A lot of progressive nations like Australia, Canada, European Union, New Zealand, etc. have abolished capital punishment. However, the US is still retaining it for very serious crimes and we still have the highest rate of serious crimes in our country as compared to those countries I have earlier suggested.
126779
George Carlin is 100% correct on this one.  To paraphrase, he says that capital punishment doesn't do anything--it simply satisfies the Judeo-Christian/Biblical need for revenge.  We are so indoctrinated to believe that it is a deterrent to crime.  I personally have refused to sit on any juries, because I will never put myself in a situation where I judge another person for ANY crime!  ESPECIALLY one where my vote is needed to kill someone!  And look how often juries are found wrong themselves!  Abolishing capital punishment just might help us take a closer look at ourselves and the "whys" and "wherefors" of a completely flawed judicial system!
648879
This does not surprise me.  It is very frustrating.  In this world today, it seems like the criminals and murderers get away with everything and the good people end up paying one way or the other.  I know this to be true, it has happened to me and mine by a government who boasts freedom, justice and the American Way.  To bad they can not live up to these ideals in these times.  It's all in who you are and who you know.
491562
I'm an American now living in the UK. I'm in complete agreement with the death penalty in murder and rape cases. I feel that if you take a life, your life is forfeited. Rape takes a life in a different way. Chances are a woman that's raped won't ever be normal again.
105568
Hmm..\n\nIt could be that turkey still has the death sentece. that is a big no no in the EU.\n\nIt is also the level of treatment that the government meeds out to it's people. Ever heard "Lets play turkish prison"?\n\nIt has a good ways to go. But i do belive that with a little work, and alot of understanding that Turkey will someday be in the EU.
149719
You want to plagiarize to prove your point. Haven't you got any point of view of your own? This is a debate !!! It should reflect your views. Hahaha. \n\nYou should go a step ahead. One of the liberals spoke about banning life imprisonment and suggesting it to be maximum of 4 years. And one spoke about granting more rights to serial killers. Way to go!
144490
If use of the death penalty kills even one innocent person, it is a great evil, and the state has committed cold-blooded murder.  There are groups doing research who claim we kill at least one innocent every year.  There is also the point that the United States was created as a Christian nation.  Read your history.  If you are a Christian, you follow the teachings of Christ.  He demonstrated His feelings about the death penalty when He saved Mary from the charge of adultery.  Just some thoughts.
98634
Yes, there is so much lobbying for human rights in this country that people who need to be locked up are set free, or given very light sentences.  Longer/more severe sentences would not only keep them off the streets longer, but they would make people more afraid of commiting the crime.  This is why the death penalty works, it scares people.
18763
The real answer is very simple; it's because supporting the death penalty wins votes.\n\nMost active voters support the death penalty.  A politician that also supports the death penalty has an easier time getting those votes than one who doesn't.  More importantly, the US has a block of voters who consider themselves "conservatives" and who overwhelmingly support the death penalty.  A politician who opposes the death penalty will have a great deal of trouble winning his or her primary election.  Since the conservative voters are the majority of active voters in so many states, you almost always end up with at least one candidate in each final election that supports the death penalty.  And if the "liberal" candidate wants any chance of winning the final election, that candidate must take at least some conservitive positions.  \n\nBeing in favor of the death penalty is a reasonable choice for liberal politicians in conservative states, because it wins badly needed support from some conservative voters and mostly alienates those liberal voters who would never vote for the conservative opponent anyway.  This is a bit of an oversimplification, and liberal politicians at this level are skilled enough to roll death penalty support into a "tough on crime" stance so even if they alienate some of there liberal base with the death penalty support, they salvage that somewhat because even liberal voters generally like to hear that a candidate is tough on crime.\n\nThe dynamics change in the states where the liberals make up the majority.  In these states, liberal politicans have less need to support conservative causes, and the best chance a conservative candidate has to win the final election is to appear as moderate as possible.  \n\nThat's why of the 12 states without the death penalty, only 4 are "Red" states (voting for Bush in 2004) while 8 are "Blue" states (voting for Kerry).
