Death Penalty. Could you push the botton to kill this man?

[Johnboy60]

Hi, People talk about the Death Penalty but would you want to push the button to kill them? Myself I would not because I think it could be a sin to kill someone even a person that killed people.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/08/03/elderly.execution.ap/index.html


Robert.

 

[praying]

I think that is an excellent test of the death penalty for those that are for it. Can you pull the lever, inject the needle, in Utah pull the trigger if requested by the prisoner (remember Gary Gilmore).


I think many would back down from their postion on it if they were the ones who actually had to do it.

 

[Cobalt Blue]

I don't think I could ever bring myself to execute someone convicted in our judicial system. There is always the chance that a mistake was made, and I would always be thinking "what if I killed an innocent man?". I am against the death penalty in the vast majority of cases for this reason. However, if I had personally witnessed a man kill my family for instance, I would have no qualms at all about killing him with my bare hands, preferably at the scene of the crime in a fair fight. Yes, I know that revenge is bad and often hurts the person exacting it, and if I was thinking straight at the time I might actually spare the guy. I am not usually a vindictive person at all. If I did lose my head and kill him however, I would not feel guilty. about it.

 

[gogoGoddess]

With all the scientific research we have going on now, I sincerely could be the one to throw the switch. We have proved that if you have enough money you can get away with it: good lawyers for instance, O.J. Simpson to name one and than move out of state, say Florida, never pay restitution, and live out the rest of your life like nothing ever happened------My prayers go out to the Goldmens and the Brown families.
A young woman murdered one of my friends I'd known since we were in grade school, approximately 7 years ago----because he wanted her out of his home is 1 reason, a meth addict is 2, and others so on.......to not recieve the death penalty she finally disclosed all locations of his body parts, as to date the mattress is still not located---

 

[TommyS]

Robert,

Good question. Personally, I do not believe that the death penalty should ever be a choice. Yes, even in the case of someone like Bin Laden or Sadam. However cruel the crimes a person commited, one should never be punished with death. At least from another human being that is. For, how do we truly know if someone has not or will not repent of there sins. And for someone to receive a death penalty, they may be losing their chance to repent in the future. We could be jeopardizing the criminal's soul, as well our own. We have no right to kill as such.

With that said, I would also have to agree with Cobalt Blue who said "There is always the chance that a mistake was made, and I would always be thinking 'what if I killed an innocent man?'." It would be horrific to know how many mistakes in that regard that we have made in the past, and will make in the future.

-Tommy

 

[TommyS]

Cobalt Blue,

May God's peace be with you. Revenge is neverending. If you kill that man, would his family or friends be justified in killing you? In other words, you take revenge on killing a man who killed, would someone else be right in killing you: for you have killed someone as well? This battle is neverending, for everyone has a "justifiable" reason to kill someone. The battle stops when love enters the picture. Take pity. Yes, the man probably needs to be imprisoned or hospitalized. But one never knows what is to come in the future for that criminal. He may change, and become one of the most holy Saints of our time. Or, yes, maybe he won't. But we should never take that opportunity away from someone. I pray this makes sense.

-Tommy

 

[Cobalt Blue]

Cobalt Blue,

May God's peace be with you. Revenge is neverending. If you kill that man, would his family or friends be justified in killing you? In other words, you take revenge on killing a man who killed, would someone else be right in killing you: for you have killed someone as well? This battle is neverending, for everyone has a "justifiable" reason to kill someone. The battle stops when love enters the picture. Take pity. Yes, the man probably needs to be imprisoned or hospitalized. But one never knows what is to come in the future for that criminal. He may change, and become one of the most holy Saints of our time. Or, yes, maybe he won't. But we should never take that opportunity away from someone. I pray this makes sense.

-Tommy

I agree.
I even said that if I was thinking straight I would prbably spare him, but if I lost my head and killed him, I would not feel guilty because of what he did to my family. As for his family being justified in killing me, that is a good question, I really don't know.

 

[SolomonVII]

Hi, People talk about the Death Penalty but would you want to push the button to kill them? Myself I would not because I think it could be a sin to kill someone even a person that killed people.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/08/03/elderly.execution.ap/index.html


Robert.

Since you oppose the death penalty on any grounds, your argument becomes a Trojan horse against the death penalty in general. You are counting on sympathy and respect we all feel for the old to destroy the argument for capital punishment in general, IMHO.

If pushing the button was what I hired to do, then I would not be in a position to be a judge of him as well. I just don't buy into the argument that people who are slightly retarded are not capable of moral reasoning.

I don't think capital punishment is a sin. He killed somebody in 1977 and now he is old. What is wrong with the American system on capital punishment is such a lengthy delay between proncouncement of sentence and execution of sentence.

 

[praying]

Since you oppose the death penalty on any grounds, your argument becomes a Trojan horse against the death penalty in general. You are counting on sympathy and respect we all feel for the old to destroy the argument for capital punishment in general, IMHO.

If pushing the button was what I hired to do, then I would not be in a position to be a judge of him as well. I just don't buy into the argument that people who are slightly retarded are not capable of moral reasoning.

