Capital Punishment: should criminals be given death penalty?

[bluesnow]

Different countries have different guidelines for Capital Punishment. In some countries, drug trafficking and corruption may be a capital offense, while in others, death penalty is only given to murderers.

What are your views towards Capital Punishment? Do you think criminals should be given death penalty to punish them for the crimes they have committed?

Do we have the rights to decide whether to end the life of a person?

[Kofi]

I am a Christian and I believe in forgiveness. There are somethings we can easily forgive the offenders but there are others even the Lord God Most High will never forgive you. God Most High may forgive you for all the sins you have committed but the Lord God will never forgive you if you speak against his chosen people (the prophets and priests). A jail sentence is good enough for the thief but I don't think a jail sentence is good enough for the murderer. An eye for an eye I think is a very fair deal. He who kills should be killed. Capital punishment is the best option for the murderer and anyone who kills intentionally.

[Ami69]

Everybody has the right to live no matter what. You don't have the right to take anybody's life and it is a human right issue. The most painful part is that some of these so called criminals are in fact innocent. The best thing is to sentence them to life imprisonment as is the case in the United States.

[clise]

Unfortunately, I am not as nice as you guys. It is just that death is too easy compare to what the criminals did. I think they should undergo punishment that makes them suffer like what they make their victims go through. It’s true that some criminals are innocent but the real criminals deserve this.

[ThatGirl]

Originally Posted by Kofi

I am a Christian and I believe in forgiveness. There are somethings we can easily forgive the offenders but there are others even the Lord God Most High will never forgive you. God Most High may forgive you for all the sins you have committed but the Lord God will never forgive you if you speak against his chosen people (the prophets and priests). A jail sentence is good enough for the thief but I don't think a jail sentence is good enough for the murderer. An eye for an eye I think is a very fair deal. He who kills should be killed. Capital punishment is the best option for the murderer and anyone who kills intentionally.

I am a little confused by your post. Not to be argumentative, but under Christian doctrine, I believe there is only one sin that God will not forgive, and that is the true denial of the Holy Spirit, a deed that would fall under serious infraction, or so I understand. It's an ambiguous rule that has a lot of debate.

And so the idea of Capital Punishment cannot be cited under God's rule, even if the laws of Old Testament time required a punishment as heinous as the deed. Even Jesus Christ himself condemned the taking of life, for any purpose.

Therefore, the idea of death to a murderer must be 100% a human choice, and have nothing to do with God. It would be blasphemous to say otherwise.

I myself don't believe in it, from a judicial point of view. Of course if one of my loved ones was murdered, I would want to see the person responsible dead. But that doesn't matter: justice is blind. To react emotionally would go against that tenant, and so break the sanctity of a fair and balanced court.

[Buah]

We people sometimes tolerate evil to the point where we invite evil for ourselves. why should the government spend its little resources from the taxes of innocent people to feed the criminal who was caught raping an innocent old lady. This is just one of the mistakes we make in our lives and that is another reason why we are suffering from the way we are doing now.

[ThatGirl]

Originally Posted by Buah

We people sometimes tolerate evil to the point where we invite evil for ourselves. why should the government spend its little resources from the taxes of innocent people to feed the criminal who was caught raping an innocent old lady. This is just one of the mistakes we make in our lives and that is another reason why we are suffering from the way we are doing now.

So are you saying that rape should be punishable by death? Do you really think that those distinctions should be made? What about the gray areas? What about an 18 year old boy who has sex with his 16 year old girlfriend, only to have her family press charges? Should that be classified under that system?

What about people who are charged with Manslaughter, who killed unintentionally? Or in self defense? Should they be killed? An eye for an eye?

[Buah]

Originally Posted by ThatGirl

So are you saying that rape should be punishable by death? Do you really think that those distinctions should be made? What about the gray areas? What about an 18 year old boy who has sex with his 16 year old girlfriend, only to have her family press charges? Should that be classified under that system?

What about people who are charged with Manslaughter, who killed unintentionally? Or in self defense? Should they be killed? An eye for an eye?

you sound very reasonable but remember that the law punishes not every offense and hence the few the law punishes must be punished if we are to live in peace. Rape may be serious in some instances and maybe not that serious in other instances but the fact still remains. Rape is a not a good act. He who rapes can kill because most rape victims do not live to achieve their purpose in life and we all know that. Most rape victims suffer psychologically and who are you if you are not psychologically sound. You are more dead than alive. Therefore, there is no "little" rape.

[Charles]

I am totally against giving out the death penalty for any crime. I feel killing someone is an escape for what they did - but also there is no way to reverse it if they are innocent, and I'm sure many innocent people have been put to death.

[0099]

i think capital punishment is a very good way of making people scared of committing crimes and understanding the value of others life which they take away from them without even thinking once. but there is a great constraint to this that not all who are accused are criminals there is a never ending list of innocent people who have beard the pain of a punishment which they never committed. although there are some crimes which are clearly evident like rape should be give capital punishment, because it is a deliberate act and for some other cases the extent and severity of crime should be considered....

[p00ned u]

Well, there are two matters at hand here.

One is the cost. It is a lot cheaper to kill someone than it is to put them in prison for the rest of their life.
But also, death is sort of "an easy way out" if you know what I mean, many criminals would rather die than be put in prison for the rest of their lives, as they would get extremely bored.

So it could really go either way.

[BlueSword]

I'd say, I'll go for capital punishment or death for heinous crimes. Slow and painful death for these killers or criminals, so they could also feel how their victims felt under their savage and brutal hands.. They should not expect mercy for such grievous act, they know for a fact that it is wrong, so why do it in the first place.

[mcmutt]

There should be no such thing as a death penalty, its just away for governments to have lower taxes, if they just had a life sentence then tax payers would have to pay for their food, ETC.

