Quote:
Originally Posted by Arctic_Slicer
Over a thousand prisoners have been executed in the United States since they reinstated the death penalty it hasn't really seemed to be much of a detterent as henious crimes are still being commited.
The problem with the death penalty though is that it's totally hypocritical. If you condemn the act of killing another human being you are not serving justice by sentencing that person to death as you are now as much a killer as the person being sentenced is/was.
We have laws against murder because society feels it is morally wrong to take another human life yet we have death penalty which does the same action of taking away human life. If a human has no right to take another person's life then why do we execute our criminals? It's also important to note that the United States is the only industrialized country that actually has a death penalty. The UN opposes the death penalty because it goes against human ideals.
|
By the same token, let's stop maintaining an army. If someone wants to invade, let's condemn them but do nothing to stop them. After all, how can we condemn the killing of our people when we fight back and kill someone else's?
/sarcasm
It is entirely possible that the death penalty, despite having some justice in it, is not a deterrent. However, I know from personal experience that criminals fear death enough to run when they hear a gun. If we were to expedite a death sentence to every convicted rapist and murderer, I'd be willing to bet that there would be fewer who take the risk. As it is now, many get off with jail time that they don't complete.