Humanities coursework

[xxoaimeeoxx]

Hey guys, i'm doing a personal research project on Capital Punishment and am having huge trouble getting a broad pull of evidence because i keep asking the same people the questions...would it be possible for some people to answer this question for me because i really can't think of a broader spectrum of people to ask than on a forum.
Sorry if this is not a subject you want on the board, if so please take it off!
Thanks
Aimee

[DreamDangerously]

I don't know about anyone else but I'm more than happy to help out. If you want any more detailed answers, feel free to ask.

[Fassbender Fan]

Same as!

[Jimjamz]

Dittto.

[xxoaimeeoxx]

Thanks guys! ;D they are bound to come up, if possible could you quickly sumarise why you put what you put? Don't worry if you dont have a clear idea, you just feel that way, just put that!

[seraph]

I put no. The only form of capital punishment I think of as being remotely humane is the lethal injection. I think its crazy and disgusting that gassing and the electric chair are still used...both of which can put the individul through a lot of suffering before they die. I've even heard that hanging is still legal in one or two American states. I suppose the lethal injection is approaching humane more because its so quick, but I still don't feel that a human has the right to take the life of another human, regardless of what the second human has done. Revenge is not a very civilised concept to build a prison system around, if you ask me.

Is that detailed enough? if you need more let me know!

[Fassbender Fan]

I put No.

Basically because to do something humane would require you not to kill the person surely?

Whether it's capital punishment or murder, lethal injection or electric chair it's all still killing. All this eye for an eye crap is fair enough if that's what you believe but imo capital punishment brings the 'punisher' to the same level as the 'punished' because you are killing another human being whether it's legal or not.

[matt]

Ahh, I remember the debates at Senior School. People saying that the death penalty should be allowed because it supposedly the right thing to do for people that commit crimes.

I say: Bullcrap.

So people who kill should be killed? So what does that make the killer of the killer? Justified? A human life is still a human life. There's a reason for prisons and everyone should be given the chance to reflect on what they've done.

Life imprisonment: yes.
Killing people: no.

[xxoaimeeoxx]

What gets me is that an eye for an eye is a biblical saying so if you take one biblical saying and act upon it shouldn't you act upon all of them? What gives the judicial system the right to pick and chose which of the holy 'laws' they want to use?
I think that life should mean life and it should be in soitary confinement with no chance of getting out or seeing anyone you love again, thats punishment, also it gives the criminal a chance to live like the family of his victims- Living a cushy life with no bills, no work, good meals and alot of sitting on their bum leading to a shorter sentance because they are smart enough to keep their head down...its ridiculous really. (these are people like Ian Huntly i'm talking about - the kind of people America would execute)

[Jimjamz]

I think they should be given life imprisonment, with no get out clause. They should be made to work damn hard and have a really miserable time. Killing is just the easy way out for them.

[DreamDangerously]

I said no because I think fundamentally that the taking of a human life is fundamentally wrong however it's done....from stoning in some of the more brutal countries to leathal injection. Like everyone's said, it reduces the murder to a victim and it reduces the penal system to murder.

If we reduce it to economics, which people in America often do. I read somewhere that it costs more to put prisoners on death row than it does to have them in prison for life. I mean sometimes they have to sit and contemplate their sentance for 12-15 years before it's carried out. How is that in any way humane. It takes no account of circumstances, changes in the prisoner, reform or anything of the kind and also it creates an atmosphere of state endorsed violence.

I suppose not being a friend or family member of a murder victim (thank the lord) it's easy to be objective and I appreciate that emotion and grief would give a different perspective.

There's also the problem that sometimes innocent people are executed. The famous case of Edward Earl Johnson for example, even his prison guards said that he was innocent and his confession was forced. He happened to be a convenient Black scapegoat for the killing of a White sheriff.

[xxoaimeeoxx]

In all the research i've done it shows that the death penalty is pointless...yes more than half of Americans want it but the murder rate in death penalty states is higher than in non death penalty states and in some cases there is a considerale gap between them. Its not a detterent so what is the point?

[Kneetroll]

I voted yes for that and I'll tell you for why... Say for example a man grabs a little girl (or, indeed, a woman or man) and drags him/her into a dark alley for no reason at all and knifes them to death with 50 or more stab wounds, why should that person have the luxury of living? The killer is insane, no doubt, but we all know he'd get out of jail eventually and do it again (which, in reality, has happened many times). So making him suffer The Chair and suffer himself would be something he deserved, in my opinion.

Of course I understand that innocent people get punished for others' crimes, but I'm talking guilty people here 'o course

[kittygobonkers]

I have to say i agree with kneetroll. Executions aren't supposed to be humane and if a person is willing to take another persons life then they should suffer the consequences of their actions. In my opinion murderers should suffer the worst possible pain before they die because that is what they inflicted on their victims. Rapists should have their wotsits cut off and any other lesser crimes should have a lenghty prison sentence!

With DNA testing around i can't see how innocent people can be wrongly accused anymore. People who commit these horrific crimes are a plague on our society and don't deserve to live, maybe death is an easy way out for them as apposed to life in prison (which means about 20 years) but at least the human race is slightly better off without these monsters roaming the streets!

[seraph]

Not going to get involved in a debate about this because I can tell it would probably get ugly, but as for rapists getting their bits cut off, rape is a very hard crime to prove. As rape prosecution becomes more common so does women "Crying wolf" about the crime of rape. Although I am all for increased prosecution in rape cases (because at the moment the amount of rape cases that result in prosecution is tiny and ridiculous) but DNA proof that you had sex is NOT DNA proof that you have been raped.