I don't think capital punishment is a sin. He killed somebody in 1977 and now he is old. What is wrong with the American system on capital punishment is such a lengthy delay between proncouncement of sentence and execution of sentence.

Thank God for the delays since innocent people end up on death row!!

 

[transientlife]

Hi, People talk about the Death Penalty but would you want to push the button to kill them? Myself I would not because I think it could be a sin to kill someone even a person that killed people.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/08/03/elderly.execution.ap/index.html


Robert.

That's what makes me unsure of my stance of the death penalty. I always think "Could I be the one to insert the syringe, pull the switch, or whatever it would be to take this other person's life?"
99 out of 100 times, I don't think I could, no matter how heinous the crime was that put the man on death row to begin with.
So thinking of it in that sense - "if I couldn't do it personally, what's the right in supporting someone else to do it?" plus the risk of it being an innocent person, makes me hesitant to be for the death penalty.

 

[The Son of Him]

That's what makes me unsure of my stance of the death penalty. I always think "Could I be the one to insert the syringe, pull the switch, or whatever it would be to take this other person's life?"
99 out of 100 times, I don't think I could, no matter how heinous the crime was that put the man on death row to begin with.
So thinking of it in that sense - "if I couldn't do it personally, what's the right in supporting someone else to do it?" plus the risk of it being an innocent person, makes me hesitant to be for the death penalty.

I agree. But then the question is : What to do with this alleged criminals ?

We could give them life sentence. But now : Is it probable as well that we could be putting behind bars innocent people for life ??
Would you lock them up ,knowing they could be innocent ??

The problem of justice those not end with the issue of death penalty .

We should show more respect for those who have to take those hard rulings and decisions.

 

[transientlife]

One thing is, if that person that is incarcerated wrongfully - at least they still have a life to live after release, while those executed innocents aren't so lucky.

 

[knuckle50]

1.for the more cynical of us, a category which includes me (im an atheist as well) i say we shouldnt use the death penalty because inmates suffer a lot more by living a life of either boredom or... well im not gonna go there but lets just say that a vast majority of prison inmates are homosexual.

2. is it really right to sink down to these peoples level? to kill them because they killed us, an eye for an eye? i say this is the mindset of a 5-year old whose older brother just hit him on the shoulder. we need to be bigger than them, to rise above them and do whats right.

3. many cases of death row inmates have been overturned after the case is reopened and new dna technology is used. its hard to tell how many innocent lives we have destroyed because of our ignorance.

4. of course, theres the expected christian argument of "thou shalt not kill"

 

[towodi]

Well, I am against the death penalty, so my obvious answer would be no.

 

[towodi]

well im not gonna go there but lets just say that a vast majority of prison inmates are homosexual.

That's not really true. There is situational homosexuality practiced there, sometimes (they're not gay but they practice homosexuality while in prison because that's all that is available). Although prison rape IS a problem, and a very nasty problem, it's not as widespread as Hollywood portrays it to be, especially in lower security prisons (which usually house less violent or non-violent criminals). And, having been sexually assaulted myself (no, not while in prison! ), I wouldn't wish that on anyone, no matter what their crimes.

 

[SolomonVII]

I agree. But then the question is : What to do with this alleged criminals ?

We could give them life sentence. But now : Is it probable as well that we could be putting behind bars innocent people for life ??
Would you lock them up ,knowing they could be innocent ??

The problem of justice those not end with the issue of death penalty .

We should show more respect for those who have to take those hard rulings and decisions.

Judges would have the more difficult job. The hangman has no real say in the reasons for someone being executed, but is just doing his job. On the other hand, the judge is the one that ultimately decides whether of not the convict lives or dies. By the time the decision reaches the executioner, the mistake has already been made.

Without a doubt, mistakes are made all the time. worst still, deliberate miscarriages of justice happen regualrily as a result ofthe ambitions and prejudices of police, prosecutors and judges and anybody else working in the justice system.

In spite of this, nobody is really advocating emptying the jails, lest an innocent might unjustly suffer.

 

[Nathan David]

This might seem counterintuitive: I think I could push the button, but I am opposed to the death penalty. I think there are people who deserve to die, but I don't trust a human court system to make the determination correctly 100% of the time.

 

[praying]

On the other hand, the judge is the one that ultimately decides whether of not the convict lives or dies.

That is an absolutley false underdstanding of how the DP works. First and foremost the prosecutor must seek the death penalty as part of the trial process, then when complete the jury decides whether the defendant lives or dies not the judge.

 

[Seeking...]

Provided some changes were made to our judicial system - I could push the button. Honestly, depending upon the brutality of the criminal - I might even volunteer...

 

[Rev. Smith]

Thank God for the delays since innocent people end up on death row!!

Between the Inoocence project and Centurian Ministries almost 200 men have been freed from Death Row, freed, not just had their sentance reduced. Both groups believe that it is certain that innocent men have been executed. How do we justify a system that has so many flaws?