I think Penn and Teller Hit the nail on the head with this piece. The only question in my mind is are we a country that kills people or aren't we? All the other arguments fall short. How much is humanity worth to us as a nation. People do bad things let them sit in jail who cares. Anyway don't care to much about this issue and Sean Penn sucks!
I do not know where exactly I stand when comes to death penalty. My pro and cons are:
1 -We as a society have to move away from the "eye for an eye" revenge mentality if civilization is to advance. 2 -It sends the wrong message: why kill people who kill people to show killing is wrong. 3 -The possibility exists that innocent men and women may be put to death.
1 -Prisoner parole or escapes can give criminals another chance to kill. 2 -It gives prosecutors another bargaining chip in the plea bargain process, which is essential in cutting costs in an overcrowded court system.
It is hard to say, because if someone comes inside of my house and rape and kill my daughter I probably would be totally a favor of Death Penalty. So I do think that this one is a hard argument to decide a side.
The death penalty is one of the most contraversial issues our society faces. Before seeing the episode, I was in favor of the Death penalty but Penn & Teller brought up many solid points that I agreed with. For example the guy that was wrongfully sentenced to death row for two years before actually being proved innocent. This really shows how there's glitches in the system. The bad part of the situation is, is that we are dealing with human lives.
Though these were great points, I think they weren't enough to convince me to be fully against the death penalty. However, I do think that the death penalty should only be considered in cases that are very severe. For example when an individual committs a masacre or takes advantage of hopeless child like the case in the episode.
I think those criminals definately need to be penalized with death. Someone who commits these certain types of crimes does not deserve a second chance, the victims didn't have a second chance, why should they? Also like Penn & Teller explained our prisons are very packed and criminals like this are waisting our tax money.
This is a sore issue for me to take sides on. When it comes to my religion, we believe in turning the other cheek. But as for my personal belief, I am unsure of where I stand. The census of our prisons are on the uprise and are becoming too crowded! Also, the idea that child abducters and abusers can someday be up for parole scares the shit out of me!... I think that if there is a convict who has committed several serious crimes such as murder and sexual abuse of a child and there is concrete evidence of the persons guilt and there is a chance that he will harm others, in or out of prison, he should be locked up in the darkest corner of a prison somewhere for the rest of their natural life. sO they can't hurt anybody else. But I also feel that people who abuse their own children and rapists should be castrated and made impossible for them to procreate again....
I was surprised that Penn and Teller neglected to break down the annual cost of an average prison inmate that comes directly out of the tax payer wallet. I could only find statistics from 99-00. The average cost of an inmate was around $20,000 a year or $50 a day. All I know is that I have yet to clear $20,000 a year in my adult life… So why not liquidate a few high risk inmates?
This topic is not cut and dry. The claim that we as a nation are all murderers every time a criminal is executed is a stretch. I also have no problem with lethal injection. Just because it was invented in Nazi Germany doesn’t’ bother me. A lot of Hitler’s practices have been used to progress modern medicine. He may have fostered mass genocide but luckily he use educated people to facilitate it with the scientific method. Along with bad, a lot of good has come from his studies.
That being said, my only beef is that there is no margin for err. These people need and have to be guilty without a doubt. The guy who figured the number of 25 over some where in the hundreds is crazy. Are we suppose to be impressed?
the death penaty is great tool, At first when we ever realized how affective that is for all. Yes, as the human being and social animal we are tend to protect the species around place and emotions. But if we want to argue death penaty There are however different levels to the punishments. It is total heart break when that issues occur in both side of the coins. But There are the greater of mercy and power of forgiveness that mens can't compehence far then this. If people ever allow the closer the emotion and think about forgive and repents? The juries and court must have the highest standard of ethical, moral and spritual in able to interpreting from their eyes. What's motives. faces, evidenses and history. Thse answes, invoid with responsibilty and abilities according to their need. If so, the lesson must learn and applied. To govern with justis and balance.
I feel that there is a time and a place for the death penalty. Certain crimes warrant the death penalty. The people out there that willingly take the life of another should be given the sentence of a death penalty. I feel the same way as the person above when i was supprised that they didnt get into detail of the cost of living for an inmate to serve a sentence verse the cost for them to be put to death. I dont know the exact numbers either. But I can assure you that its much cheaper to let them feel the same pain that others have felt caused by them. I also dont agree with the statement that we are all killers when we execute someone. What gives them the right to take anothers life and yet they are allowed to live. They have taken something from someone that can never be given back. I think its about time we start returning the favor.
In Florida each execution costs the state an average of $3,200,000, which is six times the expense of life imprisonment. If California were to abolish the death penalty and re-sentence its death row inmates to life, it would save $90,000,000 per year. thats alot of money!! however, If capital punishment were to be abolished, the worst sentence the jury could give a convicted murderer would be life imprisonment. Many innocent persons have died at the hands of men previously convicted and imprisoned for murder, supposedly for ‘life’.” Here is an example, On April 3, 1988, three murderers serving life sentences without the chance for parole escaped from the Maximum-Security West Virginia Penitentiary. One, Bobby Stacy, had killed a Huntington police officer in 1981. At the time, he had been on bail after being arrested for shooting an Ohio policeman. If capital punishment is abolished, convicted murderers only receive a lifetime to exploit an imperfection in the system, escape, and continue killing. if you ask for my opinion, i say keep the death penalty, but yes maybe only convict those who really deserve it to death row.
Fuck! I pressed the back button and suddenly my post is gone. well if it isn't and I posted twice sorry. IF not... Damnit so the death penalty is wrong because life in prison is just as bad if not worse and lethal injection is baloney not because it is or isn't painless but because it isn't entertaining. (that sounded heartless didn't it?) But life sentances are okay because if you are innocent you have quite a bit of time to be found innocent and if you are not then you have a lifetime of boring days and assrape ahead of you. That way everyone is happy.
Why does some peoples so care about those scum who took the life of another for their personal gain? What's wrong to eliminate those who don't deserve human-right? Why just want to feed them forever, when you can just put a bullet in the back of their heads? Feeding them and locking them is just wasting space, foods, and our times for just prevent them to escape. Of course, most of us want to live as long as we can. So we shoulden't do someting wrong which we only can pay with our life. Criminals' thoughts are difficult to understand, the death penalty should only use on the peoples who's absolute guilty. We actually need something to scare ourselves to prevent us from doing something wrong. (kind weird of human, aren't we?) Many peoples criticize China has the highest rate death penalty in the world, that's because China has the highest population in the world.
I'm in for the death penalty, because I've seen to many news report about how escaped convicts have once again killed someone or even a whole family. Why the fuck would we want risk the chance of that happening to someone innocent? How would you feel if that innocent someone is a family member of your's? would you then be for the death penalty or not still? A killer will always be a killer, no matter how you looked at.
Life is so precious but when someone brutal take's another life away, he or she therefore has already decided to forfeit their 's. Think about how many life we will save and how much money we will save in prison fee.
Call me old school but I'm all about the "An eye for an eye" mentality.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth... We should be above that as a society. But there is a time and a place for the death penalty. Why should a rapist or a killer be allowed to live? They have committed a horrible crime of taking the life of an innocent life. What rights should they then be entitled to? I say none. If the death penalty is enforced on a criminal than we as a society should not rejoice in that. It still is a horrific experience. We definitely need to be stricter and have less bias opinion on deciding who gets the death penalty and who does not. If it is going to happen it should be a fair deciding process that is investigated. The crime committed needs to be proven and backed.
