What are we teaching.

What are we teaching when we kill someone for killing another person?
Aren't we just contradicting the message we should be sending?

We are teaching other potential criminals that there is a value to innocent lives and that if you destroy one then you may have to forfeit your own.

No we are not. There is no proof that it is any detterent. In fact studies have shown that murders have actually increased in states where capital punishment has been reinstated. No one considering murder is thinking about the consequences if they get caught. They think they are not going to.

It accomplishes nothing. NOT true. I've never heard of an executed killer killing another person. I have heard of killers who, if they had been executed, would have been prevented from a subsequent killing of one or more innocent people.

I guess there is always a chance of escape, but life in prison without parole should prevent anyone else from getting killed. Next...

Sure, there may be an occasional innocent person who gets executed. Just as there are innocent people that get killed by drunk drivers or innocent men and women who get killed because their country demands that they fight in war, that is part of the risks we assume by living in a society that attempts to protect its citizens as well as possible, from as much as possible.

Mistakenly being put to death by the state is far different and much more preventable than someone dying in a drunk driving accident. And our soldiers volunteer knowing full well the risks they take. Someone being wrongfully sentenced to death has no choice.

It all boils down to vengence. That is the only real reason we have capital punishment. I think the goal of our criminal justice system should be to protect citizens, not exact revenge.

ethmer, how many wrongful deaths would be too many for you? I think even one wrongful death is enough reason not to do it.

Humans are animals.
We can't change what we really are.

Ya people are syco get used to it.

People take it how they want, in the end, its survival of the fittest.

It should never be man that takes the life of another, it should be a system of government. But even still I rarely agree with the death penalty. I think the system of prison should be changed.

yes. I do not agree with the death penalty.

The difference is that a person that is executed ('killed' if you will) by society, is only put to death after deliberation and weighing of evidence by a panel of people (jury) and the vote for guilt has to be unanimous. And the death penalty is reserved for terrible crimes.

The difference is that a person that is executed ('killed' if you will) by society, is only put to death after deliberation and weighing of evidence by a panel of people (jury) and the vote for guilt has to be unanimous. And the death penalty is reserved for terrible crimes.

And what if they are wrong? It has happened often. How many innocent people being put death will it take before people realize the absurdity of capital punishment.

There is NO reason why capital punishment is still being practiced in this country. It accomplishes nothing.

 
We are teaching other potential criminals that there is a value to innocent lives and that if you destroy one then you may have to forfeit your own.

It accomplishes nothing. NOT true. I've never heard of an executed killer killing another person. I have heard of killers who, if they had been executed, would have been prevented from a subsequent killing of one or more innocent people.

Sure, there may be an occasional innocent person who gets executed. Just as there are innocent people that get killed by drunk drivers or innocent men and women who get killed because their country demands that they fight in war, that is part of the risks we assume by living in a society that attempts to protect its citizens as well as possible, from as much as possible.

        Simply a Rose to brighten your day,
        And maybe lessen the cares in your way;
        And also, too, to help you to know,
        That in knowing you, many others grow!

The purpose of killing murderers is not to teach what's wrong, it's to dispose of the garbage.

I have a question who follows this proverb. Lets just say that someone walks up to your family walking down the street and kills everyone but you and you have the power to kill him would you do it? This in a world where the police cannot stop him would you shot to kill to avenge your family? Or would you just sit there and wait to be killed? We live in a world where bad people far outnumber the good. There are times when the good people have to stand up and protect others weaker than them. That does not make them bad people but even better good people. So in retrospect we do kill people but not to show that its wrong but to protect other innocent people from the same fate. If you are a christain and has read the bible it says An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. It means if you kill someone you get killed back.

I have a question who follows this proverb. Lets just say that someone walks up to your family walking down the street and kills everyone but you and you have the power to kill him would you do it? This in a world where the police cannot stop him would you shot to kill to avenge your family? Or would you just sit there and wait to be killed?

this is stupid example. Of course I would shoot him. It would be a clear case of self-defense. It is a far cry from the state executing someone.

We live in a world where bad people far outnumber the good.

What makes you think that?

There are times when the good people have to stand up and protect others weaker than them. That does not make them bad people but even better good people. So in retrospect we do kill people but not to show that its wrong but to protect other innocent people from the same fate.

Putting someone in jail for life without parole also protects them.

If you are a christain and has read the bible it says An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

The bible also says Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord. If you are a christian you understand that it is up to god to dole out justice, not us. It is up to the criminal justice system to protect law abiding citizens from criminal by putting them in jail, not to exact revenge on them.