Good if used wisly and is only fair.

Go talk to someone who cares. This topic has nothing to do with abortion, by the way.
Why 9 weeks? Didn't you know it's fetus at week 8?

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Sharon Marie Tate: January 24 1943 - 9 August 1969
Forever Remembered

Actually it's an embryo from week 4. It's a foetus from week 11. Before the embryonic stage it's a zygote and then a blastocyst.

All abortions where humanly possible should be done before 6 weeks, or when the heartbeat starts. But this is just my opinion!

I do not believe under any circumstances - any - in the death penalty.

`An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind'

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We've got rules and maps and guns in our backs, but we still can't just behave ourselves. Even if to save our own lives, we are a brutal kind. The Shins

At 6 weeks most women don't even know they are pregnant. Also, embryo from week 8, before that a zygote.
I am not saying you are not entitled to your opinion. I do agree with you about the death penalty, I don't believe in an eye for an eye, eithor.
Took me while to make that decision, I was undecided for ages, but I think I have finally made my choice on the issue.

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Sharon Marie Tate: January 24 1943 - 9 August 1969
Forever Remembered

I don't like the idea of imprisoning criminals to work that would prefer to be put to death. Working criminals take jobs away from working Americans.

OK, do I believe in capital punishment or not?
hum, well yes, I believe that everyone in the
capital needs to be punished.

there you have it, my own opinion.


....

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The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.
Thomas Jefferson

Whether criminals should do jobs or not is a seperate topic altogether.
My thought is that if they do, it should definitely be public work, not anything for a private company (that telemarketing nonsense needs to stop)... and even then that is a bit like slavery- but I suppose prisoners don't have all the rights of free citizens anyway.

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"It's never over... BOY!"
The Tall Man, Phantasm III

It is a fact that the death penalty costs more than life imprisonment.

I have included a link to a most excellent document for your viewing pleasure.
http://deathpenaltyinfo.org/COcosttestimony.pdf

A civilised government should not be killing it's citizens unless they are posing a direct threat to the public and there are no other options available.

The risk that an innocent chap could be hung is a price too great to pay.

Yours,
Horatio Plumb, Esq.

I agree with what most people here have said- the death penalty allows the possibility of innocent people being killed by their government, and so should be abolished.

You should check out a new documentary called "At the Death House Door": it's about a Texas prison chaplain who oversaw 95 executions and has since become an anti-death penalty activist. It also covers the story of Carlos de Luna, an executed prisoner advised by this chaplian, who's widely seen as innocent.

It's on tonight at nine on the Independent Film Channel:

http://www.ifc.com/atthedeathhousedoor

In 2002 almost 13,000 adults were arrested for murder. That year, 8,990 persons were convicted of murder, and 8,181 murderers received a prison sentence.

The mean prison sentence for murder and nonnegligent manslaughter
was 18 years and 9 months; the median was 20 years.

Life sentences are rare among convicted felons, whether measured as a percentage of all sentences (0.5%) or as a percentage of prison sentences (1.1%). However, among the 8,990 persons convicted of murder or non-negligent manslaughter, 24.1% were sentenced to life in prison.

The stats and cite for the repeat murders:

Within 3 years of release, 1.2% of those who had served time for homicide were arrested for a new homicide.

Now for the numbers:

8,990 - persons convicted of murder
2,166 - will receive life sentences (24.1% of total)
-------
6824 - will eventually be released
X 1.2% statistically we know will kill again
-------
82 (approximately) additional murders will be committed by these people. 82 human beings guilty of being in the path of a killer we as a society unleashed back into our midst instead of dealing with them appropriately.

http://www.ojp.gov/bjs/pub/ascii/fssc02.txt

http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/crimoff.htm

I'm not advocating the death penalty for non-negligent manslaughter.

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China uses more coal than the United States, the European Union and Japan combined.