I've long said that I don't mind abolishing the death penalty. Really! Just as long as there's a major overhauling in the way that we treat criminals convicted of capital crimes. I'm interested in protecting the innocent, but I can't say that protecting the guilty from their punishment interests me at all.
One of the great advantages to having a blog is that you can talk to people who read your stuff that you wouldn't otherwise meet. I've been Emailed by a few people in Europe, almost all of whom have held different opinions than I do. That's fine as long as there can be a reasoned debate about said differences, but a few of them have simply dismissed me and my views. Sure I used to work for the police over here, but I couldn't possibly be smart enough to actually know what I was talking about since I still was a death penalty advocate. Since I obviously wasn't moral enough to see how wrong capital punishment was I was also a dope. N'est pas?.
This equation of moral correctness=superior intellect is annoying, to say the least.
A post by Prof. Reynolds at his MSNBC column does a good job of summing up the problems that many Americans have to abolishing the death penalty. It's worth reading the whole thing if you're interested in this subject. But I'd like to excerpt some selected passages.
"As this article in Slate by David Greenberg argues, the death penalty may be unkillable in America. And the reasons for that are complex. One reason, I think, gets short shrift: While European intellectuals think that for a state to kill its citizens bespeaks a degree of immorality, many Americans think that a state that refuses to kill in defense of its citizens is useless.".
This is very important for a number of reasons. I think that it points up a major flaw in European thinking: The State is effecient enough to provide protection for the innocent but incompetent when it comes to processing and punishing criminals.
It stands for the total abolition of the death penalty but allows states parties to retain the death penalty in time of war. ... Some states have already abolished the death penalty. ... Some people think the death penalty is fair. ... The death penalty is a global issue. ... The death penalty isn't a way to prevent crime. ...
DEATH PENALTY The death penalty has existed as long as humans have existed. ... There have been many comparisons of crime rates of death penalty states to non-death penalty states. ... Michigan, Ohio and Illinois all have the death penalty. ... In 1994, the average murder rate in death penalty states of a population of 100,00 was 8.0, for a non-death penalty state, 4.4. ... In 1976 Canada got rid of the death penalty. ...
The penalty has been a very controversial topic ever since it came to be. ... Currently, there have been over 1,000 deaths due to the death penalty since 1976 (Death Penalty Information Center). ... There are many different forms of execution used in the death penalty. ... Three years later in 2009, New Mexico repealed the death penalty. ... The Catholic religion is the religion most against the death penalty. ...
I am against the death penalty. ... "A new survey by the New York Times found that states without the death penalty have lower homicide rates than states with the death penalty" ("Facts" 6). ... My last reason for my opposition to the death penalty is its constitutionality, whether or not the death penalty should be legal. ... "The Death Penalty on Trial." ... "Debating the Death Penalty." ...
The Old Testament clearly calls for the death penalty on many occasions. ... Statistics from the Death Penalty Information Center (1997) show that the death penalty does not really deter crime. When comparisons are made between states with the death penalty and states without it, the majority of the death penalty states show murder rates higher than non-death penalty states. ... In 1996, death penalty states averaged a rate of 7.1 criminal homicides per 100,000, while non-death penalty states averaged a rate of 3.6 (Death Penalty Information Center, 1997). ... By imposing the death penalty ind...
(Religious Organizing Against the Death Penalty Website) The main argument that advocates for the death penalty have is that the death penalty deters crime, that the threat of execution is enough to make criminals think twice about committing a capital crime. ... Clearly, by the time he has decided to commit his crime, he has already disregarded other forms of punishment besides the death penalty, such as lengthy imprisonment. ... Also, states that do not have a death penalty experience lower number of murders each year than that of the states who do. (National Coalition to Abolish th...
-Contact Death Penalty Focus. ... -Start a Death Penalty Focus chapter at your school. ... -Attend national conferences on death penalty organizing. ... What Teachers Can Do -Use the Death Penalty Information Center's curriculum for educators in your classroom! ... Death Penalty Focus can help you find many excellent speakers. ...
One way people are being deprived of their rights is the use of the death penalty. The death penalty is often used to kill people who have committed murder. ... The death penalty is not a surefire way to punish criminals. ... Jury members may avoid the death penalty for this very reason. ... If the death penalty does not deter crime, why should there have a death penalty? ...
The death penalty protects society because if the murderers are executed, they are no longer on the streets (The Death Penalty). ... Studies show that by increasing the death penalty by one percent, it would prevent one hundred and five murders (The Death Penalty). ... Why the society defends the death penalty. ... Arguments of those who oppose the death penalty. ... Concluding thoughts of reinstating the death penalty....
The Death Penalty I. ... "The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. ... The death penalty is cruel and unusual punishment. ... The death penalty does not fit into this vision of justice for all. ... The death penalty is final, irrevocable. ...