Capital punishment: why it's wrong. (ethical, legal, injection, attorney)

[FOLDY!]

Capital punishment is the legally authorized killing of someone as a punishment for a crime. I believe that it is unethical to implement the death penalty as a means to punish someone for a crime they have committed, no matter how heinous. A human’s basic right is the right to life. Obviously, the death penalty denies humans this right. Lethal injection is the most commonly employed form of capital punishment. Contrary to popular belief, it is not painless, depending upon the dosage and the training of the person who administers it. When people are charged with the death penalty, they face a prolonged uncertainty of whether or not they will die. Whether it be because of delays, multiple appeals, retrials, or technicalities, dates of scheduled executions constantly change. Sentencing is meant to keep a person from repeating their mistakes. The death penalty would seem like an effective deterrent, but statistics state otherwise. The murder rate in non-death penalty states has remained consistently lower than the rate in states with the death penalty, and the gap has grown since 1990. Advocates of the death penalty say that it is cheaper to implement the death penalty than to sentence someone to life in prison. In all actuality, this is completely wrong. The average total cost per representation of a sample of cases in which the defendant was charged with an offence punishable by death and the Attorney General did not authorize seeking the death penalty was $55, 772, compared to $218,112 where the Attorney General did authorize seeking the death penalty.
The death penalty gives our society a revenge mentality. People are confusing vengeance with justice, and that is just awful.

[Greatday]

Interesting comments.

However, I support the Death penalty and would even like to see an expansion of the number of crimes that would qualify for the Death Penalty - one of which would be certain sexual offenses against children.

I have witnessed an execution at the request of a victims family. I can tell you that the execution did bring some closure / finality to their ordeal.

[jps-teacher]

Originally Posted by FOLDY!

The death penalty would seem like an effective deterrent, but statistics state otherwise. The murder rate in non-death penalty states has remained consistently lower than the rate in states with the death penalty, and the gap has grown since 1990.

Show me your research and I will show you mine.

I am a death penalty opponent who has reluctantly been convinced that the deterrent argument is accurate.

[Bluesbabe]

If somebody who doesn't belong in my house decides to break in, I will shoot him in an instant while he's facing me. I would save the courts and tax-payers a ton of money.

[txguy2009]

The reason the death penalty isn't very effective is because of the SCOTUS' and other states' activism in trying to weaken its effect, giving mandatory appeals, etc., which greatly reduce the connection between crime and punishment.

Seriously....if murderers were put to death within 1 month of their sentence, it would have deterrent effect on some premeditated crimes like armed robbery etc.

I know it's fashionable to say with a sense of sophistication that it's not a deterrent, and it may be weakened by the current implementation, but high conviction rates coupled with quick execution have been shown to be quite effective.

As to a "right to life"...what does this even mean? I have right to life no matter what I do? What if I'm in prison and I still keep killing people (which some prisoners would do without the death penalty)? Does my right to life allow me to keep living and killing other people, depriving them of their right? I just don't see the logical coherence behind that argument.

As to the $$$ argument, we are back again to mandatory appeals and other excessive procedural safeguards. Remove those, do it quickly, it becomes cheaper.

But actually I tend to be AGAINST the death penalty because I think that, in reality, people won't accept the probability that innocents will be executed and so we can't help but set up these safeguards which end up making it more expensive and less deterrent.

But for treason, terrorism, and other high-profile and very dangerous acts, I think we should still do it, preferably in a military-style tribunal so it's quick and effective.

[mark6052]

humans have a basic right to life. why do I think you support abortions? oh right there not humans. that said, anybody on death row should be executed within 30days, no appeals. if injection is to slow, try a 45 to the head. messy but affective. and to those very few that may be innocent. oops, sorry, but thats to bad. look how many people die from doctors mistakes if its not a deterent; it will slow down repeat offenders.

[jtur88]

I have a very simple philosophy on that. I have never seen any evidence that shows that the existence or the absence of capital punishment has any affect on crime or our culture. So I Have conluded that the pro- people are motivated by revenge, and the anti- people are motivated by compassion, and they both use faulty or shallow data to support their emotional position. I have yet to meet a person that does not conform with this pattern.

[Tymberwulf]

I fully support the death penalty. Dead criminals commit no further crimes.

[jps-teacher]

Originally Posted by jtur88

I have a very simple philosophy on that. I have never seen any evidence that shows that the existence or the absence of capital punishment has any affect on crime or our culture. So I Have conluded that the pro- people are motivated by revenge, and the anti- people are motivated by compassion, and they both use faulty or shallow data to support their emotional position. I have yet to meet a person that does not conform with this pattern.

This discusses the overarching issue, from an econometric perspective:
The Becker-Posner Blog: The Economics of Capital Punishment--Posner

This was the article that convinced me about the deterrent effect, much to my chagrin:
Does Capital Punishment Have a Deterrent Effect? New Evidence from Postmoratorium Panel Data -- Dezhbakhsh et al. 5 (2): 344 -- American Law and Economics Review

This is one of the principal critiques of that work:
http://www.law.uchicago.edu/Lawecon/workshop-papers/donohue.pdf
(I don't know why this does not appear as a link. Sorry about the inconvenience.)

This is one of the many responses to that critique:
Reply to Donohue and Wolfers on the Death Penalty and Deterrence

It is a sticky conversation. I am still opposed to the death penalty - but I a pretty well convinced, in spite of myself, that there is a clear deterrent factor.

[tinman01]

Originally Posted by Tymberwulf

I fully support the death penalty. Dead criminals commit no further crimes.

Bingo... In prison or out their criminal career is over.