Quote:
Originally Posted by GGG
Society has to be held to a higher standard than the criminals it wants to punish.
There is also roughly a 1% chance that the guy executed (in general) is not guilty.
There is no place for the Death Penalty in a modern society.
It is more expensive than Life inprisonment
It is not a deterrent
It is can execute the innocent
It reduces the moral authority of a just society by putting us on the same level as the criminal
It can go wrong and result in what effectively is torture.
The only arguement for the death penalty that is valid is I want revenge and unfortuately given the negatives it doesn't hold up.
There is no logical reason to have the death penalty. There should be no debate.
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This is a pretty good summary of the reasons against the death penalty, but presented in absolutes that don't really capture the reasons there is a debate about it in the first place. Let me add another reason against it: Blacks are disproportionately sentenced to death by white judges. I find that particularly troubling.
I think the death penalty is appropriate in some circumstances, this is one of them. In this particular case, there is no doubt the guy did it. It was planned and carried out in a callous fashion. In some cases the death penalty does represent justice, even though there is a factor of revenge there. Even life in prison is a type of revenge.