European needs help! Death penalty

Scholle

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Jan 2, 2014
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Hello,
first of all sorry for my bad english :D

To introduce myself: Im German, and i have to write an exam about a comparison between German and American attitudes regarding the capital punishment. For my work it is very important to understand the american Point of view, espacially because it´s hard for most european to imagine how a state could actually kill a criminal, even if he murdered.

Sadly my Google is not able to give me american results (probably im just to stupid), when i set the language on english i get British results :S
In order to be as good prepared as possible i was planning to talk to some American and i would be very grateful if some of you could give me some good links.

What are the most important aspects for defenders of the DP?
I guess the Topic is highly discussed, and I hope someone can help me.

I was told that I have to determine on one "state", and i think I will take Texas because I guess the capital punishment is kind of popular out there.

Conclusively I am asking if someone could answer some of these questions, as I said at the moment i have problems to imagine the american Point of view.

(I dont know if this is the right Forum to ask it, but it seems like here are political interessted people)

Thanks for every answer and if you Close this Thread bcs ist not allowed im sorry and id be grateful if you could help me to find a site to ask all this.

Bye,
Jan:eusa_whistle:
 
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Keep in mind that capital punishment in the US is not uniformly applied. Only a few states actively use it, with Texas always in the lead.

You have to understand the mindset of the Bible Belt in the US. They claim to love the Lord but cling to the eye-for-an-eye revenge in the Bible

They seem to neglect that Jesus was the victim of capital punishment
 
Thank you very much!

Well this is helping me alot. I have to work out that this aspect of religion is the most important...

You call them "They", so i guess you dont share their opinion regarding this Topic?
Does the rest of the US understand this opinion?

But if they cling to this revenge, they dont care about the sixth "law" in the bible?
Noone should kill anyone, so they shouldnt be allowed to practise the capital punishment?
 
The Biblical commandment says, "Thou shall not murder".

The death penalty is Not murder.

But is legal retribution (killing) of a criminal who has murdered another person. ... :cool:
 
The clause an eye for an eye is not just based on Judean/Christian beliefs. As many religions plagiarize off of more developed societies it is adopted.

"An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth."

This phrase, along with the idea of written laws, goes back to ancient Mesopotamian culture that prospered long before the Bible was written or the civilizations of the Greeks or Romans flowered.

"An eye for an eye ..." is a paraphrase of Hammurabi's Code, a collection of 282 laws inscribed on an upright stone pillar. The code was found by French archaeologists in 1901 while excavating the ancient city of Susa, which is in modern-day Iran.

Hammurabi's Code: An Eye for an Eye [ushistory.org]
 
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My view on capital punishment is that it is easier to do it on murderers because you don't have to take care of them, but I also at times think it is not serious enough for murderers. Not a big enough deterrent. I represent a minority on capital punishment because I have not fully formed an opinion although i would be happy to help you, my German kemoshabe
 
Thanks to everyone who replied here

My view on capital punishment is that it is easier to do it on murderers because you don't have to take care of them, but I also at times think it is not serious enough for murderers. Not a big enough deterrent. I represent a minority on capital punishment because I have not fully formed an opinion although i would be happy to help you, my German kemoshabe

What could be a bigger deterrent than getting killed?
 
Thanks to everyone who replied here

My view on capital punishment is that it is easier to do it on murderers because you don't have to take care of them, but I also at times think it is not serious enough for murderers. Not a big enough deterrent. I represent a minority on capital punishment because I have not fully formed an opinion although i would be happy to help you, my German kemoshabe

What could be a bigger deterrent than getting killed?

Take for example the Sandy Hook guy or Batman guy. They are nuts. Most kill themselves. They don't care if they die.
 
The primary responsibility of a government it to protect its citizens from harm.

Regardless of all the other debates regarding the death penalty there is one indisputable fact, an executed criminal will never again be able to harm another human being.
 
I support Capital Punishment because it provides justice to the victims family members. Capital Punishment provides a sense of closure, and thus helps ease the pain somewhat.

Furthermore, Capital punishment acknowledges that providing comfort to the victims family members is far more important than providing comfort to the convicted killer.
 
When prison personnel are killed by inmates it's usually in states where there is no death penalty, hence the "lifer" inmates know they have nothing to lose for their practicing their hobby.

In more logically-thinking states fewer prison personnel are killed by inmates (some by inmates whose executions have been delayed, giving them more playtime). Of course the number killed would be much higher were executed murderers to find a way to return from the dead to kill again.

So far they haven't.
 
Well, in our Society its important to try to resocialize (?) Criminals.
In Germany everyone gets a second chance, even if he murdered. After being 15 years in a jail the murderers were send to a psychologist. If this psychologist says those people are not dangerous anymore they get their second chance.

I guess this is why we cant understand that way of arguementation.
It seems like the people who support the capital punishment need this for their retaliation.
I understand this but what happens if the wrong guy got sentenced? This is the main way of arguementation here. You cant retract it.

