reveals the fact that many crimes have no victims... ask yourself why victimless crimes are illegal (after all, cops and judges need to look busy, don't they?)\nTo those who claim prisons are cheaper-- what planet are you on?  Keeping murderers and rapists in prisons is only cheaper than, what, keeping them in mansions?  Thanks to the INjustice system, we have a ridiculous number of innocent people doing time.  In a horribly misguided attempt to regulate business and morality, prisons are full of people guilty of illegal, but not immoral, acts: smoking pot, trading stocks at the wrong moment, selling sex, gambling, etc.\nThe real problem is confusing legality with morality.  If you kill someone, and it was NOT self-defence, you have forfeited your right to be alive.  That fact doesn't change from place to place, but laws do, obviously.  In some countries, you could be put to death for being gay or an atheist, but in those cases the executioners are the murderers.  Blaming wrongful executions on the death penalty is like blaming a shooting on the gun.  If we're going to save innocent lives, we have to fight the religions and governments that destroy those lives.\nUltimately, the real issue is not the concept of execution, but rather the abuse of law by the corrupt and the persecution of innocents by those who make -and enforce- laws.
36791
Because most people in the USA believe in punishment, and many believe in the notion of "an eye for an eye" for murder. \n\nEven in the face of some high visibility questioning of the fairness or accuracy of the death penalty, it is still very difficult politically to gain the momentum to end the death penalty.