The 8th amendment to the United States Constitution protects the people of this country from cruel and unusual punishment. Capital punishment truly is both cruel and unusual for many different reasons. The death penalty isn't only being put to sleep forever, it has been claimed to be pure torture sitting in death row (waiting to be executed). Prisoners sit alone in small, tight cells of steel. No human contact is made, and empty time elapses. Mental disorders develop simply by going through the long process of waiting to be executed. It is common sense that forcing people into endless time of imprisonment awaiting death is most certainly cruel and unusual. Although the death penalty seems to be advertised as painless and quiet, it is not. Even lethal injection is painful. Dennis McGuire, a convicted murderer and rapist, was executed on January 16th, 2014. His son witnessed his execution and claims his father was gasping for air for 25 long minutes. McGuire was clenching his fists and his stomach was visibly churning up and down. McGuire's son is suing the state for the painful execution, protesting his father's death was unconstitutional. The 14th amendment claims to give all citizens equal opportunities and treatment. But in reality, the government is racist when it comes to many things, especially capital punishment. 75% of people on death row for 2nd degree murder, murdered a white person. Numbers do not tell lies. Those who kill whites are 5 times more likely to be executed than those who kill blacks. It is honestly terrifying how little our government follows the document our nation was founded by. Out of every 10,000 whites who kill backs, 800 receive the all mighty death sentence. But, out of every 10,000 blacks who kill whites, 4,000 of them receive the penalty. This is sad. Again, 8% of whites who kill blacks have received death penalty, but 40% of blacks who kill whites are executed. It is embarrassing that a key factor in a person living or dieing could end up being their race. A life shouldnt depend on what color your skin is, and that is logic. The US government need to put an end to the death penalty!
your arguments are against the US form of the death penalty not the death penalty per se. A shotgun blast to the back of the head is cheap and painless and there is no reson why you need to have 20 years wait before you kill people. You can have 2 full appeals in a year and get it over and done with, the Black issue is irrelevant. Black people commit absurd amounts of violent crime. When they stop murdering white people then they can;t start to complain
A few tips: everything here needs to be sourced: you mention several empirical facts which require demonstration people only read your posts if you excessively split your thoughts into paragraphs. A handy tip is to use {hr}{/hr} (with the {} as []). Splits your post into sections. This will boost your comments and likes, you can thank me later Anyway, I don't agree with this argument. Why? Several reasons. I'll split them into sections for your convenience: 1. Because it requires additional information. Your premise is that black people are sent to their deaths by the state purely because they're black, but as evidence of this you offer the fact that "those who kill whites are 5 times more likely to be executed than those who kill blacks". Just because they're being executed more often than whites does not mean they're being executed due to the system's racial bias. [hr][/hr] 2. Because inequality always has two solutions. And one of them is not your conclusion, so you need to justify why we ought to pick yours over the alternative. We can remedy the situation by increasing executions of those who kill blacks. ie: we can reform the system so blacks and whites are executed using a colour-blind selection process. [hr][/hr] 3. Because there are clearly constitutional ways to execute someone. Execution doesn't have to risk 25 minutes of torture, a 12ga foster slug between the eyes will kill instantly without pain in all situations. Best to annihilate the brain quicker than ones nervous system can react. Their last perception is complete health, it removes the process of dying. I agree, lethal injections are (*)(*)(*)(*)in' barbaric. There are better options. Loads cheaper too, especially if the hangman handloads his shells.
The death penalty is an interesting debate topic, on the one hand it can be seen as a sure fire way of stopping any further crime by the criminal on the other it could be seen as state sanctioned revenge killing.
I'm not so sure about that, both rape and child molestation could involve mental issues of the accused, I'm sure you would not assert that mentally ill people should be executed would you? BTW, just to be clear I am in no way attempting to belittle the crimes of rape or child molestation.
