well I was on other forum where this was being discussed...

my opinon?

I totally desagree...can't imagine to kill another human being even if he murdered...for me thats being the same as him or her...

but I would love to here your ideas and I would like to see a peaceful reasonable debate going on as usually :)

Ha good one . . . do they have it in Portugal? I'm totally in the dark on the policy out there.

It certainly doesn't do much. It doesn't deter crime, and half the time when people are sentenced to this they usually end up dying of something else or committing suicide before it even happens.

The argument for it is more than just the typical "eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth" perspective, believe it or not. A fair argument for it is that it saves money. You are no longer feeding, housing or giving free cable TV to this inmate. And let's not forget that they get free medical treatment, unlike those who have never commit a crime and have to work their butts off for it.

I personally think that there are pros and cons to both, but in the long run, it doesn't really make society any better, and doesn't change crime statistics. That's why in America it usually just ends up being Republican propaganda.

I can't believe people go with that eye for an eye stuff!!! :blink:

here in portugal we don't have it...none of the countrys that belong to the european union can have it...'cause for us it goes agains the human rights...

I mean in America I don't see crime being less then on a place without Death Penalty! :blink:

a guy said on the other forum that killing a murder is more mercyful than lock him up!!! :blink: :blink:

I asked him if he could kill a murder and he said yeah...this is kinda scary...

Well, their argument is usually that if you kill that person they could no longer possibly be a threat to a society. Which is true. But life sentence without possibility of parole would do the exact same thing, provided they don't escape from prison.

The other argument is that the person who murdered took away somebody else's right to life, so it doesn't matter if the government takes away theirs. True, but at the same time, stooping to their level isn't really making people's lives any better.

Just recently, the man who raped and murdered an 11-year-old boy (Junny Rios-Martinez) in 1991 was executed. There was huge support, especially from the family, who insisted upon justice for their son. I can understand how they feel, but let's face it, it isn't going to bring Junny back.

I grew up with this mentality, because Florida is the biggest pro-death penalty state in America. The death penalty gets carried out the fastest here than in any of the other 49 states. It's also a major Republican state, so that's why it'll always just come off as Republican propaganda here.

But the truth is, it doesn't reduce crime, and a lot of times it's just people wanting to get revenge. Some of these people can come off as very childish.

I must say I had no idea that Florida suported so much the death penalty...

for me the death of a muder is not gonna take the victim back!

I agree that some people are too dangerous too ever leave jail....but lets keep them there with enough conditions...not in favor of treatin them like animals...

my dad agrees with death penalty...when we talk about this he says that I'm too naive!!!!

Am I naive for not wishing anyones dead?????

I have something else to add to this. There has been controversy about an inmate in Massachusetts (Robert Kosilek) who is in prison for murdering his wife in 1990, and now he is trying to get the state of Massachusetts to pay for his sex change! His argument is that he is clinically depressed and NEEDS it.

Certainly a slap in the face to people that have never committed a crime and would have to pay $20,000+ for such a thing.

So a lot of people were outraged, as you can imagine, and blamed Massachusetts itself for being a liberal/Democrat state. A lot of them were making childish comments such as "if he wants a sex change, I'll chop off his balls and shove them down his throat".

I don't think he should be given a free sex change. But resorting to comments like that just shows you how people can be vengeful idiots.

This is an example of some of the childish behavior that some Republicans exhibit when they are pro-death penalty. Now, not all Republicans are like this, and as I've mentioned above, many pro-death penalty people have good reasons for supporting it. But I felt like illustrating to you the way some Americans can overreact, for the sake of exposing you to our culture . . .

No, you're not naive for not wishing people dead. I don't think you're naive, but you just have to research each side, as with anything. And you are - that was why you opened up this thread. A naive/ignorant person would not do that.

I guess the best thing to say is, don't base your opinion solely on emotion might be what your dad is trying to say. Throw some facts and logic in there too . . .

I wrote a paper in college where we had to form TWO sides - for AND against the death penalty. It was an interesting essay that opened my eyes to both sides, and that is why I am certainly enjoying your thread. :)

I had a little idea of how people see death penalty there...but thanks for lighting me!!!!

well its alll based on who's democratic and who's republican there? (as I said before I love politics and on my history class my teacher said that republicans were all bad!!! this sounded so bad...tho if I lived there I would probably be a democrat)

I agree...they shouldn't pay for his sex chnge!! is too much!!!!

my only problem is falling to see pros!!!

can you tell me a few?

thanks. I try to as open minded as I can :)

Well, the Republican party platform supports the death penalty, while the Democratic party does not. But of course people can have individual beliefs regardless of which (or no) party they support, just like they could with abortion, gay issues, etc etc etc.