The death Penalty is a touchy topic. I personally feel that we should be a nation that moves away from an eye for an eye type of punishment. The main reason we should not stick to this method, is that it does NOT reduce the amount of crimes that people will commit, that have the death penalty on them. Second, alot of people on death row are on there due to "witnesses", and to be honest, how many people do you trust in your own life??? Now we are goign to be some person who said they were there? I would hope not. There are a number of people who were on death row and were found to be innocent, which to me even if there is one person who was innocent and was on death row, no one else should ever be put on it.
However I must admit, if some one did to my daughter or family, what some of those people did, I would say kill the motherfuckers. I would hope they die, the most extreme death possible, which is sad to say, but I know most people have that crazy feeling inside of them, if something was to happen. It is hard for me to pick a side on this issue because I would be very angry and want death if somethign happened to my family, but my internal religous feeling make me say that we should not kill people and let them sit in prison, either way the issue will and is very complex.
This is a pretty touchy subject for just about everybody. My standing; it is a necessary evil. All laws in our Judicial system are based on the Ten Commandments whether people like it or not. Thou shalt not kill is a big one from the list; therefore; it is illegal to take the life of another person. The law of Moses was an eye for an eye. Death for Death. Now if the law were strictly literal it could get really fucked up and quite inhumane. Say death row inmate X raped and then murdered little Suzie, the law could be construed to have the same offense turned on X. That's not a good idea.
Years ago in high school, I went on a field trip to our state prison and there were a panel of inmates incarcerated for various things. One man I remember specifically, told us he was having a very bitter argument with his wife and at the same time they were doing something in their home that required tools. In the course of the argument she handed him a hammer and turned to walk away and in his passionate anger hit her in the head with the hammer. I truly believe he was sorry for what he did to her because of how he told us this sad story. Do I think he should die for it...not really. It was an act of passion and the man had no criminal history prior to the act.
I do think that those who willingly and maliciously murder an individual for whatever reason--such as a rape/murder--should be put to death. Its splitting hairs but the latter is a far grosser crime in my opinion.
Granted all murder cases suggested for the death penalty should be picked clean with a fine tooth comb by those most qualified to examine evidence to determine 100% that X was the murderer and deserves to receive said punishment.
And all those bastards who lie just to get someone killed ought to be thrown to the dogs and put behind bars.
The death penalty makes me think of the movie "A Time To Kill" with Samuel L. Jackson. In that movie his little daughter gets raped and beaten for nothing. I believe people that do that deserve the death penalty. I understand that killing is wrong but we spend so much money each year on the people that kill other people so I say get rid of the killers and we'll save some money for other things.
I go back and forth on the death penalty issue. I cant decide if I am for it or against it. Its hard to not want such evil horrible people to not be killed so they wont go out and do more crimes. I think that people who do these awful crimes should suffer for them. Instead of just killing I think that we should make them suffer and long life for the things that they committed. I know that sounds cruel but people who do sick minded things should be punished. Its karma... what goes around comes around. But then again if I look on the religious side of it, we aren't the ones who should choose if someone should suffer or not. They will be judged accordingly in the after life and face their punishment then.
Personally, I think this is a tough issue to stand on one side or another. I appreciated Penn and Teller expressing that they did not know what it feels like to lose someone close to you. Clearly some pros of the death penalty issue are that are taxes are not paying to keep someone alive and well fed in a jail. It would be especially hard if you had lost someone to murder and your tax dollars are now feeding this guy in jail. Obviously anther pro is given to the family and friends who lost someone close. If I ever lost someone in my family it would be very easy for me to want to see them dead. It would give me relief. But on the other hand
What about the family who loses someone to the death penalty. It is still your family and would be hard to see them die, but it would be their own fault and actions that did it. Another con would be mistakes in the judicial system. We are not perfect and so we will make mistakes. It would be unfair to kill someone who was innocent. That would be something you could never give back.
If our judicial system was perfect I would have no problem with the death penalty. Yet our system of justice is quite often injustice. Yet I think that the death penalty is very small issue on killing innocent people. We kill innocent people all the time with our current wars. Children, mothers, fathers, will kill them all of course not on purpose but it does happen. That of course is just the cost of doing business.
I do think that we should be able to torture people I mean come on If some sick fucker comes in and rapes or molest your wife or child. I am all for taking a hammer and smashing testicles into mush. I think all of us have the desire to kill certain people. We are all human and are all sorts of crazy.
Death Penalty. Sounds like it's the ultimate penalty one could ever receive. Yes it is. To me, there's no other way to see it. It's either you are for it or you are not. I do agree with the Death Penalty. If you commit a crime that's so horrible like taking a life or something similar but worst, you should already expect it. Every case should be dealt with differently. Circumstances should be considered for every individual situation. I do strongly believe that one should be punished accordingly. Unfortunately, there are those cases that we make mistakes, and innocent people are hurt or even killed. We just need to do a better job in our court rooms to eliminate these problems in the future.
First thing I would like to say about the death penalty is that I one hundred percent support it. I think that if you cause a crime so horrendous that the death penalty is an option you deserve to die. With that said I also believe that it is the right of the people that disagree with me to protest all they want. The one thing that I would like to see changed with the death penalty is that are on death row and are not appealing their case should be killed sooner. And as for the question if there is ever a legitimate reason to kill absolutely!
The death penalty can be a very touchy subject. I can definitely see why some people support it while others are against it, for example if a psychotic person goes out and kills a great number of people and we have evident proof that this person has mental problems and will continue to kill if they are ever released then I am 100% for the death penalty. On the other hand, there have been cases where innocent people have been put on death row and eventually released once the truth was discovered. Now you tell me, if we have had innocent people on death row before, could there have been a chance that maybe somewhere in our history of executions we could have killed an innocent person? I say the chances are very high. On another note when it comes to lethal injection, I do believe it to be faulty and I would rather see the use of firing squads once again, I believed them to be more effective, lethal injection can be seen as a way of “sugar coating” the act of killing a person, if your going to continue the use of executions then act on them accordingly, don’t leave it to chance on lethal injections and the possible suffering of the individual, a bullet in the head and one in the chest is much more efficient. In case you’re wondering about how firing squads operate, I suggest you google it. Not every single weapon in the firing squad is loaded with real bullets, some are blanks and it is randomized as to who has the actual bullet or bullets in their weapon.
Link to a innocent person released from death row http://deathwatch.wordpress.com/2008/04/02/breaking-innocent-man-released-from-death-row/
I don't know where I stand on the issue of the death penalty. I am for justice...but where is the line for that? The death penalty, in my opinion is set up to fulfill one end, however, I don't fell that it succeeds in that. It is supposed to be a deterrent for criminals to think about and make them choose a better path. However, it seems more that it is a way for people to take revenge on someone who has done wrong. If any innocent people are killed in the process of "justice", then our system has failed. Killing off people, even the most "evil" killers, doesn't seem to actually help our society, it seems to me that more and more people are sitting on death row...not a very strong deterrent now is it. However ineffective I feel it is, I don't know what a better alternative would be. It is expensive to house people in prisons, and they are already crowded as is...so what to do...? We could send all criminals to the 51st state in America, the Maple Leaf State (Canada). Other than that, I don't see any way to get by the Death Penalty...unless everyone agrees to pay lots more in taxes to fund new prisons for the increase in prisoners. Without more money for prisons, than we have a choice to make, going on the assumption that people aren't just going to decide today to stop murdering others, then we need to choose what is the better of the two supposed evils... 1)chance suffering during lethal injection or 2)very poor living conditions for inmates.
