Big difference if you later turn out to be innocent.
Perhaps. But nonetheless, sometimes innocent people waste decades of the best years of their life in prison. That is also unacceptable. I think after that I would probably not care to live anymore.
Also we should be trying to improve the judicial system, not destroy the penalty altogether
I disagree. The aim of prisons is to punish, deter and rehabilitate (to different degrees). Of course prison deters crime, its just there will always be some who are not deterred by it.
However, this is also true for the death penalty - in states and countries where is a part of the law terrible crimes are still committed... frequently. Does this mean it is totally ineffective at deterring crime?
The main goal is to punish.
Many criminals are released each year.....and many of those are not fit for society. In fact they come out exactly like they came in, if not worse. Killing them is more convenient, since they can't harm anyone then.
Also look at South Africa: it has one of the highest crime rates of any developed nation, and it got higher after they abolished the death penalty I heard.
Deserves punishment, or deserves death? It sounds to me as though it wasn't a wilful crime - just a stupid and terrible mistake that he failed to face up to and turn himself in for. We see the evil consequences of such tragedies and think evil must have caused them. Often crimes are committed by ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances.
It sounds to me as if you're defending murderers.
Death is punishment.
You're turning these criminals into pantomime villains - I thought society had moved on from gathering en masse to cheer the hangman.
"Move on" from this? I'd find it entertaining. Seeing a sick old fool who raped and tortured and murdered little children get what's coming to him.
The justice system is not fair. Once someone is found guilty, no matter how strong the evidence against them, or their background, they are eligable for the toughest penalty. Innocent people go to death row.
Which is a flaw in the judicial system. Innocent people also waste decades of their life in prison.
And then there is the act of killing someone. I'm not talking about the criminal here, I'm talking about the death sentence. It's a morbid affair, and just because the person being excecuted has done something bad in their life does not make it better.
Same with prison.
I thought the main goal IS deterant. Imagine a society without jails...
The second main goal is to remove criminals from society.
Death penalty can do both, and the latter with better effectiveness
It does. But my point is that capital punishment doesn't appear to deter it more so.
And your point........?
The only good argument against cp is that innocent people die sometime. I haven't heard a single argument so far against the punishment itself.