[jessika]

well in my opinion capital punishment is like deciding upon someones breath which is supposed to be God's job. it is some times hard to be justified because it's not necessary that every accused is guilty and judgment can be against innocent sometimes. i think it's was too much to kill someone.

[getnitin15]

Notorious criminals definitely need to be given capital punishment. The law making agencies need to set an example for those waiting to sneak a chance of committing this act of stupidity. Although capital punishment may be allotted in cases of heinous crimes like rape, terrorism i.e. crimes that seriously hit the image of society

[ferdousx]

Whatever the crime is death penalty is not acceptable. If killing a person is a crime then how can we kill another person in the name of justice? Every person should have the chance to start a new life if he repents and understand his fault. but, yet there are some cases. Sometimes some people are so spoiled that they can not cope with the social life. They should be treated specially, but not death penalty.

[beatrix]

Capital Punishment is absolutely necessary. In this age we see terrorists and suicide bombers that are not even scared of death to commit the crimes they commit. Take the recent Mumbai Taj case. Where innocent and important dignitaries of other countries are killed without a thought. In such cases i think even the capital punishment would not be enough.

[William]

Do we have the right to decide ? Well, yeah. The law does, as crazy as that is. My theory is if you take a life, then we should take yours. I would say give them life in prison, but now a days if you go out and kill someone, and even rape them before doing so, you might get 25 years and then probation. It's ridiculous.

[DaughterUK]

Originally Posted by Kofi

I am a Christian and I believe in forgiveness. There are somethings we can easily forgive the offenders but there are others even the Lord God Most High will never forgive you. God Most High may forgive you for all the sins you have committed but the Lord God will never forgive you if you speak against his chosen people (the prophets and priests). A jail sentence is good enough for the thief but I don't think a jail sentence is good enough for the murderer. An eye for an eye I think is a very fair deal. He who kills should be killed. Capital punishment is the best option for the murderer and anyone who kills intentionally.

An eye for an eye and the whole world becomes blind!

Prison should not be about vengeance and punishment, but about rehabilitation of the offender whilst they are segregated from the public. Prison is there to protect the public from violent offenders, by keeping them seperate.

As you may know, St Paul (originally Saul) was having Christians persecuted and murdered... until he found Christ and became a Christian himself. Yes, even a man who had been responsible for murders was forgiven by the Lord, and later given the office of prophet. If God could forgive Paul these sins and turn him to good, why don't we emulate God by showing forgiveness to our criminals by giving them the opportunity to turn over a new leaf whilst serving their prison sentence and render them no longer a danger to society.

One murder is wrong, murdering in response to murder is another wrong. Two wrongs do not make one right, they make a double wrong.

Jesus' entire message was about love, forgiveness and peace. That includes rehabilitating people who have done unspeakable crimes because there is no such thing as a person so far gone that they are beyond salvation.

I'm afraid, Kofi, that I totally disagree with you on this point,
DaughterUK

[DaughterUK]

Originally Posted by beatrix

Capital Punishment is absolutely necessary. In this age we see terrorists and suicide bombers that are not even scared of death to commit the crimes they commit. Take the recent Mumbai Taj case. Where innocent and important dignitaries of other countries are killed without a thought. In such cases i think even the capital punishment would not be enough.

We do have a choice. If they are not afraid of death and are willing to kill, we neutralize them by putting them in jail where they cannot harm anyone. If we use the death penalty, we are not much better than the terrorists we aim to punish.

I realize that it's an emotional subject and that people do have very strong feelings about what should happen to the terrorists, but in my view, prison is sufficient.

You see, a thief is always a thief and a murderer is always a murderer. Why should the government waste people's taxes on thieves and murderers?

[Padalda]

According to me capital punishment is not a big punishment. Death penalty should also be given to those people who had committed murders or rape cases while the others crimes should be punished under capital punishment.

[Jayvader]

Originally Posted by Padalda

According to me capital punishment is not a big punishment. Death penalty should also be given to those people who had committed murders or rape cases while the others crimes should be punished under capital punishment.

I agree murder and rape are crimes for the death penalty.

[rockingway]

Originally Posted by Chen

You see, a thief is always a thief and a murderer is always a murderer. Why should the government waste people's taxes on thieves and murderers?

In some cases, people do change.

[CountryBoy]

Thorny issue this one.
My opinion is that some crimes are so ghastly that only capital punishment is warranted. I am thinking specifically about the rape or murder of a child by an adult where there is unequivocal evidence of guilt. People who commit these crimes are sick in the head, so removing them from the population seems a viable proposition to me.

[thegamevg]

Originally Posted by CountryBoy

Thorny issue this one.
My opinion is that some crimes are so ghastly that only capital punishment is warranted. I am thinking specifically about the rape or murder of a child by an adult where there is unequivocal evidence of guilt. People who commit these crimes are sick in the head, so removing them from the population seems a viable proposition to me.

That truly does warrant a death sentence CountryBoy...
But I too am of the view that rape and murder are,without a doubt, worthy of capital punishment. Anyone who can take another man's life or commit a heinous crime as rape have no right to live..

And more than just the punishment, I feel that an example needs to be set out of such offenders for the future...Hand out a couple of death sentences and watch the rate of crimes go down!

I believe in an eye for an eye. If you do not want your brother to live then why must you live? if you kill your brother then why must you remain alive?

lets talk the truth we want evil to flourish in this world as long as a evil criminal fucks up someone else's life all is ok, humans are just plain stupid and evil.

People are really mean in this world. Jesus forgives, criminals do it again. That is just how humans are. I think Jail is the better solution because if we do give the death sentence to a criminal, this is just hurting Jesus even more.