Why we should enforce the death penalty

[elSicomoro]

Originally posted by Lady Sidhe
I'm not pointing fingers at anyone. Sorry if that's how you feel.

Sure, the rich may elude punishment more, but I think that's more of an axiom that the liberals have said so many times that everyone believes it without question.

Penance my butt...they don't get punished, and they don't get rehabilitated. They just learn how to be better criminals.

Oh, I am SO sick of this "innocent person being executed" argument. Anti-death penalty folks always fall back on that argument, much the same as they've accused us of falling back on the "an executed murderer will never kill again" argument.

In other words, you're a goddamned liar.

Besides, the death penalty DOES have an emotional aspect for me, as I'm pretty sure it has for everyone who's ever had to deal with the aftermath of a murder. Just because something is emotional doesn't make it wrong. If you consider being emotional as well as making the point of what I believe to be the basic arguments between the pros and the cons shit-throwing, oh well.

See above...you make broad generalizations and are insulting. We're having a civil discussion about the death penalty...give me a fucking break.

Everyone who has taken part in this debate (or almost everyone, anyway, with the exception of a few) have done so not only with what each believes as the facts as well as their emotions. Emotions always come up in debates like this. I don't expect anyone to act like a computer when it comes to people's lives. Perhaps some people can truly do that. I can't. It doesn't make me wrong.

Actually, it seems to me that most of the people that have been posting in this thread have been pretty mellow and civil.

There is nothing wrong with emotion per se...too much can make people sound or act irrational though.

So, in your all-knowing opinion, what ARE the basic arguments?

Among the basic arguments for the death penalty:

--"An eye for an eye"
--0% recidivism rate
--Closure for the family
--Saves the state/federal government money

Among the basic arguments against the death penalty:

--It is cruel and unusual punishment
--Having to live to remember those crimes is punishment enough for the murderer
--Killing the murderer doesn't bring back the victim