I’m still kind of not sure where I stand on the Death Penalty. Is it barbaric in a way? Yes. Are there some instances where I feel like someone deserves to die? Yes. But where the controversy comes in for me is since when is it up to our legal system to decide wither someone lives or dies. This topic is a tug of war because there are so many people who I think deserve to die but I wouldn’t kill them myself. On the other hand if some guy or gal just so happen to rape or kill my niece or someone in my family my point of view would surely change.
One last thing I have to say about this is when a cop is proven to have killed a person in cold blood I think we are way to lenient on their punishment it should be the same as everyone else. Yes, cops do have one of the toughest and dangerous jobs out there but that doesn’t give them the right to ABUSE power. If a cop kills someone they should be tried as anyone else.
pros: the pros of the death penalty are that we get all the scum off the streats and hopefully prevent future crime. the death penalty is the belief an eye for an eye. why keep a person alive in jail for the rest of their lives. jails are already over crowded.
cons: someone innocent could be killed for a crime they didn't commit. people might jump to conclustions and kill a person that doesn't really deserve it. maybe it is too harsh and the ways we kill the person aren't humane.
The Death Penalty wow...talk about controversy. I agree with Isaac and Taft on the things they said. If you kill someone in cold blood you should have the same thing done to you cause your nothing more than a piece of shit. If it was a act of passion then sit and rot in jail and think about it. If you didn't mean to do it sitting and being reminded of it everyday is going to be a lot worse than dying in fact you probably will just want to die. I think that the death penalty is good if you use it on the right people.
Last I checked, murder was illegal. Why should we have "legal murder" just to get rid of some criminals? Jared made an excellent point about the cost to house inmates, but I think that killing off a few to save money will end up making little difference because more inmates will replace them because society can't seem to follow our laws. Wheres our humanity? Why is it okay to kill someone just because they broke some of our laws? I don't think that a person can do anything that merits taking their lives. That said, I am not saying that I am all fine with murderers and such, I just think that killing them off is unimaginative and a poor punishment. I think that putting them in prison for life is a much better solution, because I would think most people would agree that death would be the more appealing option if you were faced with life in prison. Look at Charles Manson. He is 80 or so, and every year in prison he has become less outspoken and now has somewhat retracted into the shell of an old man. Sure, we could have killed him a long time ago, but I bet his time in prison hasn't been all that wonderful.
penn and teller made a good point by saying that "if killing someone is wrong than the death penalty is wrong." i agree with the show, if someone is worthy of the death penalty why not just lock them up for life. if the death penalty was abolished then there would not even be a question as to whether the prisoner was guilty or not. the death penalty is wrong is someone commits a horrible crime they should rot in jail.
I am not sure I agree with the death penalty. I can see where if someone has had a family member killed, they would want some kind of justice. Is the death penalty the solution to ease their pains? It isn't going to bring their family member back. Would life in prison be enough punishment? I would like to think that it would be. I can't relate to the victims family members and hopefully never will. It does cost money to lock murderers away, but how can you put a price on a human beings life. People argue that punishments are strict to help keep the number of murders down. If this is the case, I could see a reason for it, but I believe that majority of murders happen on impulse. Murderers don't think about the conseqences until after the fact.
I deleted my last post for this subject because I contradicted myself. This is a tough subject. I do believe that people should pay for the crimes they commit. Should death be one of those punishments? I can see reasons to do it and reasons not to. The main point is that I really don't want to be a part of it. If it happens or not, I will not give it a second thought. However, If I was in the situation of the man in the film where is daughter was kidnapped, raped and murdered, hell yeah I would be for the death penalty. Oh and just a side note, I hope that Penn and Teller are punished for exploiting that man on the subject of his grief.
This segment of “Bullshit” was an eye opener for me. I had always been a supporter of the death penalty for those who have committed brutal crimes against humanity or individuals and assumed that the vast majority of those who were executed were proven to be guilty. The times I have heard of solid proof that a person was wrongfully executed or incarcerated have made my gut wrench but since I do believe in God and an after life I have comfort in knowing these people are in a better place and true justice will be done to All in the end. This would probably not be much of a consolation to those who have lost a loved one that was innocent if they had no belief in ultimate justice through a higher power. For them I can understand the anger that would be felt and harbored for years after. In fact even thought I believe as I mentioned before, if I were to find out that one of my loved ones had been wrongfully convicted, incarcerated, or put to death I would be angry as well but would hope to fall back on that faith in a just God that has said in scripture “I will repay”. I love watching and hearing about people who have been wronged forgiving those who have wronged them and even without receiving any apology or compensation from the offender. Turning the other cheek, as Jesus taught would solve a lot of problems that in some cases could prevent senseless murder and even break the cycle of violence completely if fully implemented. On the other hand as I said before I had always been a supporter of the death penalty for those who have committed brutal crimes against humanity or individuals. I really have to rethink the whole idea. Some great points were made in this segment, but the question still remains, would I be able to do as I believe and forgive someone who had harmed one of my loved ones? Or would rage overcome me? On many occasions I have imagined what I might do to a person that were to rape or murder one of my children. The scene doesn’t end up pretty. I don’t think I have ever even imagined letting the justice system in this country handle it. It usually involves me inflicting my own form of brutal torture in return and spending the rest of my life in prison for it. I hope I will never have to be put in the position where I have to decide either forgiveness or punishment for any one but if I do I now hope more than ever I will be able to forgive and let my faith guide me. At this point I think lifelong incarceration is winning over my vote.
If you do the crime then I think you should do the crime!!! Thenceforth the death penalty should still be here!! When someone else takes a innocent life and either kill it or scare it they should learn there lesson and have them never commit it again!! Also I think if you don't take a life but you ruin it then you should be put into jail FOREVER!!!! It isn't right when someone hurts innocent blood out of hate. All said and done if you do something out of hate you need to be punished. Depending on the situation, if called for, the death penalty should stay in place!!
I think the death penalty should still be in place. I understand there have been a people innocent put to death on death row, but it happens. To be wrongfully accused of something would be horrible, and to be innocent of the whole crime would even be more outrageous. But more often than not, the death penalty has justified the killings of people who deserve to die. If someone killed my family member, I could only hope that son of a bitch would be put to death. Lethal injection, firing squad, hanging, it does not matter, they should be put to death. Also, i dont think it matters if the death for the inmate in painful or not. Obviously they did something to get themselves on death row, so who cares if they feel some pain while they die. The sorrow and anguish a family must deal with after there son/daughter gets murdered will never go away. So should show no mercy towards inmates on death row because 95% of those people deserve to die.
while i understand passion crimes, i dont understand the death penalty. the person should be sent to a lifetime sentence if it deserves it. if it's becuase we don't have room make another facility... opens jobs for the construction and makes jobs for guarding the thing. murder is murder even its a nation doing it, i don't believe in death row. but passion crimes, if someone killed a loved on in front of me i dont think i could just stand by, there would be an uncontrolable rage.
The Death penalty is a tough topic and i believe that it goes both way. I believe that there is a time and a place for it. If you are murdering people and taking people life then you deserve the penalty. If you are threatened with you life then you shouldn't get the penalty. The thing that i don't like is the people that get blackmailed and killed who didn't not do the murdered is wrong. So to sum it up i think in certain cased people should get the death penalty.
