Are these valid arguments as to why the death penalty should be used more often?

Question

1. It ensures that the person who receives it will never hurt another human being again!
2. It's quick and easy and if the appeals process were adjusted so that all prisoners had equal rights to appeal, the death penalty would be cheaper. The rule of law is that the law is to be applied equal to all citizens, if we feel our system is flawed and that innocant people are being sent to prison, then all people should have the same amount of rights to appeals as though on death row as they have just as much of a chance of being innocant! Life in prisonment or any time imprisonment for an innocant person is in and of itself cruel and unusual punishment. So henceforth the argument that the death penalty should not be used as one could be innocant post conviction is invalid! The argument that life imprisonment is cheaper than the death penalty is as well would be invalid if our system applied the rule of law and gave all prisoners equal chances for appeals!
3. Exodus 21:23 commands it
21:23 And if [any] mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, 21:24 Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, 21:25 Burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe.
4. Even though liberals will state that given research from the 60's the death penalty has not been proven to be a deterent, I tend to disagree with that as the 60's was also the time period of social uprise and The Civil Rights Movement. So, I believe that the death penalty is in fact a deterent and that the research which says it is not is biased and flawed.
5. Victim rights should be considered more so than criminals rights and victims should have a right to justice!
6. If the death penlaty were used in more cases, it would help with the overcrowding of our prison systems.
7. If the death penalty were used on sex offenders it would prevent offenders from being released and victimizing others!
Bottom line the death penalty gives more creedance to victims rights and citizens rights than does imprisonment! We now have DNA evidence for crimes which is capable of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and the death penalty should be applied in all rape cases and murder cases in which DNA evidence is present!

Answer 1

You are correct on all points.



Here is some specific support.



The death penalty is a just and appropriate sanction and it saves additional innocent lives.



Ethical/Religious support for the death penalty



"Death Penalty Support: Religious and Secular Scholars"

http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2009/07/death-penalty-support-modern-catholic.html





Deterrence



All prospects of a negative outcome deter some. It is a truism. The death penalty, the most severe of criminal sanctions, is the least likely of all criminal sanctions to violate that truism.





25 recent studies finding for deterrence, Criminal Justice Legal Foundation,

http://www.cjlf.org/deathpenalty/DPDeterrence.htm





"Deterrence and the Death Penalty: A Reply to Radelet and Lacock"

http://homicidesurvivors.com/2009/07/02/deterrence-and-the-death-penalty-a-reply-to-radelet-and-lacock.aspx





"Death Penalty, Deterrence & Murder Rates: Let's be clear"

http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2009/03/death-penalty-deterrence-murder-rates.html





"The Death Penalty: More Protection for Innocents"

http://homicidesurvivors.com/2009/07/05/the-death-penalty-more-protection-for-innocents.aspx





Innocence issues



"The Innocent Executed: Deception & Death Penalty Opponents"

http://homicidesurvivors.com/2009/10/08/the-innocent-executed-deception--death-penalty-opponents--draft.aspx





The 130 (now 139) death row "innocents" scam

http://homicidesurvivors.com/2009/03/04/fact-checking-issues-on-innocence-and-the-death-penalty.aspx





Sister Helen Prejean & the death penalty: A Critical Review"

http://homicidesurvivors.com/2009/05/04/sister-helen-prejean--the-death-penalty-a-critical-review.aspx





"A Death Penalty Red Herring: The Inanity and Hypocrisy of Perfection", Lester Jackson Ph.D.,

http://www.tcsdaily.com/article.aspx?id=102909A





More essays



http://homicidesurvivors.com/categories/Death%20Penalty.aspx

Answer 2

Actually, MOST of those points are invalid.



1) Yes, granted. However, the fact that something guarantees a particular outcome does not argue that it is the ONLY way to achieve that outcome. It's true, but does not make a useful argument.



2)So you argument is that ALL crimes should permit every possible appeal, no matter how weak or repetitive? Increasing ALL criminal appeal processes does not make the DP LESS expensive, it merely makes all other crimes MORE expensive. If we applied that logic, the cost of criminal trials and sentencing would at a guess quadruple.



3)The bible says a LOT of things that no sensible modern society would condone. Shall we stone people now? In any event, the bible is not the arbiter of how law is promulgated.



4) Your bizarre interpretation of the events of the 60s aside, what about the myriad studies that have show no drop, or even rises, in murder rates since the Supreme Court re allowed it? How about the comparison between death penalty and non death penalty states that CONTINUE to show no positive correlation between DP and lowered crime or murder rates??



5) Not really an argument, more of an unsubstantiated call to arms.



6) There you go, one that works. of course, once again you'll have to show me why other methods could not achieve the same results. Decriminalization of recreational drugs, for instance, would remove well over half of all prisoners in US jails.



7) Well, it might. It would also increase the murder rate. If a sex offender knows that he will be executed anyway, why not kill his victim to prevent identification?