How can a state fight against murderer by killing people?
Does it help the person who got killed?
Does the mother who lost her child feel better when another mother loses her child, even if this child did a awful mistake?
 
Does it help the person who got killed?
The justice system should not be a tool meant to cater to the criminal. However, to answer your question, no, Capital Punishment does not help the victim, however it does indeed help the victim's family members as it provides a sense of closure.
 
Thanks to everyone who replied here

My view on capital punishment is that it is easier to do it on murderers because you don't have to take care of them, but I also at times think it is not serious enough for murderers. Not a big enough deterrent. I represent a minority on capital punishment because I have not fully formed an opinion although i would be happy to help you, my German kemoshabe

What could be a bigger deterrent than getting killed?

For me, it would be life without possibility of parole. I would rather die than have to spend the rest of my life in prison.
 
Does it help the person who got killed?
The justice system should not be a tool meant to cater to the criminal. However, to answer your question, no, Capital Punishment does not help the victim, however it does indeed help the victim's family members as it provides a sense of closure.

"Closure" as used in this context means revenge.
 
Dear Scholle:

First, you should understand that most Americans very much support the IDEA of the death penalty. That is to say, for our worst criminals if they are proven guilty and there are no mitigating circumstances (excuses), it is appropriate to execute them. If done quickly and "fairly," the death penalty not only rids our society of the worst of criminals (rather than keeping them alive in prison for 50-60 years, at taxpayers' expense), but it serves as an example to other potential criminals that they will be executed if caught and convicted. But alas, it doesn't often work that way.

Note also that the U.S. Constitution sanctions the death penalty in at least two places. Both the Fifth and the Fourteenth Amendments refer to the government "depriving a citizen of life" (that is, executing them), and stating that doing so requires "due process of law," which refers to having a trial, conviction, and so on. So if the government has a trial and does things properly, the Constitution says that the government has the right to execute them.

So, theoretically, in order to outlaw the death penalty, it would be necessary to amend the Constitution. But as with slavery 150 years ago, there is a large and vocal portion of the population that would like to eliminate the death penalty (despite the wishes of the majority), in any way that they can, even knowing that they could never get enough support for a constitutional amendment to eliminate it. Their strategies are basically the following:

They look at the 8th Amendment to the Constitution that prohibits "cruel and unusual punishments." At the time when it was passed, the authors were referring to physical torture, starvation, and things of that nature. Anti-death penalty partisans claim that the "cruel and unusual" language evolves over time, as society's standards evolve. Indeed, in 1791, when the Eighth Amendment was ratified, flogging (whipping) was a common punishment for many crimes, and the penalty for stealing a horse was execution. Obviously, contemporary Americans would be horrified to impose such penalties now, and they are generally considered to be unconstitutional, as unnecessarily "cruel and unusual." So the argument goes that the death penalty has now become "cruel and unusual," so should implicitly be prohibited. But the U.S. Supreme Court has never fully accepted this argument.

The second attack on the death penalty is a practical one. The U.S. Supreme Court over the years has simply made it incredibly difficult to execute someone. The trial court must go through many procedural steps to convict someone of a capital crime, there are mandatory appeals through the courts, appeals can be in both the state courts (where most of them are convicted) and the Federal courts on numerous grounds. The result is that in most states, it takes 8-10 years to execute someone, even if everything goes "smoothly."

Then, any governor can stop an execution any time he wants, and for any reason (or no reason at all). He can simply decline to sign the death warrant, without which the execution cannot proceed. Most American states have dozens of people who are sitting in prisons on "Death Row," and waiting to be executed. Other than in Texas, more "capital criminals" (people sentenced to death) die of old age or disease than are actually executed.

Thus, the death penalty is quite rare, and even non-existent in many states, despite the fact that the general population would prefer to have it available for the worst criminals. To be specific for a moment, we now have a U.S. military officer who opened fire on, and killed several soldiers in an internal terrorist attack a few years ago, and I would bet that 80% of the U.S. population would not only support his execution, but would gladly fire the shot into his despicable brain to accomplish the deed.

Death penalty opponents constantly spread the idea that any given person convicted of a capital offense COULD BE INNOCENT(!), and if so, the State would be guilty of MURDER! This puts some people off, and of course there have been a very few cases where people on Death Row have been vindicated. But despite a hundred years of trying, they have NEVER found a single case of someone being executed who did not in fact commit the crime for which he was convicted. Not a single case.

Hope this little essay is some help.

Mit freundlichen Gruessen von Pennsylvania (USA)

Dave
 
Does it help the person who got killed?
The justice system should not be a tool meant to cater to the criminal. However, to answer your question, no, Capital Punishment does not help the victim, however it does indeed help the victim's family members as it provides a sense of closure.

"Closure" as used in this context means revenge.
I don't see it as revenge. When I hear of someone losing their life due to a senseless murder, the first thought that comes to mind is for the comfort and well being of the victim's family members. Capital Punishment does indeed help ease the pain that one feels when they lose a close one.

We should be far more concerned for the well being of the victim's family members than the well being of a convicted killer.
 

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