I personally do agree with the death penalty. i know my post might get backlashed but that is perfectly fine with me. When someone is able to commit a horrible crime, what makes them think the individual isn't going to do it again? I say this because how many deaths happen within the prison by that person? And even though I understand that there are some innocent people behind bars, I don't agree with that aspect. But my own father had to go to prison (but obviously is out) and while he was there he told me about the kind of people there who were literally gone from disbelief. While some will say that prison is a horrible place, it's not for the sick rapists and child molesters/murderers. Do you know that they have to be segregated to a different part of the prison so that the other inmates who are there for different reasons than murder and such henious crimes don't rip them apart and i hate that. So even someone from prison is saying that the death penalty is great for those sick bastards who take life maliciously do deserve their own life. Look at the pain they had brought the victim's family? Even though i do understand that killing the perpetrator will not bring the victim back think of it as closure. Can you honestly say that if you were to put yourself in that man's position on the show where his little girl was killed could you stand there, on trial, and fight for that man to remain behind bars or be killed? That is one of the questions you have to ask yourself before you decide if you are for or against the death penalty.
hmm, the death penalty is a very debatable topic. to me, i somewhat agree with it and disagree with it. penn and teller brang up really good points such as how one guy was sent on death road but to find later on that he was innocent.
i believe in the death penalty but i think they should have very strict rules on it. i think people who murder on purpose definitely should be penalized, i think the only way people should be killed is if they know for SURE that they are guilty.. the only thing that makes me not want to believe in death penalty is that not everyone is perfect, someone might be innocent but someone will make the mistake of finding them guilty and will be killed for no reason.
i think that life sentence is also fine, i think people should have the choice if they want the death penalty or life sentence. because to me, there both bad enough punishments. the death penalty of course is going to end your life. and life sentence is just going to give you too much to think about and pretty much kill you inside anyways.
well before this episode i was undecided on how i feel about the death penalty... and i still am. it is a hard decision to make, what gives you the right to say that this person has no more rights and deserves to die? but then again he/she didn't give that a thought when they did whatever they did to get to that position. If it came down to it and there was a guy that broke into my house i would shoot him because i don't know what he was planning on doing, and i am not going to ask him about it. but i still don't know...
I believe a person should be punished for their crime they commit. Because a person is punished or is seen being punished it sets a image in their mind of what will happen to someone else if they do it. And most people don't really care about what they have done and they'll go to jail, spend their time there and come out and commit another stupid crime. So if you do a death plenty it show a lesson. But then you have if you kill the wrong person then thats just a crime you commit and I believe you should be punished for that.
I actually did a research paper on this topic and murder goes up as capital punishment goes down. Buttom line these wuse bags that murder people don't want to die themselves so in order to control them we need more order. People that murder are not normal society, they are twisted and therefore we cannot treat their punishment like a normal crime. I don't think we should just put all the bad guys to death but the ones that commited planned murder or the murder of several people. We should not have to pay for them to sit in jail and watch cable, they should get their justice.
I agree with the death penalty. There are people out there that are serial killers. Those people made that choice when they were killing people. I agree that there should 5 years or 10 years before they are killed because they have taken innocent people and put them on death row. I wife did research paper on the death penalty and it cost more to kill someone then it does to keep them in jail for 100 years. We need to find a cheaper way to kill people. I have worked in a let office and we put dog and horse down all the time. It around 500 dollar for a horse and it is humane they go to sleep and there heart stops working. Now why can’t we find something like that?
The death penalty I feel is wrong it doesn't solve anything in my eyes. We want to prevent deaths am I right?.. I understand that yes many of the people are guilty for what they have done but imagine if they were innocent, imagine yourself. We designed maximum security prisons for a reason. To keep these people under a watchful eye and discipline them. People can change over time if they really think about what they have done. There are therapist and psychologist out there that could help people for there wrong doings if we actually took the time to help these people.
I also understand how someone could feel if there family member friend or child was murdered they would lean towards the death penalty, but is it really right? people need to really think about what they are doing to someone whether you're the murderer or the person sentencing this person to there death. Crime should be punished but taking a life is just taking it way to far for me.
This is a tuff issue so its hard to draw an exact line on where I stand concerning the death penalty. First of all I want to say that life in prison is not the same or worse than the death penalty. If someone did something so bad that they warrant the death penalty then give it to em quick. They do not deserve the time on earth to even contemplate and feel bad for what they did. They should not get the priveladge of free thought. Send those bastards straight to hell where they belong and can be punished further. I do most certainly feel that there is a time and a place for the death penalty and I feel that they system is screwed up enough that the bad go free and the good pay sometimes and that is wrong we need to fix that.
This is a tough issue for someone to be completely on one side or another because there are so many variables involved. I feel like if there is ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE evidence against the accused or he admits to the crime, the death penalty is only fair. If you kill someone I care about, I would want you to die an incredibly shitty death. However, the amount of people on death row that have been released is way too high. They need to have completely indesputable evidence to kill a person.
One of the things that bugged me the most was that when they did this episode they tried to argue whether or not the death penalty deterred from future murders being committed and Penn and Teller's argument was that no it does not so the death penalty isn't effective and also very cruel, rather than looking at certain circumstances and saying doesn't this person just deserve to fucking die for what they did? I mean if there was some guy who raped and killed like ten plus woman that mother fucker deserves to die, and in my opinion not even a quick death. Then you have all these far left liberal douche bags rallying with picket signs outside prisons defending all these murderers. I bet if most of them had a close friend or family member who was brutally raped, tortured and murdered they might have different views of the death penalty and they sure as hell wouldn't be rallying outside the murderer's prison defending him. I just think that if someone commits a crime that heinous and there is indisputable evidence that they are guilty they deserve to die. And i'm not talking about every person who commits a murder should die i'm talking about the very heinous, pre-determined murders.
Whatever arguments that people use for and against the death penalty in the Penn & Teller Bullshit episode, ultimately the question hits a brick wall because it becomes a total cross-values debate. (One wherein the parties discussing the issue have diametrically opposed or simply incompatible core ideas from which they begin reasoning. No productive discussion can take place.)
They begin and end the episode by concluding that killing human beings is always wrong in all circumstances, so it’s difficult to begin any logical process when this is the core value. Being something of deontological moralist myself (think a less OCD absolutist version of Kant), I tend to value the idea that the rule of law must enforce punishments that are proportional to the offense committed. Showing excess force or undue mitigation in punishment disrespects the ideas of self-determination and free will. Because the act of taking another life is so extreme and final, the punishment must also be so. I can support capital punishment due to this idea at least in theory. However, if it is found in an impartial review that the judicial system, despite its construction to preferentially allow guilty people to walk free rather than punish the innocent, cannot effectively determine the guilt beyond a REASONABLE doubt (not all doubt), I am willing to consider an alternative punishment.
However, my alternative to death is this: since in taking the life of another a person has removed themselves morally from the society in which they live and operate, their punishment should be that they are removed from society. Do not mistake my meaning, I do not mean relocating them to a prison society; I mean the total absence of human interaction for the remainder of their lives, locked away with no human contact of any kind (even a television or radio). The death of another being merits a similarly destructive punishment.
i don't support killing people, but i do support the use of lethal force when defending yourself and your loved ones against lethal threats. this aside, if it is the law of the land that said crime equals said punishment, then those that commit these crimes know whats coming. we are sadly human and do make mistakes, but we do need to make sure that crimes are punished. i pay my speeding tickets, honest i do and i hate every minute of it.
I think Penn and Teller Hit the nail on the head with this piece. The only question in my mind is are we a country that kills people or aren't we? All the other arguments fall short. How much is humanity worth to us as a nation. People do bad things let them sit in jail who cares. Anyway don't care to much about this issue and Sean Penn sucks!
ReplyDeleteI do not know where exactly I stand when comes to death penalty.
ReplyDeleteMy pro and cons are:
1 -We as a society have to move away from the "eye for an eye" revenge mentality if civilization is to advance.
