re: #2 Dark_Falcon

Like SFZ said, the death penalty’s “deterrence” is dubious. There are three kinds of motives for committing murder. All three of which, by their nature, negate any fear of punishment.

1 - Rationally planned, like organized crime and such. People who do this are convinced they’re too careful to get caught.

2 - Passion. If you’re so furious at someone, so enraged that you’ve just got to kill them for it, then you’re not going to think of the consequences.

3 - Compulsion. Serial killers and other such poster children for birth control. These whacks don’t feel “right” unless they kill. You can’t deter someone from doing what they’re compelled to do.

Moving on.

re: #5 Locker

1. We execute innocent people sometimes, even once is too many
…
3. When you see how long people are on death row plus all of the additional costs for trying death penalty cases, additional phases, endless appeals, it is freaking expensive.

Pardon me, but isn’t the point of 3 to try to prevent 1? Sure, I’ll support the death penalty when we figure out how to have our cake and eat it too.

One big problem with the death penalty that nobody brought up yet is police and prosecutor misconduct. Not every innocent person convicted has been by honest mistake. Innocent people get deliberately railroaded all the time. Police have a bad habit of picking suspects way too soon and ignoring all evidence to the contrary. And prosecutors need high conviction rates to further their careers.

If anyone here thinks the truth usually prevails in such a system, then I suggest they stop watching “CSI” and Google “Project Innocence.”