The Death Penaly

[Doc]

I was curious to see what some of the members thought about Capital Punishment and the Government's right to execute people who have committed horrible crimes they deem where the perpatrator deserves death. I will not try to beat up the subject and say how wrong it is because I have never hated anyone enough to have the desire for their death, but many in the world have. I will not speak on their behalf but mine. I will say for now that "An eye for an eye" is a very old rule which should not influence the government anymore. I would be interested to hear from those of faith and those not of any particular faith. Please give some kind of reasonable answer with some thought in it and not just saying "they deserved it"! I have asked this on another forum or two and all I got were boos, hisses, and a lot of jibberish about how the penalty of death should be harsher! What are your thoughts?

 

[Lightkeeper]

We discussed this top twice in September. Look on page 2 of this "General Debate" forum.

 

[Engyo]

Buddhism does not support killing. Period. The negative effects generated from the negative causes created by killing, whether in retribution or for whatever reasons (state sanctioned or not), far outweigh the positive results from said killing, both on an individual and on a societal basis.

 

[Ardhanariswar]

against it. put the workers to good use. community service, you are letting them off the hook by killing them.

 

[Michelle]

I oppose the death penalty for a number of reasons. I think killing people is wrong with the the only exception being self defense. I think that the Great Spirit loves us all the same but religions have caused manmade limitations to Gods love.
My second reason for opposing the death penalty is our system has failed. We have executed innocent people all throughout history ( even Jesus). Even in this age of DNA we are finding we have made errors .
http://www.stungunresources.com/crime_dna_houston_lab.html

 

[Ceridwen018]

Do we rape the rapist or torture the torturer? I oppose the death penalty.

 

[dolly]

I oppose for different reasons. 1) It is too expensive. 2) We can't really be 100% sure that everyone killed was guilty. 3) The punishment might not be equal to the crime.

 

[Ceridwen018]

Has anyone ever seen the movie The Life of David Gale with Kevin Spacey? It deals with the death penalty and is very good.

 

[dolly]

Not yet. I'll add it to my long list of movies I need to see. : )

 

[Scott1]

2267 Assuming that the guilty party's identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.

If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people's safety from the aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and are more in conformity to the dignity of the human person. Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm - without definitely taking away from him the possibility of redeeming himself - the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity "are very rare, if not practically non-existent."

 

[Sunstone]

Well, for once I agree with the Catholic position. The death penalty should only be used in extraordinary circumstances to defend and protect people's safety from the aggressor. Furthermore, I even agree with the Catholic position that such circumstances are rare, if not practically non-existent. e.g. Perhaps a prisoner who murdered his guards would be eligible for the death penalty.

This whole subject reminds me that the United States is one of a very few countries left that allows the execution of juveniles under the age of 18. I find that reprehensible.