2 -It sends the wrong message: why kill people who kill people to show killing is wrong.
3 -The possibility exists that innocent men and women may be put to death.
1 -Prisoner parole or escapes can give criminals another chance to kill.
2 -It gives prosecutors another bargaining chip in the plea bargain process, which is essential in cutting costs in an overcrowded court system.
It is hard to say, because if someone comes inside of my house and rape and kill my daughter I probably would be totally a favor of Death Penalty. So I do think that this one is a hard argument to decide a side.
The death penalty is one of the most contraversial issues our society faces. Before seeing the episode, I was in favor of the Death penalty but Penn & Teller brought up many solid points that I agreed with. For example the guy that was wrongfully sentenced to death row for two years before actually being proved innocent. This really shows how there's glitches in the system. The bad part of the situation is, is that we are dealing with human lives.
ReplyDeleteThough these were great points, I think they weren't enough to convince me to be fully against the death penalty. However, I do think that the death penalty should only be considered in cases that are very severe. For example when an individual committs a masacre or takes advantage of hopeless child like the case in the episode.
I think those criminals definately need to be penalized with death. Someone who commits these certain types of crimes does not deserve a second chance, the victims didn't have a second chance, why should they? Also like Penn & Teller explained our prisons are very packed and criminals like this are waisting our tax money.
This is a sore issue for me to take sides on. When it comes to my religion, we believe in turning the other cheek. But as for my personal belief, I am unsure of where I stand. The census of our prisons are on the uprise and are becoming too crowded! Also, the idea that child abducters and abusers can someday be up for parole scares the shit out of me!... I think that if there is a convict who has committed several serious crimes such as murder and sexual abuse of a child and there is concrete evidence of the persons guilt and there is a chance that he will harm others, in or out of prison, he should be locked up in the darkest corner of a prison somewhere for the rest of their natural life. sO they can't hurt anybody else. But I also feel that people who abuse their own children and rapists should be castrated and made impossible for them to procreate again....
ReplyDeleteI was surprised that Penn and Teller neglected to break down the annual cost of an average prison inmate that comes directly out of the tax payer wallet. I could only find statistics from 99-00. The average cost of an inmate was around $20,000 a year or $50 a day. All I know is that I have yet to clear $20,000 a year in my adult life… So why not liquidate a few high risk inmates?
ReplyDeleteThis topic is not cut and dry. The claim that we as a nation are all murderers every time a criminal is executed is a stretch. I also have no problem with lethal injection. Just because it was invented in Nazi Germany doesn’t’ bother me. A lot of Hitler’s practices have been used to progress modern medicine. He may have fostered mass genocide but luckily he use educated people to facilitate it with the scientific method. Along with bad, a lot of good has come from his studies.
That being said, my only beef is that there is no margin for err. These people need and have to be guilty without a doubt. The guy who figured the number of 25 over some where in the hundreds is crazy. Are we suppose to be impressed?
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ReplyDeletethe death penaty is great tool, At first when we ever realized how affective that is for all. Yes, as the human being and social animal we are tend to protect the species around place and emotions. But if we want to argue death penaty There are however different levels to the punishments. It is total heart break when that issues occur in both side of the coins. But There are the greater of mercy and power of forgiveness that mens can't compehence far then this. If people ever allow the closer the emotion and think about forgive and repents? The juries and court must have the highest standard of ethical, moral and spritual in able to interpreting from their eyes. What's motives. faces, evidenses and history. Thse answes, invoid with responsibilty and abilities according to their need. If so, the lesson must learn and applied. To govern with justis and balance.
ReplyDeleteI feel that there is a time and a place for the death penalty. Certain crimes warrant the death penalty. The people out there that willingly take the life of another should be given the sentence of a death penalty. I feel the same way as the person above when i was supprised that they didnt get into detail of the cost of living for an inmate to serve a sentence verse the cost for them to be put to death. I dont know the exact numbers either. But I can assure you that its much cheaper to let them feel the same pain that others have felt caused by them. I also dont agree with the statement that we are all killers when we execute someone. What gives them the right to take anothers life and yet they are allowed to live. They have taken something from someone that can never be given back. I think its about time we start returning the favor.
ReplyDeleteIn Florida each execution costs the state an average of $3,200,000, which is six times the expense of life imprisonment. If California were to abolish the death penalty and re-sentence its death row inmates to life, it would save $90,000,000 per year. thats alot of money!!
ReplyDeletehowever, If capital punishment were to be abolished, the worst sentence the jury could give a convicted murderer would be life imprisonment. Many innocent persons have died at the hands of men previously convicted and imprisoned for murder, supposedly for ‘life’.” Here is an example, On April 3, 1988, three murderers serving life sentences without the chance for parole escaped from the Maximum-Security West Virginia Penitentiary. One, Bobby Stacy, had killed a Huntington police officer in 1981. At the time, he had been on bail after being arrested for shooting an Ohio policeman. If capital punishment is abolished, convicted murderers only receive a lifetime to exploit an imperfection in the system, escape, and continue killing.
if you ask for my opinion, i say keep the death penalty, but yes maybe only convict those who really deserve it to death row.
Fuck! I pressed the back button and suddenly my post is gone. well if it isn't and I posted twice sorry. IF not... Damnit
ReplyDeleteso the death penalty is wrong because life in prison is just as bad if not worse and lethal injection is baloney not because it is or isn't painless but because it isn't entertaining. (that sounded heartless didn't it?) But life sentances are okay because if you are innocent you have quite a bit of time to be found innocent and if you are not then you have a lifetime of boring days and assrape ahead of you. That way everyone is happy.
Why does some peoples so care about those scum who took the life of another for their personal gain? What's wrong to eliminate those who don't deserve human-right? Why just want to feed them forever, when you can just put a bullet in the back of their heads? Feeding them and locking them is just wasting space, foods, and our times for just prevent them to escape. Of course, most of us want to live as long as we can. So we shoulden't do someting wrong which we only can pay with our life. Criminals' thoughts are difficult to understand, the death penalty should only use on the peoples who's absolute guilty. We actually need something to scare ourselves to prevent us from doing something wrong. (kind weird of human, aren't we?)
ReplyDeleteMany peoples criticize China has the highest rate death penalty in the world, that's because China has the highest population in the world.
I'm in for the death penalty, because I've seen to many news report about how escaped convicts have once again killed someone or even a whole family. Why the fuck would we want risk the chance of that happening to someone innocent? How would you feel if that innocent someone is a family member of your's? would you then be for the death penalty or not still? A killer will always be a killer, no matter how you looked at.
ReplyDeleteLife is so precious but when someone brutal take's another life away, he or she therefore has already decided to forfeit their
's. Think about how many life we will save and how much money we will save in prison fee.
Call me old school but I'm all about the "An eye for an eye" mentality.
An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth... We should be above that as a society. But there is a time and a place for the death penalty. Why should a rapist or a killer be allowed to live? They have committed a horrible crime of taking the life of an innocent life. What rights should they then be entitled to? I say none. If the death penalty is enforced on a criminal than we as a society should not rejoice in that. It still is a horrific experience.
ReplyDeleteWe definitely need to be stricter and have less bias opinion on deciding who gets the death penalty and who does not. If it is going to happen it should be a fair deciding process that is investigated. The crime committed needs to be proven and backed.
