Why hasn't America banned the death sentence like they have in Europe?

Ms.shauncy

I am so tired of the misinterpretations of the quote "an eye for an eye". How can the government punish someone for murder with murder. If I spank my child for stealing, wouldn't I be a bad mother, if I were stealing too? One of the ten commandments is "Thou shalt not kill". I didn't see anywhere in that scripture that said the government is an exception. If it is a crime for the citizens to take lives, it is wrong for the government to take lives. This not only comes down to the death penalty. It also includes abortion or destroying preemies because of fear they will lead abnormal lives. They think they can make it right by making it a law to kill somone legally. It is still wrong, legal or illegal! I know in the situation of a loved one being hurt or killed, the family wants revenge. How is killing that person getting revenge? That's giving them the easy way out.Someone answered earlier that this method works for the mob and gangs. That is so untrue. If this works for mobs or gangs, why are there so many drive by shootings. When someone is killed by a mob or gang, there is that victims loved one looking for the person that did it so they can be killed too. Murder cannot be solved with murder!

yetti

I would not want to see it gone.....I personally think that if you are sentanced to dealth then you should be walked straight out of the court house and right to the gallows for public hangings.....no 20 or 30 years wasting my tax dollars to keep someone alive just so we can kill them later.......but thats just me...you have the right to your opinion.....

ph_yo

You know what the difference is between a death sentence in Iraq vs. America?

about 20 years.

Susie D

Oh yes - I love paying higher taxes to keep a baby raper or murderer behing bars.

I believe in second chances for non-violent offenders, and I do believe there is a chance (albeit a slim one) that some people do change.....but the rapists, murders, terrorists of the world....throw the switch, hit em with the drugs, hang em -- don't really care what you do them as long as they are not wasting oxygen by existing.

Olivia's Mama

because as americans, we believe in an eye for an eye, plus we dont wanna pay for some murderer to be kept alive in a jail cell who probably gets better stuff than us AND they dont have to go to work every day.

rhsaunders

The majority of Americans (including me) do not agree with your opinion, and it is an opinion. There are some crimes sufficiently heinous that death is an appropriate penalty; consider, for example, the Oklahoma City bombing, which killed over 160 people. McVeigh was appropriately executed for this crime.

Bryan

I support the death penalty and I disagree with your contention that it does not bring peace. If you want to make the argument that the death penalty is a form of revenge I will agree with that. Have you ever known anyone personally who was murdered? Can you even begin to understand the pain and rage it causes. A very good friend of mine was murdered in a robbery. It was at this point that my feelings on the matter were solidified, because I found a whole lot of inner the peace the moment they gave that scumbag the needle. So speak for yourself all you like, but kindly do not speak for the rest of us, because you have no idea what we think on this matter or why?

FozzieBear

If we can't sentence killers to death, then how can we put kidnappers in jail? It's just doing back to them what they did to their victim, which you say is wrong.

If the death penalty doesn't work, then why does no one cross the mob or gangs? The death penalty would work if we'd actually use it instead of letting sickos sit on death row for decades.

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justagrandma

Yeah, but then I'd have to pay for their endless appeals and their medical and dental and housing and telephone and all the other things for their storage. Death brings an end to all that and even the Bible has stories of death sentences for murder. I actually feel that incarceration for life is worse for the person than death, but I resent the fact that I have to pay for their useless lives when that money has better, more needed places to be. Like education and health care for the working man, or home health care for the elderly. It is our job to help those who need it, its not our job to keep the slime of civilization alive and well.

dude

Actually, America has, but they're getting it back

The last woman in the UK who got the death sentence was just defending herself against an abusive boyfriend. She was hung and her head fell off. In France they used the guillotine until a couple decades ago.

In Arizona, they also banned the death penalty about a hundred years ago when things got sick. Eventually, the supreme court banned it across the USA. But it's coming back now.

The death penalty reinstated is more humane appearing. They put down criminals the way stray dogs are disposed of, rather than the vindictive firing squads of Cuba or beheadings of the middle east.

The problem is that it sometimes seems unrealistic to keep someone behind bars forever. What if they escape? What if a gang or paramilitary group uses their freedom as a bargaining chip? What if they get pardoned or given parole when prisons are over crowded?

There's a real fear in America of criminals on the loose. And politicians play on those fears. And, as a democracy, parts of the US have accepted to reinstate the death penalty (but not all States have). If you disagree, run for office or at least use your vote.

Thegustaffa

It's impossible to ban the death sentence. Yeah, the government can decide to ban the death sentence, but the lack of deterrent that provides emboldens criminals. Those criminals are then free to sentence others to death. Life behind bars isn't the answer either. Somebody kills your family members and you're forced to pay for the killer for the rest of his life? That's just sick. Not only that, there's no guarantee that the criminal will stay in jail. My point is this, there is a choice: sentence the guilty or the innocent to death. Ban the death sentence and you've just sentenced more innocent people to death. I vote to punish killers by removing their right to life. It keeps them from killing more innocent people with a 100% success rate.

Studbolt Slickrock

For the same reason the Muslims haven't: we're both conservative extremists.

StampHead

Sometimes the punishment must fit the crime. This way these 'sick, crazy murderers' can not harm anybody else.

coolforbeer

In case you didn't notice it costs taxpayers money to jail people forever. At what point is it too much money to keep them alive? Also the government isn't very good at handling money. On top of that criminals are committing crimes just to get back into jail! What we need is to increase the death sentence and follow the constitution and get speedy trails.

Justice is the defender of liberty

Aviator - THE Resolution

But killing is wrong. So we must kill the killers to show not to kill. Um, your right, it really doesn't make sense.

Gypsy Gal

Our government only banns what we should eat and what habbits we should have,,,smiles,

Lala

I know I'd sleep better at night knowing the a serial killer who terrorized my neighborhood is dead rather than locked up enjoying 3 warm meals a day on my taxes.

Simon

"An eye for an eye makes the world blind" It's actually cheaper to keep a prisoner in jail than kill them off, weird huh?
It's simply because America is too detached from the rest of the world.

Also, I don't believe that the end justifies the means. You may save thousands of people's lives, but you've still taken one, and that is wrong.

turboweegie

The death sentence isn't "wrong" just because you and other people believe so. There really isn't anything inherently wrong with capital punishment for heinous crimes.

Not sure what the correlation is between peace and the death sentence. I do not see any correlation at all. The death sentence is a punishment. Having capital punishment or not has no bearing upon peace.

As for whether we have a right to take others' lives, the fact is that we certainly do. If we, the people, decide that execution is a just punishment for certain offenses, that's our right.

As for any argument about it being barbaric or uncivilized, that's hogwash.

Any argument that it is unChristian, even from the Pope, is not true. There is nothing in the Bible, OT or NT, that indicates anything being wrong with execution as a criminal punishment. In fact, the OT DEMANDS it!

Saitia

Most Americans intuitively understand the justice in a simple equation: You take a lifeâ€” you lose your life."

And it IS the government's "job." Even Jesusâ€” who claimed that he and the Father were "one"â€” which essentially makes Jesus our parent, refused to prevent his own capital punishment, and made it clear that we should "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."

When the murderers among us stop using capital punshment, so can society.

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