Florida is a Republican state in general (most political leaders are Republican, and most of its residents are Republican). So with that come very hardcore personalities. Bush's brother was the governor of this state for eight long, excruciating years . . .

I wouldn't go as far as to say all Republicans are bad. There are moderate Republicans who aren't as hardcore. Also, the Republican party was very different in its history than it is today . . . but we're getting off subject lol.

So yeah a lot of Floridians tend to have the eye-for-eye tooth-for-tooth attitude. A perfect example was the other day at work when we were talking about the murder of a 1-year-old girl by her father beating her.

My co-workers were even harder-hearted than your typical pro-death penalty people. Their belief was that the father should be TORTURED instead of killed!

I personally thought that was ridiculous. Stooping to his level was not going to bring the child back, or change his parenting for the sake of the two surviving children. But that is the way people are in Florida, so I just roll my eyes and move on with the show . . .

The pros of death penalty? Well, like I said, I think I pretty much summed up the main ones. Costs less, justice served (though of course that's a matter of opinion), and threat taken away.

And as already stated, we invite people to bring more to the table since I probably haven't covered them all.

wow!!! torturing???

but some people here say the same!!! including my family...I seem to be the only one who desagrees...

torturing that man won't solve a thing!!! its just a bit silly to me...sorry to say it...

(and I never thought all republicans are bad...my teacher was making pre judgements and I hate it!!!!)

justice served??? for me nah...

costs less??? human life have no price for me...

threat taken away? this I can kinda understand but if a person goes to jail and is keeped locked isn't the threat away from the public?

btw one of the reasons for not being in favor of death penalty is seeing innocent people getting killed and later found to be innocent!!!!

this makes me angry and sad!!!! :angry :(

No reason to say sorry. I thought it was extremely childish of them to say that, actually, and seriously thought that they all needed to grow up.

Just arrest the guy and move on, you know? That's what I think. To go and judge them is absolutely ludicris considering we all have problems. Of course I didn't agree with what the guy did, but never would I judge him. I imagine it must be extremely difficult to put up with the demands of a child that young, and there's no way that I could do a better job than him with parenting! So maybe it's all about perspective . . .

With that being said, it makes sense that a family like the Rios-Martinezes would want to see their son's killer killed, but it still does not resolve anything.

That was one of the points I made in the part of my essay against the death penalty, actually. There have been at least eleven people executed only to find out that they were innocent after.

Sadly, it's probably not a high enough statistic, especially not for Republicans. But how high does the statistic have to be? 111? 1,111? An innocent life is an innocent life.

And I do think that life without parole should be enough. If the prison escapee incident rate was high, then I could see how it would be an issue. But it isn't nearly high enough to justify a NECESSITY for death penalty.

Agree. An innocent life is an innocent life. for me even if it was just one person was enough to make me think better.

prison escape? a serious problem...but like you said is not enough itself to justify death penalty...

Well, we've had our say, now it's time to free up the thread and let others speak up! :D

agree!!! plus its almost 3 am and I can barely think :lol:

btw nice debating with you Laura...as always :)

I don't believe in the death penalty. My government teacher last year took a poll of that class to see who supported the death penalty and who didn't. I was the only one who didn't support it. And my teacher made me explain to the class why and my reason is this : If someone murders someone and we condem thm and then go off and kill them, aren't we as bad as the person who killed in the first place? It's a vicious cylce in my opinion.

I understand that some people want to see the people "did them wrong" get punished for what they did but it doesn't make life any easier or helps fill the void of losing a loved on.

I actually do think that life in prison whould be worse than death. For one, you're in a cell, day after day, just sitting there and that could get to you after awhile, and you replay the murder over and over again and you'll more than likely start feeling guilty and you'll have to live with that for, oh, about 80 years.


I actually saw a program where a man actually requested that he be executed much, much earlier than planned because he wanted to committ suicide but didn't have the guts to do it himself.

My opinion on death penalty:

If you have killed someone and is sentenced to death when your dead you will not feel any more suffering what kind of punishment is that? I believe that being in a little horrible cell thinking about which gruesome things you did and knowing that you might never be free again is a mentally worse punishment.