Stop watching CSI. Only a small portion of murder cases have DNA evidence which can clearly show guilt.

Answer 3

These are all common arguments, but all are easily refutable. I don't have time to go through point by point, so I'll just choose 2:



#3) The Old Testament is full of calls for the death penalty, and not just for murder. It also prescribes the death penalty for disobedient children (Exodus 21:15 & 17), people who work on Sunday (Exodus 31:14 & 15), people who swear (Leviticus 24:16), and women (not men) who are not virgins on their wedding night (Deuteronomy 22:20-21).



If you look at the New Testament, you'll see that Jesus was clearly against the death penalty. For example, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus praises mercy (Matthew 5:7) and rejects “an eye for an eye” (Matthew 5:38-39). James 4:12 says that GOD is the only one who can take a life in the name of justice. Romans 12:17-21 warns us against answering evil with evil, and assures us that God will see to justice in the afterlife. In John 8:7, Jesus points out that all humans are imperfect, and therefore unqualified to decide whether someone lives or dies. My personal favorite is James 1:20: "For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God."



#4) How about looking at more recent data? In the link below you'll see that from 1990 - 2007 the murder rate (per 100,000 population) was consistently HIGHER in death penalty states.

Answer 4

I'm glad you asked this. Many Yahoo answerers are not interested in communication with people they may disagree with.



1. Keeping killers off the streets for good:

Life without parole, on the books in 49 states (all except Alaska), also prevents reoffending. It means what it says, and spending 23 of 24 hours a day locked in a tiny cell is no picnic. Two advantages:

-an innocent person serving life can be released from prison

-life without parole costs less than the death penalty



2. You covered a lot of things here.

On costs- the biggest chunk comes upfront, at the pre trial and trial stages. Appeals are costly, but less so.**see below for a couple of examples

On consequences of convicting innocent people- if someone is convicted and later found innocent you can release him from prison, but not from the grave.



3. On what the bible says- that is between you and your religious beliefs.



4.On deterrence- homicide rates are consistently higher in states that have the death penalty than in those without it. The most recent FBI stats confirm this.



5. On victims- the views of families of murder victims are mixed. Some oppose it on moral grounds. But even families who have supported the death penalty in principle have testified that the drawn-out death penalty process is painful for them and that life without parole is an appropriate alternative.



6. The main reason our prisons are overcrowded is that we lock up non violent drug offenders for long terms. We lock up a higher percentage of the population of any other nation.



The worst thing about it. Errors:

The system can make tragic and irreversible mistakes. As of today, 138 wrongly convicted people who were sentenced to death have been exonerated.



DNA, is rarely available in homicides and can’t guarantee we won’t execute innocent people.

** A few examples of costs of death penalty trials compared to others, these are from California:

People v. Scott Peterson, Death Penalty Trial

$3.2 Million Total



People v. Rex Allen Krebs Death Penalty Trial

$2.8 Million Total



People v. Cary Stayner, Death Penalty Trial

$2.368 Million Total



People v. Robert Wigley, Non-Death Penalty Trial

$454,000 Total



From http://aclunc.org/issues/criminal_justice/death_penalty/frequently_asked_questions_about_the_costs_of_california%27s_death_penalty.shtml



This data is for cases where the best records are kept



Sources:



Death Penalty Information Center, www.deathpenaltyinfo.org, for stats on executions, reports on costs, deterrence studies, links to FBI crime stats and links to testimony (at state legislatures) of victims' family members.



FBI http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm



The Innocence Project, www.innocenceproject.org



http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/costs-death-penalty

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/COcosttestimony.pdf page 3 and 4 on why the death penalty is so expensive



And, for statements of victims’ families:

www.mvfhr.org and www.mvfr.org



Article about CameronTodd Willingham: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/09/07/090907fa_fact_grann?currentPage=1



http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/student-resource-center

Scroll down to ideas for research papers and debates.



Positions of religions on the death penalty at

http://www.religioustolerance.org/execut7.htm

Answer 5

i love your first and nil.33 factors. in this article are some more beneficial. - that is more cost-effective to maintain someone in detention center then that is to pass by the extreme priced technique of appeals. - because it takes so long to kill someone on death row, the experience of retribution for the kinfolk of the sufferer is lost. - Prisons are very state-of-the-paintings and so a violent criminal may nicely be jailed with little or no to no chance that the prisoner may ever kill lower back. - the potential of 1 chance free human being being wrongfully killed is too extreme and outweighs the great thing about the DP. - the classic to coach the DP are too low, it really is "evidence previous a sensible doubt" nevertheless facilitates conviction if some doubt exists. (i imagine that's going to only be used in uncommon situations the position there is honestly little question as to who the killer is: ie: a gunman that is going on a rampage and kills rankings of folk.) - the possibilities of being convicted and sentenced to death are a lot larger for minorities and so the DP is utilized unfairly. desire this facilitates.