The death Penalty is a touchy topic. I personally feel that we should be a nation that moves away from an eye for an eye type of punishment. The main reason we should not stick to this method, is that it does NOT reduce the amount of crimes that people will commit, that have the death penalty on them. Second, alot of people on death row are on there due to "witnesses", and to be honest, how many people do you trust in your own life??? Now we are goign to be some person who said they were there? I would hope not. There are a number of people who were on death row and were found to be innocent, which to me even if there is one person who was innocent and was on death row, no one else should ever be put on it.
ReplyDeleteHowever I must admit, if some one did to my daughter or family, what some of those people did, I would say kill the motherfuckers. I would hope they die, the most extreme death possible, which is sad to say, but I know most people have that crazy feeling inside of them, if something was to happen. It is hard for me to pick a side on this issue because I would be very angry and want death if somethign happened to my family, but my internal religous feeling make me say that we should not kill people and let them sit in prison, either way the issue will and is very complex.
This is a pretty touchy subject for just about everybody. My standing; it is a necessary evil. All laws in our Judicial system are based on the Ten Commandments whether people like it or not. Thou shalt not kill is a big one from the list; therefore; it is illegal to take the life of another person. The law of Moses was an eye for an eye. Death for Death. Now if the law were strictly literal it could get really fucked up and quite inhumane. Say death row inmate X raped and then murdered little Suzie, the law could be construed to have the same offense turned on X. That's not a good idea.
ReplyDeleteYears ago in high school, I went on a field trip to our state prison and there were a panel of inmates incarcerated for various things. One man I remember specifically, told us he was having a very bitter argument with his wife and at the same time they were doing something in their home that required tools. In the course of the argument she handed him a hammer and turned to walk away and in his passionate anger hit her in the head with the hammer. I truly believe he was sorry for what he did to her because of how he told us this sad story. Do I think he should die for it...not really. It was an act of passion and the man had no criminal history prior to the act.
I do think that those who willingly and maliciously murder an individual for whatever reason--such as a rape/murder--should be put to death. Its splitting hairs but the latter is a far grosser crime in my opinion.
Granted all murder cases suggested for the death penalty should be picked clean with a fine tooth comb by those most qualified to examine evidence to determine 100% that X was the murderer and deserves to receive said punishment.
And all those bastards who lie just to get someone killed ought to be thrown to the dogs and put behind bars.
The death penalty makes me think of the movie "A Time To Kill" with Samuel L. Jackson. In that movie his little daughter gets raped and beaten for nothing. I believe people that do that deserve the death penalty. I understand that killing is wrong but we spend so much money each year on the people that kill other people so I say get rid of the killers and we'll save some money for other things.
ReplyDeleteI go back and forth on the death penalty issue. I cant decide if I am for it or against it. Its hard to not want such evil horrible people to not be killed so they wont go out and do more crimes. I think that people who do these awful crimes should suffer for them. Instead of just killing I think that we should make them suffer and long life for the things that they committed. I know that sounds cruel but people who do sick minded things should be punished. Its karma... what goes around comes around. But then again if I look on the religious side of it, we aren't the ones who should choose if someone should suffer or not. They will be judged accordingly in the after life and face their punishment then.
ReplyDeletePersonally, I think this is a tough issue to stand on one side or another. I appreciated Penn and Teller expressing that they did not know what it feels like to lose someone close to you. Clearly some pros of the death penalty issue are that are taxes are not paying to keep someone alive and well fed in a jail. It would be especially hard if you had lost someone to murder and your tax dollars are now feeding this guy in jail. Obviously anther pro is given to the family and friends who lost someone close. If I ever lost someone in my family it would be very easy for me to want to see them dead. It would give me relief. But on the other hand
ReplyDeleteWhat about the family who loses someone to the death penalty. It is still your family and would be hard to see them die, but it would be their own fault and actions that did it. Another con would be mistakes in the judicial system. We are not perfect and so we will make mistakes. It would be unfair to kill someone who was innocent. That would be something you could never give back.
If our judicial system was perfect I would have no problem with the death penalty. Yet our system of justice is quite often injustice. Yet I think that the death penalty is very small issue on killing innocent people. We kill innocent people all the time with our current wars. Children, mothers, fathers, will kill them all of course not on purpose but it does happen. That of course is just the cost of doing business.
ReplyDeleteI do think that we should be able to torture people I mean come on If some sick fucker comes in and rapes or molest your wife or child. I am all for taking a hammer and smashing testicles into mush. I think all of us have the desire to kill certain people. We are all human and are all sorts of crazy.
Death Penalty. Sounds like it's the ultimate penalty one could ever receive. Yes it is.
ReplyDeleteTo me, there's no other way to see it. It's either you are for it or you are not. I do agree with the Death Penalty. If you commit a crime that's so horrible like taking a life or something similar but worst, you should already expect it. Every case should be dealt with differently. Circumstances should be considered for every individual situation. I do strongly believe that one should be punished accordingly. Unfortunately, there are those cases that we make mistakes, and innocent people are hurt or even killed. We just need to do a better job in our court rooms to eliminate these problems in the future.
First thing I would like to say about the death penalty is that I one hundred percent support it. I think that if you cause a crime so horrendous that the death penalty is an option you deserve to die. With that said I also believe that it is the right of the people that disagree with me to protest all they want. The one thing that I would like to see changed with the death penalty is that are on death row and are not appealing their case should be killed sooner. And as for the question if there is ever a legitimate reason to kill absolutely!
ReplyDeleteThe death penalty can be a very touchy subject. I can definitely see why some people support it while others are against it, for example if a psychotic person goes out and kills a great number of people and we have evident proof that this person has mental problems and will continue to kill if they are ever released then I am 100% for the death penalty. On the other hand, there have been cases where innocent people have been put on death row and eventually released once the truth was discovered. Now you tell me, if we have had innocent people on death row before, could there have been a chance that maybe somewhere in our history of executions we could have killed an innocent person? I say the chances are very high.
ReplyDeleteOn another note when it comes to lethal injection, I do believe it to be faulty and I would rather see the use of firing squads once again, I believed them to be more effective, lethal injection can be seen as a way of “sugar coating” the act of killing a person, if your going to continue the use of executions then act on them accordingly, don’t leave it to chance on lethal injections and the possible suffering of the individual, a bullet in the head and one in the chest is much more efficient. In case you’re wondering about how firing squads operate, I suggest you google it. Not every single weapon in the firing squad is loaded with real bullets, some are blanks and it is randomized as to who has the actual bullet or bullets in their weapon.
Link to a innocent person released from death row
http://deathwatch.wordpress.com/2008/04/02/breaking-innocent-man-released-from-death-row/
I don't know where I stand on the issue of the death penalty. I am for justice...but where is the line for that? The death penalty, in my opinion is set up to fulfill one end, however, I don't fell that it succeeds in that. It is supposed to be a deterrent for criminals to think about and make them choose a better path. However, it seems more that it is a way for people to take revenge on someone who has done wrong. If any innocent people are killed in the process of "justice", then our system has failed. Killing off people, even the most "evil" killers, doesn't seem to actually help our society, it seems to me that more and more people are sitting on death row...not a very strong deterrent now is it. However ineffective I feel it is, I don't know what a better alternative would be. It is expensive to house people in prisons, and they are already crowded as is...so what to do...?
ReplyDeleteWe could send all criminals to the 51st state in America, the Maple Leaf State (Canada). Other than that, I don't see any way to get by the Death Penalty...unless everyone agrees to pay lots more in taxes to fund new prisons for the increase in prisoners. Without more money for prisons, than we have a choice to make, going on the assumption that people aren't just going to decide today to stop murdering others, then we need to choose what is the better of the two supposed evils... 1)chance suffering during lethal injection or 2)very poor living conditions for inmates.