I mean, knowing that you're going to die is pretty tough shit but at the same time you know that it will soon be over.

frantik19: I think the same. if you kill a murder you're just continuing the violence! its a sad cycle...

Emmi: so you think the death penalty is less mentaly painful? I see your point...being in a jail day after day must be horrible! but the knowelege that you'll be killed can't be good either....

But we have to protect the the rest of the society, the 'healthy people' adapted to coexist. Therefore, we must eliminate sick and evil individuals.

And it's DEFINITELY not like we're as bad as those murderers etc.

but killing them is gonna really make a difference? I mean I don't think there will be less murders or anything like that just because theres the death penalty...

you seem to be in favor. I'm not but I sure would apreciate if you explained your point better :)

It would make a difference. A murderer would be eliminated.

I think I explained it a page back.

EDIT: No, I didn't. I think it was a different thread. Anyway, my previous post should be enough for you. Society protection/good of the society is my argument.

Carla: Yeah, like I said: "Knowing that you're going to be killed is tough shit but you know that it will soon be over"

Agnes: So, we should kill to learn not to kill??

good question there...

We should kill to get rid of BAD people.

I'm kinda for it, in most extreme cases of killings (such as serial killers and stuff like that) I think, they should be eliminated, because in some countries life sentence isn't that long! And then a murderer will walk free again. How would the victims family think of that?
But going around killing people so that other murderes and criminals would get afraid and stop doing whatever they are doing, won't work, it doesn't work!
But if for example: One of my family members were brutally raped killed in a most gruesome and morbid and brutal way, I'd much better see the person that did it dead NOT behind bars where the person in question CAN escape.
This is all my opinion on the matter.

We had a poll in religion class about this and also if we were sentenced to death, what way would be want to be killed..

I have to disagree with the majority of opinions here. I am for the death penalty, including cases of rape or child molestation, the harsher the better. This may sound cruel to some people, but murderers, rapists and child molesters should be punished as severely as possible, and if that means killing them, so be it. I don't want these scumbags on the street where they can hurt innocent people, I want them gone, period. There's quite a bit of crime in New Jersey, I can't read our local newspaper (which is a small one, btw), without hearing some news about a child being molested or killed, or someone getting shot for drugs, etc. Besides, criminals are guilty, children are innocent, the guilty should suffer. If this makes me sound like a fascist, than I am a fascist.

I agree with you!

Yeah, me too.

But is being killed such a horrible punishment for those cold hearted persons? There is a reason why many people try to commit suicide or commit suicide in jail you know. I understand that you don't want sick people like that on the street but I think that there are other solution's than killing them, if not that's just sick, if the only solution to getting rid of bad people of our society is to kill them.

Like what, public torture?

What's the pouint of them being in jail for a lifetime...when no one other than the guards can enjoy their suffering?
We may aswell waste them right away then. A clean way to end the bad right away and no tax payers money is being wasted on someone without any worthy future.
They just occupy prisons that should be used for less heavy crime committers.

I agree with Lucifer on this one.

The point is to serve justice and for them to be punished not for other's to enjoy them suffering .People that are sentenced to death my occupy places in jail anyways, people sit in death row for several years. Some people even die naturally before they even get killed. I see were you're coming from with the tax issues.

Lucifer's Angel (What's your name? :) ) : No, longer life sentences for example.

The years of death row are a punishment on their own already.
Sometimes I wonder why it has to take years though. I can only see it becoming years when there isn't enough evidence of guilty.

so you think the murders and rapers should be tortured??? :blink: :blink: :blink:

wow....this sounds a little extreme to me...

Believe it or not, serial killers, violators, pedos and other criminals are still people. It´s not like you eliminate them as when you´re eliminating a flea plague.

Death penalty = goes against human rights
life sentence = expensive
forced to work hard = free/cheap and productive working force + punishment for criminals

imo

Jail is jail. People on death row are in jail just as people sentenced to life, I get what you mean though..sitting and waiting to be killed most be horrible but imagine the relief when you're gonna get executed. I want killers to suffer in jail and regret about what they've done.

Not really, it's only fair to compensate what they did to their victims. It's a waste just to keep them in prison, our tax dollars feeding them and housing them. I'm sure the families would want that, if someone hurt a member of my family and they got the death penalty, not only would I want to see them suffer, I'd pull the switch myself. And my name is Vanessa :)