Alright, so this is something that's been on my mind ever since second hour yesterday. I was just in French class, and Mrs. Ault was telling us about the French Revolution and how they switched over to using the guillotine in order to make death quicker and more humane. Then she told us how they stopped death penalties altogether in 1972.

I don't know why, but it just made me jealous. Also angry. About how we still have capital punishment in the US.

I dunno about you guys, but I think that it's COMPLETELY wrong to kill somebody, no matter what their crime(s) was.

If we wanted to make the person pay even more for what they did, wouldn't it be even more punishment to make them sit in jail for life? {Well, they'll be sitting in jail for a pretty long time, because I haven't heard of any death penalty that's taken less than ten years to pass through the judicial systems. With that in mind, I don't even think that capital punishment can be used as a deterent, because it's not like the person is going to get injected right away.}

I don't know. I just think it's gross, how a country with SUCH high religious morals would say "We have the right to take your life for taking someone else's, when you don't even have the right to take your own."

It's like the Hammurabi code. "An eye for an eye." That set of laws is so outdated and it sickens me that it happens here.

Plus after ten, fifteen years, the criminal could be a completely changed person..don't you think? And then they could finally get killed for something they did ten or fifteen years before, when the general public won't even recognize them when they get fried or injected on TV.

Yeah, I'm sure the victim's family would be glad to see that they have been put to justice, but I don't know. If someone came and took my child's life, or someone I know, after ten years I'd let them sit in jail. I wouldn't take pleasure in seeing them killed, no matter how painless it might look.

People are born bad. It's undenyable. As infants we cry for attention. Then as toddlers we don't know right from wrong. As teens we rebel from authority, which sometimes sticks with us through our adulthood. We are born bad and it's as simple as that. Yeah, there are some good people, but they were born bad. They had to make right choices instead of screwing up.

Haha Ariel, you quoted a pretty old post

Imagine how destroyed the lives of the family are of people who have been raped molested killed chopped into peices and in odd cases eaten... Dosent that suck?

No. I live in Texas. "The well oiled death machine" Seems like we are always killing someone. It's not our place. Karma - God whatever you believe should take care of it in the end. It's not my place or anyone else's to take a life.

Peace

Ok going from the bible point of view. I do not believe it is playing God. He gave us rules to follow and said to follow the government and if you don't you will be punished by the laws. Here it is Romans 13

1Obey the government, for God is the one who put it there. All governments have been placed in power by God. 2So those who refuse to obey the laws of the land are refusing to obey God, and punishment will follow. 3For the authorities do not frighten people who are doing right, but they frighten those who do wrong. So do what they say, and you will get along well. 4The authorities are sent by God to help you. But if you are doing something wrong, of course you should be afraid, for you will be punished. The authorities are established by God for that very purpose, to punish those who do wrong. 5So you must obey the government for two reasons: to keep from being punished and to keep a clear conscience

You make it sound like you approve of the death penalty for justice. In that case, how is it justice? I've heard many people say, "He should die, give him a taste of his own medicine for what he did to that little girl." But to really give him a taste of his own medicine, wouldn't you also need to have him raped, chopped into little pieces, & then eaten? I don't see how giving someone a little injection is really justice.

It does mean that as a society, we must destroy those who harms our existence. That is how modern day 'survival of the fittest' should work.

my antarctic prisons seem pretty cool now, methinks.

i mean, you woudln't even have to lock the doors. who in thier right minds would try to escape from there? you'd freeze in a heartbeat.

1Obey the government, for God is the one who put it there. All governments have been placed in power by God. 2So those who refuse to obey the laws of the land are refusing to obey God, and punishment will follow. 3For the authorities do not frighten people who are doing right, but they frighten those who do wrong. So do what they say, and you will get along well. 4The authorities are sent by God to help you. But if you are doing something wrong, of course you should be afraid, for you will be punished. The authorities are established by God for that very purpose, to punish those who do wrong. 5So you must obey the government for two reasons: to keep from being punished and to keep a clear conscience

It may not look like justice to you, but to the victim and the victim's family, it may be the only justice they'll need.

Why must we rape the rapist? We do not rape the rapist because we do not demean ourselves to their lack of humanity, their insanity. We kill the killer because the crime is one that threatens life.

It does mean that as a society, we must destroy those who harms our existence. That is how modern day 'survival of the fittest' should work.

Okay okay, maybe that is the only justice they'll need, but are you telling me that unless we kill that person, they will continue to harm us? You mean that if we lock them up in a maximum-security prison, they're still somehow threatening our lives?
'Survival of the fittest' doesn't mean you go out of your way to destroy others who harm your existence. It simply means you do whatever it takes to protect only yourself.

If you're being sarcastic, let me know. " "
Alright, lets read a part of "Justice for Samantha", an article from People magazine, shall we? It's true and rather morbid, but it's everyday life and more believable than anything I could make up.

"On July 15, 2002, as she played with her best friend outside her family's Staton, Calif., condo, 5-year-old Samantha Runnion was snatched, kicking and screaming, by a stranger who had said he was looking for a lost puppy. Twenty hours later her nude and brutalized body was found by a pair of hikers on a remote mountain trail 40 miles away, plunging her mother, Erin, and family, including Erin's longtime fiance, Kenneth Donnelly, into the blackest grief... Finally, last month Erin watched a Santa Ana, Calif., jury sentence Alejandro Avila, 30, to death for her daughter's kidnap, sexual assault and murder. Sitting in the front row, she sobbed quitely as the verdict was read. 'She is missing so much--I cannot forgive him for that,' says Runnion...

Samatha's tears were found on the car door lock--he had a childproof lock on it. She could pull and pull on it all she wanted, but she could not get out. It's ironic that by crying and scratching him she identified her killer. I'm proud of her that by struggling--by leaving her tears and fingernales with his DNA under them--she solved the crime. She was her own hero.

I haven't gone for counseling. I can get morbid, but I won't ignore the pain. I don't sleep a lot. When I put the kids to bed, I lie there thinking. I go to bad places because I have to. I think about how I would hurt him if I could. But when I have those fantasies, I make myself sick. I've had to think through the 'what ifs...' What if I hadn't been late leaving work? What if I could have saved her? You peel grief back layer after layer.

It was hard for Connor at first. he and Samantha were so close. He was just 10 months younger. I didn't realize until after she died that he didn't know how to button his shirt or tie his shoes; she had been doing those tasks for him. For a long time, Connor was terrified that the man would come and get us all..."

Anyway, you get the idea. Now then, tell me if this guy deserved a second chance. if so, why?

I'm sure you've heard about serial killers. Do you think they deserve 'second chances', too?

Okay okay, maybe that is the only justice they'll need, but are you telling me that unless we kill that person, they will continue to harm us? You mean that if we lock them up in a maximum-security prison, they're still somehow threatening our lives?

sometimes capital punishment is necessary to keep the criminal from repeating his/her actions over and over again.

I find the death penalty necessary in some cases.

As for your the Bible bit, good one, but it goes to show that using religion as support for the anti-death penalty stance is moot.

The death penalty is never necessary. We do not need to impliment capital punishment on anyone to keep everyone safe. Life in prison without parole is all that is necessary for such a clause. In no way do we ever have to kill someone by means of capital punishment. Given that the offender has been brought to court and found guilty, they will be sentenced accordingly, and given life in prison without parole, pose no threat to innocence.