I’m still kind of not sure where I stand on the Death Penalty. Is it barbaric in a way? Yes. Are there some instances where I feel like someone deserves to die? Yes. But where the controversy comes in for me is since when is it up to our legal system to decide wither someone lives or dies. This topic is a tug of war because there are so many people who I think deserve to die but I wouldn’t kill them myself. On the other hand if some guy or gal just so happen to rape or kill my niece or someone in my family my point of view would surely change.
ReplyDeleteOne last thing I have to say about this is when a cop is proven to have killed a person in cold blood I think we are way to lenient on their punishment it should be the same as everyone else. Yes, cops do have one of the toughest and dangerous jobs out there but that doesn’t give them the right to ABUSE power. If a cop kills someone they should be tried as anyone else.
pros: the pros of the death penalty are that we get all the scum off the streats and hopefully prevent future crime. the death penalty is the belief an eye for an eye. why keep a person alive in jail for the rest of their lives. jails are already over crowded.
ReplyDeletecons: someone innocent could be killed for a crime they didn't commit. people might jump to conclustions and kill a person that doesn't really deserve it. maybe it is too harsh and the ways we kill the person aren't humane.
The Death Penalty wow...talk about controversy. I agree with Isaac and Taft on the things they said. If you kill someone in cold blood you should have the same thing done to you cause your nothing more than a piece of shit. If it was a act of passion then sit and rot in jail and think about it. If you didn't mean to do it sitting and being reminded of it everyday is going to be a lot worse than dying in fact you probably will just want to die. I think that the death penalty is good if you use it on the right people.
ReplyDeleteLast I checked, murder was illegal. Why should we have "legal murder" just to get rid of some criminals? Jared made an excellent point about the cost to house inmates, but I think that killing off a few to save money will end up making little difference because more inmates will replace them because society can't seem to follow our laws. Wheres our humanity? Why is it okay to kill someone just because they broke some of our laws? I don't think that a person can do anything that merits taking their lives. That said, I am not saying that I am all fine with murderers and such, I just think that killing them off is unimaginative and a poor punishment. I think that putting them in prison for life is a much better solution, because I would think most people would agree that death would be the more appealing option if you were faced with life in prison. Look at Charles Manson. He is 80 or so, and every year in prison he has become less outspoken and now has somewhat retracted into the shell of an old man. Sure, we could have killed him a long time ago, but I bet his time in prison hasn't been all that wonderful.
ReplyDeletepenn and teller made a good point by saying that "if killing someone is wrong than the death penalty is wrong." i agree with the show, if someone is worthy of the death penalty why not just lock them up for life. if the death penalty was abolished then there would not even be a question as to whether the prisoner was guilty or not. the death penalty is wrong is someone commits a horrible crime they should rot in jail.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure I agree with the death penalty. I can see where if someone has had a family member killed, they would want some kind of justice. Is the death penalty the solution to ease their pains? It isn't going to bring their family member back. Would life in prison be enough punishment? I would like to think that it would be. I can't relate to the victims family members and hopefully never will. It does cost money to lock murderers away, but how can you put a price on a human beings life. People argue that punishments are strict to help keep the number of murders down. If this is the case, I could see a reason for it, but I believe that majority of murders happen on impulse. Murderers don't think about the conseqences until after the fact.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI deleted my last post for this subject because I contradicted myself. This is a tough subject. I do believe that people should pay for the crimes they commit. Should death be one of those punishments? I can see reasons to do it and reasons not to. The main point is that I really don't want to be a part of it. If it happens or not, I will not give it a second thought. However, If I was in the situation of the man in the film where is daughter was kidnapped, raped and murdered, hell yeah I would be for the death penalty. Oh and just a side note, I hope that Penn and Teller are punished for exploiting that man on the subject of his grief.
ReplyDeleteThis segment of “Bullshit” was an eye opener for me. I had always been a supporter of the death penalty for those who have committed brutal crimes against humanity or individuals and assumed that the vast majority of those who were executed were proven to be guilty. The times I have heard of solid proof that a person was wrongfully executed or incarcerated have made my gut wrench but since I do believe in God and an after life I have comfort in knowing these people are in a better place and true justice will be done to All in the end. This would probably not be much of a consolation to those who have lost a loved one that was innocent if they had no belief in ultimate justice through a higher power. For them I can understand the anger that would be felt and harbored for years after. In fact even thought I believe as I mentioned before, if I were to find out that one of my loved ones had been wrongfully convicted, incarcerated, or put to death I would be angry as well but would hope to fall back on that faith in a just God that has said in scripture “I will repay”. I love watching and hearing about people who have been wronged forgiving those who have wronged them and even without receiving any apology or compensation from the offender. Turning the other cheek, as Jesus taught would solve a lot of problems that in some cases could prevent senseless murder and even break the cycle of violence completely if fully implemented. On the other hand as I said before I had always been a supporter of the death penalty for those who have committed brutal crimes against humanity or individuals. I really have to rethink the whole idea. Some great points were made in this segment, but the question still remains, would I be able to do as I believe and forgive someone who had harmed one of my loved ones? Or would rage overcome me? On many occasions I have imagined what I might do to a person that were to rape or murder one of my children. The scene doesn’t end up pretty. I don’t think I have ever even imagined letting the justice system in this country handle it. It usually involves me inflicting my own form of brutal torture in return and spending the rest of my life in prison for it. I hope I will never have to be put in the position where I have to decide either forgiveness or punishment for any one but if I do I now hope more than ever I will be able to forgive and let my faith guide me. At this point I think lifelong incarceration is winning over my vote.
ReplyDeleteIf you do the crime then I think you should do the crime!!! Thenceforth the death penalty should still be here!! When someone else takes a innocent life and either kill it or scare it they should learn there lesson and have them never commit it again!! Also I think if you don't take a life but you ruin it then you should be put into jail FOREVER!!!! It isn't right when someone hurts innocent blood out of hate. All said and done if you do something out of hate you need to be punished. Depending on the situation, if called for, the death penalty should stay in place!!
ReplyDeleteI think the death penalty should still be in place. I understand there have been a people innocent put to death on death row, but it happens. To be wrongfully accused of something would be horrible, and to be innocent of the whole crime would even be more outrageous. But more often than not, the death penalty has justified the killings of people who deserve to die. If someone killed my family member, I could only hope that son of a bitch would be put to death. Lethal injection, firing squad, hanging, it does not matter, they should be put to death. Also, i dont think it matters if the death for the inmate in painful or not. Obviously they did something to get themselves on death row, so who cares if they feel some pain while they die. The sorrow and anguish a family must deal with after there son/daughter gets murdered will never go away. So should show no mercy towards inmates on death row because 95% of those people deserve to die.
ReplyDeletewhile i understand passion crimes, i dont understand the death penalty. the person should be sent to a lifetime sentence if it deserves it. if it's becuase we don't have room make another facility... opens jobs for the construction and makes jobs for guarding the thing. murder is murder even its a nation doing it, i don't believe in death row. but passion crimes, if someone killed a loved on in front of me i dont think i could just stand by, there would be an uncontrolable rage.
ReplyDeleteThe Death penalty is a tough topic and i believe that it goes both way. I believe that there is a time and a place for it. If you are murdering people and taking people life then you deserve the penalty. If you are threatened with you life then you shouldn't get the penalty. The thing that i don't like is the people that get blackmailed and killed who didn't not do the murdered is wrong. So to sum it up i think in certain cased people should get the death penalty.