58089
Disagree.  Firstly, it is the people of Singapore - not outsiders - who should make that decision.\n\nSecondly, low crime rates in Singapore are directly attributable to their non-tolerance of those who seek to undermine society.  Singapore is a society which tolerates all cultures and religions and welcomes their diversity - but it will not pander to a minority who seek to destroy the society they have created.\n\nHowever, the death penalty in itself is not the reason for the high quality of life in Singapore.  It is merely one component of a society which believes that protecting the innocent is more important than protecting the guilty.\n\nIncidentally, the previous writer's argument that the death penalty is 'more expensive' than life in prison is only true in the USA, which has an incredibly complex appeals process that leads to legal manouvering rather than true justice.
73961
i say we put on a harsher punishment system such as singapore. its proven it works, and if you know your not sopossed to do something, it would make you think twice before doing it.
238334
America has had a debate over both issues for many years now.Sentencing persons to death for their crimes has been around for centuries.So has the practice of abortion dating back 5000 years or more.The whole debate is based on ones own morale beliefs.There lies the debate the struggle between the beliefs of individuals.It is a very hard decision to enforce the moral beliefs of one on another individual. If society as a whole can come to a consensus that no form of death of human life is acceptable or a that terminating a life is acceptable in abortion or in capital punishment.I wont insert my beliefs here but I do agree that there is a contradiction between the two.One human life needs to be viewed equally to another.
366055
I don't agree with capital punishment in principle. But even if you do, it's not a solution to prison overcrowding. In the US, people spend years on death row and it costs much more money than regular prison because of all the appeals etc.\n\nAnd there is no evidence that death sentences would deter paedophiles for the most serious offenders for whom it is a compulsion. Paodophilia is dangerous, disgusting and evil - I understand the anger that makes us want to kill in revenge - but it would not put off other paedophiles from doing the same sadly. All the emphasis on 'stranger danger' makes us forget that most child abuse is within the family & home.\n\n\nBritain's prisons are overcrowded because more and more people are being locked up for relatively petty crime. Paedophiles have always been imprisoned and rightly so. But we also lock up people for not paying their TV licenses....\n\nOnly people who are dangerous or who are serious or repeat offenders should be locked up. People who are addicts or mentally ill should be treated. People who are petty criminals or anti-social should be put to work cleaning up the mess they and others have made, not locked up for year at public expense.\n\nWe could save a fortune by ensuring that people get a decent education - reading, writing, IT and social skills and learning a trade - rather than making everyone sit lots of exams and then excluding the kids who can't keep up. And we need to do more to tackle drugs and family breakdown. A bit more money on counselling could save the whole of society a lot of grief in future.
58516
Abolish it entirely.  Our justice system is not infalible.  There have been multiple people sentanced to death and exhonorated post-mortem.  That's enough reason for me.  Besides which the death penalty is motivated by revenge, not justice.  An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.
355268
That's a very interesting question -and it lies totally in the hands of the politicians, so therefore it is extremely unlikely to be brought back. \nHowever, if there were an actual vote on this issue, the country would almost certainly be in favour of the death penalty coming back!\nIronic, but true...
263123
It doesn't, actually in the Eighth Amendment, it bans "cruel and unusual punishment" which many believe the Death penalty is. \nBut nowhere is it directly taken on in the US Constitution, that's left up to individual states.
1479
Correction, more than a hundred countries still have death penalties, some still using firing squads, public hangings, stoning and three still chop off the victim's heads.\nFor Christians the problem is one of bending "Thou shall not kill."  For others it may or may not be a moral issue.\nPersonally, I do not see any moral action in killing a human to punish him or her for killing another.
594479
Capital punishment was recentlyreinstated and applies to those convicted of murder, distribution of drugs and endangering national security,  The manner of execution is by hanging.  See Article 12 of Iraqi Law #10.