re: Thoughts on Public Execution?

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Anyone in favor of the death penalty either:

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Why can't I be in favor of the death penalty in only certain situations when there is 100% certainty of guilt? Like they were caught in the act. They sit on death row for maybe a month then are executed. Only a handful of executions per year but you don't kill innocent people. Problem solved.

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Why can't I be in favor of the death penalty in only certain situations when there is 100% certainty of guilt? Like they were caught in the act. They sit on death row for maybe a month then are executed. Only a handful of executions per year but you don't kill innocent people. Problem solved.

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What if your kid was the victim of a murder that might have been deterred by the death penalty?

Let's think of the alternative here. If my kid is wrongly convicted of a crime punishable by death, but the death penalty is abolished, then my kid still rots in prison for the rest of their life. Is this somehow better?

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I personally believe in an eye for an eye so the perp would die were it my kid but listen to what you just said. You would not see the difference in your child being wrongly convicted and put to death than for they to at least rot in jail for life or until technology improves enough to prove their innocence. I can't debate with that logic.

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As long as it results in a net positive, sure.

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That's an awfully slippery slope.

A lot of German people thought the world would be better without Jews too.

You realize you are justifying killing totally innocent people right?

Any means justifies the ends is the stuff of pure evil.

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You realize you could be causing even more innocent lives to be lost by abolishing the death penalty?.

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I seriously doubt you could mathematically prove that. How are more people rotting in prison going to cost more lives in the streets?

People think that today's society is sick, but how sick and coarsened must one be to attend a public hanging and bring kids? The size of that crowd is obscene and a sad sight.

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But, I also think that at some point, the killings that are deterred far outweigh any innocent executions. 1437 people have been executed in the last 40 years. If we assume that 1 in 100 were wrongly tried, convicted, and executed, then roughly 14 people over 40 years have been wrongly killed (even without the death penalty, these people would have rotted in jail). I have a hard time believing that the death penalty hasn't deterred at least 14 killings in 40 years.

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Since 1973 (three years prior to the moratorium being lifted), there have been 156 exonerations and that list is growing every year. These are just the one's that can actually prove their innocence. We've surely wrongfully executed people over this time, and considering that the number exonerated is greater than 10% of the total number executed since 1976, then I think it is safe to say that number is probably north of 1%. considering in order to be exonerated you must prove your innocence. Fact is, most murders in this country are tried based on testimonial evidence.

Also, for all of those that have the "take'em out back and shoot'em" mentality, the reason why it takes so long and is so expensive is because we can't even get it right 90% of the time. If you going to take the life of people, you better be able to at least make an A in the class.

Edited to add that of the 156 exonerated, only 20 of those was due to DNA.

Maybe the number is much higher than 1%, I really don't know (no one does). I just find it hard to believe that the number of innocent people executed is greater than the number of innocent lives that have been saved by the deterrent effect of the death penalty.