ReplyDeleteI personally do agree with the death penalty. i know my post might get backlashed but that is perfectly fine with me. When someone is able to commit a horrible crime, what makes them think the individual isn't going to do it again? I say this because how many deaths happen within the prison by that person? And even though I understand that there are some innocent people behind bars, I don't agree with that aspect. But my own father had to go to prison (but obviously is out) and while he was there he told me about the kind of people there who were literally gone from disbelief. While some will say that prison is a horrible place, it's not for the sick rapists and child molesters/murderers. Do you know that they have to be segregated to a different part of the prison so that the other inmates who are there for different reasons than murder and such henious crimes don't rip them apart and i hate that. So even someone from prison is saying that the death penalty is great for those sick bastards who take life maliciously do deserve their own life. Look at the pain they had brought the victim's family? Even though i do understand that killing the perpetrator will not bring the victim back think of it as closure. Can you honestly say that if you were to put yourself in that man's position on the show where his little girl was killed could you stand there, on trial, and fight for that man to remain behind bars or be killed? That is one of the questions you have to ask yourself before you decide if you are for or against the death penalty.
ReplyDeletehmm, the death penalty is a very debatable topic. to me, i somewhat agree with it and disagree with it.
ReplyDeletepenn and teller brang up really good points such as how one guy was sent on death road but to find later on that he was innocent.
i believe in the death penalty but i think they should have very strict rules on it. i think people who murder on purpose definitely should be penalized, i think the only way people should be killed is if they know for SURE that they are guilty..
the only thing that makes me not want to believe in death penalty is that not everyone is perfect, someone might be innocent but someone will make the mistake of finding them guilty and will be killed for no reason.
i think that life sentence is also fine, i think people should have the choice if they want the death penalty or life sentence. because to me, there both bad enough punishments. the death penalty of course is going to end your life. and life sentence is just going to give you too much to think about and pretty much kill you inside anyways.
well before this episode i was undecided on how i feel about the death penalty... and i still am. it is a hard decision to make, what gives you the right to say that this person has no more rights and deserves to die? but then again he/she didn't give that a thought when they did whatever they did to get to that position. If it came down to it and there was a guy that broke into my house i would shoot him because i don't know what he was planning on doing, and i am not going to ask him about it. but i still don't know...
ReplyDeleteI believe a person should be punished for their crime they commit. Because a person is punished or is seen being punished it sets a image in their mind of what will happen to someone else if they do it. And most people don't really care about what they have done and they'll go to jail, spend their time there and come out and commit another stupid crime. So if you do a death plenty it show a lesson. But then you have if you kill the wrong person then thats just a crime you commit and I believe you should be punished for that.
ReplyDeleteI actually did a research paper on this topic and murder goes up as capital punishment goes down. Buttom line these wuse bags that murder people don't want to die themselves so in order to control them we need more order. People that murder are not normal society, they are twisted and therefore we cannot treat their punishment like a normal crime. I don't think we should just put all the bad guys to death but the ones that commited planned murder or the murder of several people. We should not have to pay for them to sit in jail and watch cable, they should get their justice.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the death penalty. There are people out there that are serial killers. Those people made that choice when they were killing people. I agree that there should 5 years or 10 years before they are killed because they have taken innocent people and put them on death row. I wife did research paper on the death penalty and it cost more to kill someone then it does to keep them in jail for 100 years. We need to find a cheaper way to kill people. I have worked in a let office and we put dog and horse down all the time. It around 500 dollar for a horse and it is humane they go to sleep and there heart stops working. Now why can’t we find something like that?
ReplyDeleteThe death penalty I feel is wrong it doesn't solve anything in my eyes. We want to prevent deaths am I right?.. I understand that yes many of the people are guilty for what they have done but imagine if they were innocent, imagine yourself. We designed maximum security prisons for a reason. To keep these people under a watchful eye and discipline them. People can change over time if they really think about what they have done. There are therapist and psychologist out there that could help people for there wrong doings if we actually took the time to help these people.
ReplyDeleteI also understand how someone could feel if there family member friend or child was murdered they would lean towards the death penalty, but is it really right? people need to really think about what they are doing to someone whether you're the murderer or the person sentencing this person to there death. Crime should be punished but taking a life is just taking it way to far for me.
This is a tuff issue so its hard to draw an exact line on where I stand concerning the death penalty. First of all I want to say that life in prison is not the same or worse than the death penalty. If someone did something so bad that they warrant the death penalty then give it to em quick. They do not deserve the time on earth to even contemplate and feel bad for what they did. They should not get the priveladge of free thought. Send those bastards straight to hell where they belong and can be punished further. I do most certainly feel that there is a time and a place for the death penalty and I feel that they system is screwed up enough that the bad go free and the good pay sometimes and that is wrong we need to fix that.
ReplyDeleteThis is a tough issue for someone to be completely on one side or another because there are so many variables involved. I feel like if there is ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE evidence against the accused or he admits to the crime, the death penalty is only fair. If you kill someone I care about, I would want you to die an incredibly shitty death. However, the amount of people on death row that have been released is way too high. They need to have completely indesputable evidence to kill a person.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things that bugged me the most was that when they did this episode they tried to argue whether or not the death penalty deterred from future murders being committed and Penn and Teller's argument was that no it does not so the death penalty isn't effective and also very cruel, rather than looking at certain circumstances and saying doesn't this person just deserve to fucking die for what they did? I mean if there was some guy who raped and killed like ten plus woman that mother fucker deserves to die, and in my opinion not even a quick death. Then you have all these far left liberal douche bags rallying with picket signs outside prisons defending all these murderers. I bet if most of them had a close friend or family member who was brutally raped, tortured and murdered they might have different views of the death penalty and they sure as hell wouldn't be rallying outside the murderer's prison defending him. I just think that if someone commits a crime that heinous and there is indisputable evidence that they are guilty they deserve to die. And i'm not talking about every person who commits a murder should die i'm talking about the very heinous, pre-determined murders.
ReplyDeleteWhatever arguments that people use for and against the death penalty in the Penn & Teller Bullshit episode, ultimately the question hits a brick wall because it becomes a total cross-values debate. (One wherein the parties discussing the issue have diametrically opposed or simply incompatible core ideas from which they begin reasoning. No productive discussion can take place.)
ReplyDeleteThey begin and end the episode by concluding that killing human beings is always wrong in all circumstances, so it’s difficult to begin any logical process when this is the core value. Being something of deontological moralist myself (think a less OCD absolutist version of Kant), I tend to value the idea that the rule of law must enforce punishments that are proportional to the offense committed. Showing excess force or undue mitigation in punishment disrespects the ideas of self-determination and free will. Because the act of taking another life is so extreme and final, the punishment must also be so. I can support capital punishment due to this idea at least in theory. However, if it is found in an impartial review that the judicial system, despite its construction to preferentially allow guilty people to walk free rather than punish the innocent, cannot effectively determine the guilt beyond a REASONABLE doubt (not all doubt), I am willing to consider an alternative punishment.
However, my alternative to death is this: since in taking the life of another a person has removed themselves morally from the society in which they live and operate, their punishment should be that they are removed from society. Do not mistake my meaning, I do not mean relocating them to a prison society; I mean the total absence of human interaction for the remainder of their lives, locked away with no human contact of any kind (even a television or radio). The death of another being merits a similarly destructive punishment.
i don't support killing people, but i do support the use of lethal force when defending yourself and your loved ones against lethal threats. this aside, if it is the law of the land that said crime equals said punishment, then those that commit these crimes know whats coming. we are sadly human and do make mistakes, but we do need to make sure that crimes are punished. i pay my speeding tickets, honest i do and i hate every minute of it.
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