Are you for or against the death penaly and why?

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According to Vedic law, the death penalty is served to a murderer as an act of mercy, to prevent him from suffering the karmic result of the murder in the next life.

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In a modern country, a murderer can be detained in prison until he/she dies. In Michigan, a 1st degree (premeditated) murder conviction gets life in prison with no parole. Only the governor can terminate the sentence, and that almost never happens.

As we have also seen, there have been people on death row in other states whereas it was eventually determined that they were innocent after all. I don't think there's any doubt that some innocent people has been sent to their death.

On top of this, many countries are unwilling or reluctant to extradite people to the U.S. because of the death penalty here in some states. Mexico, for example, is sending over the Marine that allegedly murdered his girlfriend but only after they were promised that if convicted, the soldier could not receive the death penalty.

The bottom line: there simply is no reason why the death penalty is needed.

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"The further the spiritual evolution of mankind advances, the more certain it seems to me that the path to genuine religiosity does not lie through the fear of life, and the fear of death, and blind faith, but through striving after rational knowledge."-- Einstein

Could vote as there wasnt an "other" option



There is no such thing as Death


Jesus proved that

If we kill murderers and there is such thing as re-incarnation...they will come back into this world...and then we won't know who they are!?!

If we "let them go" without them healing what needs to be healed first...aren't we the murders of all they murder?.......Crazy thought.

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May your awareness be perfection

...the death penalty is about revenge, not justice, and revenge is a bad reason to kill someone.

Sometimes, in addition, the death penalty is used to silence people who might give the powerful a hard time, and to intimidate those whom the State does not like.

One hardly needs to point out the dozens and dozens of cases of people being wrongfully convicted of murder to realize that, at least some of the time, innocent people were murdered by the state for no cause whatsoever, since they had not committed the crime for which they were executed.

All the criminiological evidence suggests the death penalty is no deterent.

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Grassaf, Eolas

I heartily agree with you, and while sometimes the idea of revenge seems like a good idea, I note (from personal experience) that it leaves a very bitter after-taste.

I have always felt that there were those who claimed that it was "societal self-protection," that is, society was protecting itself from further acts by the condemned. I find that to be nonsense, because once you've got someone locked up, once they are in no position to defend themselves against the executioner, they are by definition no longer a threat. And so we return to the execution as an act of revenge.

As a Canadian, I can hardly miss noting David Milgaard, Donald Marshall and Guy Paul Morin, all convicted of murder, all later proved to be innocent of the crime they were convicted of. (Marshall was guilty of others, though.) And there have been many others, the list is really quite long.

The very possibility that society can and does make such mistakes means that society has certainly been guilty of judicial murder of innocent persons. I'd prefer we didn't add to that sorry list.

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evangelicalhumanist: Greek "eu"=good and "angelos"=messenger. Spreading the good news of Humanism.

In principle I think society has a right to protect itself and that right can include Capital Punishment...

But in practise as the "Death Penalty" is carried out is unjust as the people who are usually executed are the poor and the minorities. The law provides for equal representation but most public defenders are only beginning their careers at court so tend to be less practised in the Law..therefore they usually cannot adequately defend their clients.

- Art

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"it benefits us to be thoughtful, not of the glory of our minds, but rather, above all else, of the glory of God."
- Johannes Kepler

I would have to say, I am against it only because there is the chance an innocent may be killed.
However, if one is in particular Buddhist sects, one might say, it was their karma to be executed or all life is sacred.
With all the diversity on these forums, it is interesting that even those who are not Christian are against the death penalty.
Clearly many people of many creeds and religions including Christian are for it.

If anyone here has been a victim of violent crime or has a loved one who was, I think many of those people would definitely be for execution.

What about the killer who tortures his or her victims? What about those who kill children? What about the heartless racial murders, such as the black man in Texas who was dragged behind a vehicle until he was decapitated?What about the many gays who have been tortured and murdered, remember the young man in Colorado who was beaten and hung upon a fence?

Unless we have been in the position of the loved ones of these victims, how can we possibly deny justice not revenge. Revenge may be someing carried out by loved ones and justice by the courts. There is no doubt that there are innocents on death row and the system is far from perfect, however, let's please be sensitive to the victims who cannot speak for themselves and their families.

Let's get real on this issue instead of hypothetical. Fortuna

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The opinions expressed in my post are only my humble opinions. I expressly request that none of my opinions be taken personally or taken offense to as it is not in my nature to intentionally cause hurt. I am only human and I make mistakes, so please remember this when reading some of my more passionate or lengthy posts. --Fortuna

A nation that supports the use of the "death penalty" as a form of revenge...is simply sick in my opinion. Now, if a nation sees the death penalty as a means for stopping crimes...we might want to look into other means. 1) Yes, because someone might be killed that's innocent and 2) Because no problems are solved through ignorance to it's cause.

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May your awareness be perfection