Is the death penalty moral? Does the threat of the death penalty lower crime rates?

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I'm not sure that it lowers crime rates...there are so many people that I don't really think that it is a valuable deterrant anymore. But for the moral part of it, that is the whole 'eye for an eye' thing. I don't think I could say that it is moral, but I'm not sure that I'd say that it is immoral, either. I would suppose that it would depend on the circumstances. Some people can be rehibilitated, but others simply cannot be. There is no cure for a pathological killer, for instance. There is no conscience there, so nothing to rehibilitate. And in many cases, life in prison isn't a good alternative...for one thing, a life sentence is seldom for life, and for another, it means that you, me, and every other taxpayer has to pay for them to be there.

there are at least two levels to worry about in this thread - one is what the death penalty means for the one who suffers it, which brings into question the whole nature of justice and fairness in this world and the next, and what it means for society to carry such judgement out, which brings into question the whole nature of justice and fairness in society.

Of the first I would say that if one had indeed caused suffering where the punishment is worthy of death then it is a final redress, indeed an individual can do no more than give up everything they could have done to redres such a magnetude of wrong. If they have not caused suffering worthy of that level of punishment then the burden of redres ultimately falls on others for having committed a heinous act.

Of the second I would say that there is an assumption that there is one society, per legal system, and any attentive study of the US reveals that there is not "one society" here. We have significant minority populations and they have their own cultures in correspondence. This is something the US is still wrestling with and one way is "discovering", formally, that we have been applying the death penalty way out of proportion of the population's sub groups. Could be be because a sub-group performs more reprehensible acts? That seems the height of hubris. As it says in the Scripture "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye?" Indeed - Why?

I know it wasn’t your main point, but you did bring up the issue of finance, tax taxpayers money. I just want to remind people that the cost of the death penalty is usually actually greater than that of a life sentence. You have to take into account the cost of a separate facility. Death row involves a constant suicide watch, more security, more guards, etc. People on death row must be provided with free legal services for appeals, which involves not only their lawyer, but also all of the court costs (prosecutors, judges, clerks, bailiffs etc). And this can continue for five, ten, fifteen years or more. Statistically a life sentence does not last much longer than that. When you compare this to a life sentence you see that you actually pay more just to shorten somebody’s life a few years.

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I support the death penalty for first-degree murderers who are found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, when there are no mitigating circumstances (e.g. an abused person killing his/her abuser).

This is a good point, too. Now, it might just be me, but I really don't understand having a death watch on a person who is due to be executed, because they might kill themselves. If they do, I'd say that the sentence was carried out. I honestly don't mean to sound callous, but I just think that is an expendature that doesn't need to be borne. It is like the rather silly practice of swapping the arm of a murderer with alcohol just before administering a lethal injection. What...is someone afraid that they might get an infection before the poison takes affect????

Incidentally, the old NA way of dealing with it was immediate execution if a crime warrented it (usually the person wouldn't make it back to the tribal village). But many of the things that now carry a death sentence were handled in a different manner with the NA...total banishment. With 6-7 billion people in the world now, that wouldn't work too well, but back then, it sure did. IF the person survived, nearly always they were totally different from the experience, too.

I absolutely do not believe in the death penalty. There are too many cases where DNA has proved that people on death row were not guilty of the crimes that put them there. More than one innocent person has come close to being put to death for something they did not do. And if the truth be known, I'm sure that many have been put to death who are innocent.

Anyone who wants to know more about this should read the book "Actual Innocence: When Justice Goes Wrong and How to Make it Right", by Peter Neufeld and Barry Scheck, who run the Innocence Project. It is so enlightening.

Also, I must say that after watching people on the news in the US for many, many years I have come to realize that most people who want the death penalty want revenge, not justice. It never ceases to amaze me how so many people try to make it look like they want justice but their underlying motive is really revenge. It comes out in the words they speak and the tone of voice they use. There is much vengence in American society and it is sad.

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