The Death Penalty, Debate :P Options

[Ripper1486]

Well, I am part of a debate tomorrow concerning the subject of capital punishment and just wanted to see what you guys have to say about it. I am personally against capital punishment, but want to see some of the arguments people may have against it. My biggest problem is if someone brings up the argument that murderers may be more inclined to commit murder knowing that they don't have a huge punishment like dying, but they will get to live in a prison with food each day, beds, libraries, etc. There are countries which do not enforce the death penalty and do not seem to have many killers running everywhere...I'm still doing research though. I'm going to finish it tonight with my partner, but if you guys have any input, it would be greatly appreciated! On with the debate . . .

(Keep it clean )

[Astrid]

I'm definitely against capital punishment for a number of reasons. Here's a very short version below:

1. I was never a believer of the "do as I say, not as I do" philosophy. If the government truly wants people to accept murder as something immoral, then it should not rationalize it, itself.

2. Statistics show that states without the death penalty have a lower murder rate than those that do; the same goes for countries. This can be explained by #1.

3. About one-third of the executed are actually guilty of the crime. Most of the time, evidence shows up after the death to prove innocence.

4. A life sentence is actually far less straining on the economy than the death penalty, primarily because of the large number of appeals given to the prisoner.

5. This is a very incoherent argument because Cam and I just quit smoking. Can't. .. concentrate