The race component is certainly unfair, but I don't see a single argument in here that refutes the logic of having a death penalty. I've seen some studies that purport to show that the death penalty "doesn't work," but that seems to violate even basic common sense. As long as you agree that deterrents work, and that the severity of a deterrent is a factor in determining the rate at which a given crime is perpetrated, then it stands to reason that the death penalty would be a useful deterrent. Even if you argue that life sentences or other harsh penalties are equally effective, how can you justify the amount of resources that go in to keeping these people alive? In an ideal world, we would establish a higher burden of proof for prosecutors who pursue the death penalty. However, it should be done swiftly, painlessly, and cheaply, at that point. In China, you go from the courthouse to a "death van." You are dead and your organs have been removed by the time the van reaches the hospital where the organs are stored. It could be much, much more ruthless.
Look man, with DNA and video evidence making it ever easier to absolutely and completely identify those who commit crimes worthy of the death penalty, you're argument falls apart. Some things you need to be killed for! Now, if you want to put a band aid on your bleeding heart, pull out your damn check book and start paying, PERSONALLY, for the privilege of keeping these murderous animals alive. Otherwise, you need to respect the rest of our opinions and not burden us with the financial costs of assuaging your personal sense of guilt. If there is absolute proof, not heresay evidence, of someones guilt, I say Off'em on the steps of the courthouse and put it on public TV broadcast. Make examples of them, and do it quickly.
The problem with that is that it will cause rapists and child molestors to go ahead and kill their victims. They are up for capital punishment, it would be best for them to go ahead and kill the witnesses. - - - Updated - - - Under the current system, it's cheaper to keep a prisoner in prison for life than to execute them. Prisons are cheaper to run than federal courthouses.
Do you know why death by lethal injection can be painful ? It is because the medical personnel choosing the drugs are STUPID !!!!! Inject a 50/50 mix of morphine sulphate and heroin, keep injecting until an OD occurs, no pain, nice death....
Strange, you'll defend the right of a serial torturer/killer/rapist to live, but you'll have no problem with a woman putting out a hit on her own innocent unborn child, and paying a contract killer/abortionist to scramble the childs brain and suck it out with a vacuum, as if that's not an extremely painful way to die. You're sick in the head.....
Hmmm, a medical procedure, described in inaccurate terms by someone with an agenda. Why not set limits and define who can be sentenced to capital punishment or execution, for example, serial killers, or particularly brutal murders. Capital punishment trials by special tribunal only.
Has America ever tried not having a death penalty? The best arguments against it come from places where it isn't used and where crime levels are under control. The reason you can't provide good evidence against it is because in order to do so you'd have to try something new - as long as you don't you can keep saying "we don't know if it works." But the actual problem with death penatly is - not only that it isn't necessary to keep crime levels under control - but for the obvious fact no one should have the right to end a life. Against common sense... do you know how many countires do without death penalty? And then take a look at the crime levels, money and people put to work for added security - the whole works. These days it goes against common sense to say death penalty is logical. In China the communists remove organs from political prisoners while they are sitting their small offenses. 100 000 for a heart, 80 000 for the liver.
I have seen no alternative proposals. If you are talking about having something like Germany, I would be open to it, but I would advocate extreme caution and a very gradual implementation. Germans are different both genetically and culturally, and it may be the case that what works for them won't work for us.
I think we need to return to the notion that anybody who murders someone is, by definition, insane. Then we can decide if we want to execute insane people. To murder someone, a c-market clerk, kid in a car playing music too loudly, a person cutting you off on a highway, acting as a hit man, an unfaithful wife or husband, a wife or husband for an insurance policy, etc., is insane, temporary or not.
No, there are set definitions for Mental Illness and Criminal acts committed by the accused to eliminate Sane People from using the McNaughton defense for instance, as a license to kill. There is lots of talk about a Criminals Rights, about the Victims ? Who advocates for deceased Victims ? The Victims killed by the Criminals whose Rights you are defending so avidly ???
Except of course that there is no scientific evidence to support that a fetus can feel pain, and in cases of medically required later abortions the fetus is either already dead or sudden cardiac arrest is induced prior to the fetal removal, and before you attempt to claim that SCA is painful, it isn't. Furthermore the female who elects to have an abortion is doing no more than exercise her right to decide who, what, when and where her body is used by another . .exactly the same right you have.
