Even though to imprison one person for life is amazingly cheaper than the death penalty for one person, is it right?
Is it right to reward these criminals with food and opportunities that some hard working Americans can not receive?
I understand that this is a very touchy subject that everyone has their own opinions about but it is also an ethical question.
If we as a country did execute the death penalty more then would there be less crimes committed? As a growing adult I try not to make conclusions based on what I hear but I do like to hear the opinions of others. Capital Punishment is one of the fastest growing concerns in United States and I would like to know the benefits and the disadvantages and how other people see it. I also understand that the issue can be very controversial.
Please comment the following blog and let me know what you know or have experienced with this issue. I would love to expand my knowledge on the subject seeing that it is a very important issue and I will probably have to debate or discuss it sometime in the future.
I appreciate every small amount of information and I am willing to accept any opinions.
Thank you =)
A lethal injection is cheap.
The only reaon the death penalty is more expensive is because we choose for it to be that way. We could choose to limit the appeals process and considerably speed the execution process. I think there is lots of room for reform in this area.
The people opposed to the death penalty are the ones who have concieved of and caused the endless appeals. They have driven up the expense. And now they use the high expense as an argument against the death penalty. It is kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy.
These same people often say that life imprisionment is actually a more severe punishment. But if it is really more severe, why is there not an endless string of appeals against this cruel punishment. The argument is disingenuous.
Most of the anti-death penalty types are liberals and they are the same ones that support unlimited abortion and will execute an innocent unborn viable baby without any due process, judicial review, legal representation or chance at appeal. It has always struck me as an odd set of priorities and a very mixed up moral position.
I oppose abortion for the same reason I oppose execution. Any murder is morally unjustified. I have consistent beliefs when it comes to the sanctity of life.
But you did bring up the moral question of allowing those responsible of heinous crimes to live comfortably in a prison, while we have hundreds of thousands of Americans in the streets who do not know where their next meal is coming from.
Life imprisonment is morally justifiable when you take into account that one of the major sociological purposes of the jail system is to keep dangerous criminals from committing more crimes. Also, most inmates have to "earn their keep," in a sense, through prison work programs. So, staying in prison isn't entirely a free ride, paid for by the rest of us. Based on this argument, I support expanding prison work programs.
The death penalty is pretty barbaric; the US is one of the few countries that still practices it (some other moral and upstanding countries that also practice it include Iran, China, Saudi Arabia...).
Despite jackbenimble's comment, I think in many cases life imprisonment is worse than execution. For example, in the ongoing trial of 9/11 terrorist Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, he and his co-defendants say that they want the death penalty because they welcome martyrdom. If I was the judge in this case, I would never confer the honorable title of "martyr" upon such despicable men. I would far prefer allowing them to rot in an American prison for the rest of their natural lives. In my own county, there was a recently resolved case in which a convicted murderer requested the death penalty because he was so ashamed. He did not receive it; the psychological torment of living will be a far worse punishment than death for him.
Ironically, according to my opinion, one could argue in these cases that life in prison is LESS humane than death. Well, that's up to you.