Capital punishment?

[jo]

[soul101]

[jo]

Um, I haven't got the faintest idea what you're saying *winks*

[warren_piece]

whether or not you can use the bible to show that God is for or against the capital punishment is beside the point. the fact is that the use of capital punishment (at least in the us) is willynilly (which is why there was a moratorium to begin with). the use of the penalty is by no means fair and just (in regards to who gets it and who doesnt). this guy gets it because he killed one person. this other guy doesnt get it (even though he killed forty-six people) simply because a lawyer made a deal with him (you tell us where the other 18 bodies are and we will not execute you) [real life example].
another huge reason i am staunchly against it is because, if you look at the numbers of people who have been exonerated, there is a 1-10 chance that we are going to convict/execute the wrong individual. granted, ive never taken a class on stats and im not real smart...but it seems like those odds really suck.

[jo]

Are you absolutely sure about that one in ten stat? That sounds very high and I'd be surprised if it was that high. I would hope that, at least, no death penalty would be imposed unless it were proven beyond reasonable doubt that a person was guilty.

I just don't like the idea of the state taking human lives .. period. It seems wrong to me. That might just be because of my cultural background of course and it could be that if the UK still had the death penalty, I would not be as bothered by it.

[warren_piece]

mizzjo
i was actually being a bit conservative on the numbers.
since 77 we have executed 1048 individuals. since then we have exonerated about 120 (cant remember the exact number).
of course, if you live in florida you are really taking a gamble. for the 62 people who have been executed, 22 have been exonerated. not sure if that is good or bad.
now...as with any stats published...these stats have been picked apart and torn to pieces (i've read quite extensively on both sides of the issue from a legal standpoint). but even opponents of these stats do not deny that there is still well over a 1/100 chance of wrongful imprisonment/execution. now...that might not sound bad on the surface of things...but if 1/100 airplanes crashed leaving no survivors i'm pretty sure you would have difficulty finding people to fly on those planes.
has a ton of information.
honestly...theres a pretty good chance (all else being equal) i would vote for a politician who was anti capital punishment and pro abortion before i voted for someone pro capital punishment and anti abortion.

[jo]

Wow .. those stats really are sobering, I had no idea it was anything that high. When you say exonerated, do you mean actually found to have definitely been innocent, or simply that the case should have fallen apart due to lack of evidence or something? (in which case the person still could have been guilty though I don't agree with executing them either way).

[warren_piece]

exonerated...in terms of extensive proof of innocence. much of this is due to improved dna testing abilities. many of those 120 cases (i think the number is around 50 (cant remember/dont have time to look it up again)) the correct offender was found and convicted.

[John Anthony]

[Leslie]

Canada's last executions were carried out in 1962, and the death penalty was abolished in 1976. There have been at least three highly publicized cases of wrongful conviction in murder cases, where the defendant was later exonerated, usually through DNA evidence, after spending years in prison. Had we still had the death penalty, these three innocent men would likely have been executed. I don't know the stats on wrongful conviction, but even one wrongful execution is too many.

[jo]

I honestly didn't realise it was that bad - I had presumed that virtually everyone who was executed was done so only after incontrivertable evidence had been presented. Just imagine how appalling it must be to be unfairly condemned to death!!

[JennaDean]

I chose that I was unsure....

In theory I'm in favor of it. There are some crimes for which this is the only just consequence (or the only thing that comes close to justice).

But I'm not sure I'm in favor of it in reality - because there is such high potential for mistakes. I would hate for the state to condemn someone to death in error. So in reality, I always have reservations.

Either way, I never rejoice when I hear about someone condemned - I am always sad for the victim's family and sad for the criminal. It's sad that anyone should ever have to come to this. Even in cases where I agree it's justified, it's still sad.

[jo]

Condemning someone to life in prison forever is pretty bad too though :(. I had no idea that we made so many mistakes.

[JRosemary]

I voted 'I-am-not-a-Christian-and-I'm-opposed-to-the death penalty.'

My reasons are pretty much the ones stated above: the possibility of a mistaken conviction and the unfair, uneven way that the death penalty is applied.

I first became opposed to the death penalty after the Susan Smith case. She was the woman who strapped her children into her car and then pushed it into a lake, drowning them. (The children, apparently, were interfering in her love life.) Then she claimed that a fictional black man hijacked her car and kidnapped the children. (Susan Smith is white.)

Eventually she broke down, confessed, and led the cops to the bodies.

Susan Smith did not get the death penalty. I can still remember the Newsweek magazine from that week--it showed a picture of her with the headline: Who Deserves to Die?

I can't help but wonder: what if there had been a man who kidnapped and murdered the children? Would he have gotten off?

The conclusion seemed inescable to me: if we can't execute Susan Smith, who was guilty of the cold-blooded, pre-meditiated murder of her two children--how can we execute anyone?

[jo]