that's sort of the point I was making. It's easy and lazy to tell 12 people. "Go ahead and kill the guy. Whatever you decide is OK with me". There's no personal responsibility in the most important decision that can be made.

it is a very complex decision. i don't know that i can make a decision on how i feel about it, so i can only hope i am never in a position to have to.

but, my question back to lex tho would be, is it in a different light when the individual did something knowing what the consequence would be? did they not make that decision for themselves then really?

I'm not even addressing that part here. That's another issue entirely.

The issue comes down to this: Is it wrong to kill, or isn't it?

The minute you say something like "It depends on the circumstances," you're inevitably getting into an area where someone has to make a decision on what constitutes legitimate killing and what doesn't. There is a line to be drawn.

My point is that no human being can ever be qualified to determine where that line is.

So: Is killing wrong or not? That's my point here.

If it's wrong for Person A to kill Person B, then it's just as wrong for Government C to kill Person A. Which, by logical extension, means Someone Else D should kill Government C. And so on and so on, ad infinitum. Not a pretty place to be.

Or, to put it another way -- where does it stop?

why even have a death penalty? The U.S. stages 42 executions per year. It can't be an economic issue. The death penalty has no deterrent value. Why even present people with the moral dilemma?

Maybe they think death penalty is a cure all. If it existed in your country my question is does it stop people from doing crime? I think not. I think the bottom line here is morality. Its deep within. No matter how you kill it will not cure the root cause of societies problem like in whats happening in Libya now.

What if you kill that person in order to stop them from killing someone else...saving one's life at the expense of another...isn't that almost just as good as bringing someone back to life? because you made sure you stopped them from killing a victim?

in that sense you DID bring their 'next' victim back to life...people get out of prison...it's not really life in prison..and tax dollars shouldn't pay to educate them on how to get out earlier next time...but that is another issue

I believe the death penalty is warranted when there is solid DNA evidence or a confession.

I don't believe in death for those that are convicted on circumstantial evidence or the testimony of a co-conspirator that was given a deal.

Killing your family for insurance money is one crime that comes to mind in which the person convicted deserves to be shot immediately.

What you raising here is already a matter of self defense. What we trying to rule out is death penalty wherein one is not given a chance to live a good life anymore out of their mistake.

Only God can make judgment regarding self defense. I cannot say the offender or the killer has the right by saving himself since a crime is committed also by killing his opponent. Its really hard.

We are blessed as a species, to have the knowledge.... we all die.
Some, take it for granted and they don't realize Stupidity kills in 1001 ways. Travelling to China with 4 kilos is one of them.
The truly sad part is it was most likely motivated by financial desperation or greed.

Nature has a way of weeding out diseased animals...
as humans, so should we.
It's not right or wrong.... It's NEEDED! (FOR CLEAR CUT CASES ONLY)


Off the subject.

Last years shark attacks at the Red Sea resort in Egypt was in fact causes by a "crazy" shark who attacked a few limbs but a 70 yr old lady was attacked... And it kept attacking her repeatedly! which is completely absurd according to Marine Biologists.

The world is getting crazy and if I go crazy too??? Take me OUT!!!!

I just don't think that average, ordinary people are competent to administer the death penalty. I especially don't think that Texas or Oklahoma should be allowed to have the death penalty.

Where does the line start?

There are automatic appeals that are looked at by judges.

If there were no appeals process then I can understand your point.

But...

I think to live in this world let us try not to stain our hands with human blood by killing somebody. Remember our life is not ours. Human being commits mistake what they need is more of self change make them realized that's its never too late to change. I think that's whats lacking in our society because people wants to have things in a wrong way. It boils down to family values i think.

The problem is there is too much red tape with the executions today, when you try and convict someone to put them to death it has been said it costs almost three times as much money as the same trial for just putting the person in jail for life. The lawyers have a higher cost for death penalty cases, plus there are extra laws and people appealing the cases and all. Back years ago the death penalty was a big deterrent but today the criminals know that with the right lawyers and the underpaid police force they have a better chance of getting away with the crimes.

In clear cut cases with DNA and everything then yes that person should be put to death. If the death penalty was there for confessions then there would be a lot less confessions I would bet, now it is used as a tool to get someone to confess and they will get the life in prison instead of the death penalty. If we had a better legal system then we would not need all these appeals and everything, but as Julius Caesar found out you can not trust anyone in the government...

At this very moment, I am looking at a pop-up ad at the top of the Recent Posts page with the banner, "Tell Georgia. No execution of Troy Davis!" People shouldn't have to be burdened with these controversies.

Cripes, let me do something stoopid first

^this basically sums it up for me too! I've been on both sides of the law & know that in bad situations, people are more apt to make bad decisions. Even the wise can not see everything from all sides and since there are few truly wise people in this world I am not convinced that anyone has the right to make those decisions.

i agree

I have no problem with the death penalty. But I don't necessarily believe killing is wrong, otherwise, the hypocrisy of what our military is doing needs to be seriously considered. We have no problems putting down animals without a fair trial, and I find that to be a whole other irony.

I find it amusing that generally, the most religious people are the ones who are getting bent out of shape over the death penalty. One would think, if they're right with the deity of choice, then it shouldn't matter. Of course, I can see it that if they find out they aren't really right, and will get to spend their eternity in the whole burning torment of hell type of thing. I won't even get in to the hypocrisy of jailhouse religious conversions. Again, if the person got right with their maker, then they shouldn't be to upset getting to see 'em a little sooner.

Dead is dead. Lethal injection can't get much less painful. I'm certainly all for the nifty updates being shown with DNA proof and such, but once its proven, they just need to be put down. I'd much rather have taxpayer money going to places that help kids/people stay out of trouble then having to rehab them after the fact.

The victims families get peace. They didn't break any laws, so why should they constantly have a cloud hanging over their heads. They'll be living with it the rest of their lives anyways, but they certainly shouldn't have to deal with the person/s who killed their loved one getting to live the rest of their natural life.

Drugs are bad. I don't know how difficult that is to understand. Each country may have different variations of just how bad, but basically, the world agrees that its bad. If you don't want to get in trouble, then don't mess with drugs. Kind of a no-brainer.

Look up the name "Westley Allan Dodd", that is a name of someone who wanted to be put to death because of what he did and it still took the system 3 years to finally execute him. I was in high school at the time there by the penitentiary he was in and I had family who worked there, from sun up to sun down there was picketers by the gates protesting for him to be set free! Some people have no sense...