With the murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman occuring in England, the country is once again brought to a debating standstill with bloodthirsty “eye for an eye” minded people crying out for vengeance against Iain Huntley, the man found guilty for their murders, who seems to be taking the wrath aimed at every murderer in the UK since the DP was last used in 1955.
Quite frankly, this debate is getting old for me. Everyone quotes the old “an eye for an eye, an ear for an ear” speech from the Old Testament and mouths off about how that’s the way God planned it.
Big news flash. The OT was written around 5,000 years ago. It’s not included in today’s society, and in the NT Christ said that eye-for-an-eye was the worst policy.
The death penalty is a bad idea, in my opinion, because the offenders don’t have to live with their crimes, and on the off chance that someone is found guilty and isn’t…which has happened…it’s irreversable.
Anyway, I think that the DP is okay if the person to be executed in question is still possibly a danger to other people (caugh Saddam caugh), but if it’s just your average “Bubba-Joe shot and killed Billy-Ray” scenario, let’s just give Bubba-Joe a slap across the face and life in prison, k?
Not a good thing even in Sadam’s case…
How is he still going to be dangerous from within a prison anyway Neil? Or do you think that he will be able to contact and give orders to people or whatever? I’m pretty sure that if he’s convicted instead of executed he will go in a maximum security prison and will get beat up BIG TIME for even looking at a guard wrong like it happens to all criminals that are put in a prison like that(A friend of mine’s husband is a guard in one of those).
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It’s not for us to judge who lives and who dies.
Just cos someone did that himself it does not mean we get the “right” to do the same to him…I’m no religious person but I still find it wrong, if we find it so wrong that he killed people why are we gonna do the same wrong thing to him…doesn’t that make us just as bad in a lot of ways?
An eye for an eye is indeed outdated…
It’s a different case if someone is threatening to kill a person and the cops bust in and shoot him first, that’s a choice of saving a person from someone else or not rather than just killing someone for the hell of it like it’s done in an execution…Sadam is harmless now so anything more done to him is just for the entertainment of the public and not because it’s “just” or “Fair”…
In order to move towards a society more like that seen in Star Trek: The Next Generation (that is societys goal right? ) then i believe we must abolish things such as the death penalty.
[quote=“Al3xand3r”]Not a good thing even in Sadam’s case…
How is he still going to be dangerous from within a prison anyway Neil? Or do you think that he will be able to contact and give orders to people or whatever? I’m pretty sure that if he’s convicted instead of executed he will go in a maximum security prison and will get beat up BIG TIME for even looking at a guard wrong like it happens to all criminals that are put in a prison like that(A friend of mine’s husband is a guard in one of those).
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It’s not for us to judge who lives and who dies.
Just cos someone did that himself it does not mean we get the “right” to do the same to him…I’m no religious person but I still find it wrong, if we find it so wrong that he killed people why are we gonna do the same wrong thing to him…doesn’t that make us just as bad in a lot of ways?
An eye for an eye is indeed outdated…
It’s a different case if someone is threatening to kill a person and the cops bust in and shoot him first, that’s a choice of saving a person from someone else or not rather than just killing someone for the hell of it like it’s done in an execution…Sadam is harmless now so anything more done to him is just for the entertainment of the public and not because it’s “just” or “Fair”…[/quote]
You make a very good point Alex, and I was going to get to that. I probably should have added that there is a slight chance that one of Saddam’s cronies back in Iraq might launch a mass suicide bombing in retaliation to his capture, although now that I look back I see exactly how slim those chances are. Good job man, you’ve helped to alter the viewpoint of a very cynical penguin
Oh, and also I agree with you on the “it’s not our right to take someone’s life.” On the other hand, it’s also human nature (imo anyway…) to be violent and feed our thirst for blood. Saddam Hussein, who has killed, tortured, and raped his people for almost 3 decades, will not have much luck when facing a jury of angry Iraqis. They’d most likely kill him out of revenge, not because it is “Just” or “Fair”, but to satisfy their bloodlust and alleviate their sorrow. Will it bring back dead friends and family? No. That is the folly of man.
sigh
We’ve bitched on this one gazillions of times in school, debate clubs, etc. I can come up with tons of great reasons for or against the DP, but I won’t bother to do so as of now. Anyways, I’m against it, for the most part. No reason, I guess I’m just very passive, that’s all.
Killing someone off, no matter who they are or what they did, is removing a human life from this planet. I don’t see why the law should regrade itself to that level, the level of the murderers themselves.
One other point: even a murderer can change his ways. We should not remove the chance of someone ever turning into a better person, we should encourage it. Some may say that it is harsh making someone live with the thought and realisation that they’ve made a big mistake, but if there is a chance that they can grow into a better person because of that then I say that it is a far better moral choice than the death penalty.
I’m against it.
First, it’s pointless. There’s no reason to kill someone instead of letting them rot in jail (even though I’m against that too).
Second, it’s expensive. It costs much more to kill someone than to keep them alive.
Third, the entire prision system is stupid. Criminals should be given psychiatric care/treatment rather than just throwing them in jail or killing them.
