Death Penalty, the endless question

In the US, state of Georgia a man is going to be executed after 20 Years of appeals.

It seems that in 1989 Troy Davis shoot to death a police officer in the parking lot of a burger shop.

The entire process is cloudy and after all this years there are still some doubts if Mr Troy Davis was the person to pull trigger.

Personally I accept the death sentence for certain crimes and in certain circumstances, however I also know that in cases like this where everything is to unclear, if it should be applied.

The Judicial power needs to take one thing in consideration, the death penalty is the only one that after applied can’t be reversed if a judicial error is found and proved that occurred.

I believe that what would be fairer is if there are still doubts on the process that the sentence should be commuted to life in prison, in one way if Mr Travis is really guilty justice will be served in one way.

I can’t speak for the relatives of the police officer that was brutally murdered, but if i was in their place i would want justice and the last thing I would like to hear is that after the execution of Mr Travis some Human Rights organization had found some new proof that would create minimum reasonable doubt around the guilt of Mr. Travis.

Justice yes, but not at any price.

In principle, I have no issue with the death penalty in the most heinious cases.

However I find it un-evenly applied based on a racial and socio-economic basis.
When Exxon executives are subject to it for their murders, then we might be getting "fair" about it.

I simply see no reason to support in costly prisons those who hold no value to the life of others. Until there is a cure, there is an end.
____________

Janice

I simply see no reason to support in costly prisons those who hold no value to the life of others. Until there is a cure, there is an end.

I value all life, even those lives that I do not understand.


The desire to kill and the desire to want someone to kill is a very barbaric instinct, and one we should not hold in an advanced civilization.

I’m from a country that was one of the first to forbid the death sentence. There are several opinions about why this sentence should never be applied, like it’s against human rights, if applied to many times it will escalate crime in to more violent one, or it is the only sentence where there is no coming back if there is a judicial error.

Like in my last post I’m in favour of the death sentence in certain crimes, I know that sometimes everything is not black and white, and at court there is a lot of grey areas, but even so, there are cases where I ask myself why the society has to support criminals that would never be rehabilitated and in fact they will do the same thing if they have the chance. Some NGO’s talk about human rights, and what about the rights of the victims that this criminals have violated in conscience, where is justice here?

I’m against torture and corporal punishment, as in not only inhuman but also not effective, but I’m not in favour of protecting too much the criminals. Society can’t help those who don’t want to be helped.

In the case I mentioned, the situation is being dragged for 20 years, for me there are serious doubts about the case, and if the sentence was not based in racial criteria, as the police officer that was shoot was white, and the convicted criminal is black.

In this case if I was a judge I would go for prison in life, than to apply the death sentence but in the case of the Norway bombings, I would go for death immediately.

To summarize my opinion, I believe that Death Sentence is valid but needs to be used with extreme care by society as it as a lot of pros and cons, and it’s a sentence that can’t be reversed.

I’m also against corporal punishments, and they will not avoid most of the crimes, it is proved that will only turn them more violent, as the criminal at one point will not have anything to lose.

Anyway, justice needs to be swift and accurate, and the scale must always be balanced and not use several measures according to race, religion and social criteria.

If something that is made by man that needs to be close to perfection is justice, this is one area that governments worldwide and also the states in the US should give close attention and have extreme care to avoid grey areas.

At the end we all want justice for the victims and their families, which rights where violated in the most brutal ways. examples (murderer, rape, child abuse).

In some crimes you will not kill the victim, but you will destroy her soul in one way that it will never recover.

[quote]Anyway, justice needs to be swift and accurate, and the scale must always be balanced and not use several measures according to race, religion and social criteria.

...

At the end we all want justice for the victims and their families, which rights where violated in the most brutal ways. examples (murderer, rape, child abuse).

Well Doc, you sure have upturned a real can of worms here my friend! Almost probably the most contentious thread here for many a day. Will it survive until the weekend?

I will state that I am against bringing back the death penalty. In the 21st century it seems an unnecessary barbarism. However, when given a life sentence it should mean life. You should not get out in 20 years for good behaviour.

Yes it costs money to incarcerate people for many tens of years, an example here would be Rudolf Hess. But better that than letting them free again in public.

Troy_Davis_Case

Just to give details about the particular case in the Thread.