The Death Penalty

To me, there's a difference between "let them live" and "kill them like they killed others."
Life in prison is no picnic and I certainly believe they will get theirs in the afterlife.
I just don't want a hypocritical government and the risk of the state killing innocents.

 

I agree with you ... it's not for us (human beings) to decide who lives and who dies. Now, I'll sit still for abolishing the death penalty if you'll sit still for abolishing abortion except in the cases of the health of the mother and rape/incest.

 

Well hell, let's just make capital punishment the sentence for any crime and then you'll have a utopian society!

 

I saw on CourtTV, or whatever it's called these days, that some 18-year-old girl was sentenced to life in prison without parole for killing her father. I found myself feeling sorry for the girl. She made a stupid mistake at 16, and she'll die in prison without experiencing anything resembling a normal life.

What she did was wrong in every way possible, but this kid deserves to be in front of a parole board in 30 or 40 years. By then, she'll be in her late 40s, mid 50s....I can see where she'd no longer be a threat to society at that point.

I was always for the death penalty until I saw this 18-year-old girl hauled off to jail for the rest of her life.

 

I see your point, Ryan, but do you really think she can be a productive member of society after she has spent at least 2/3 of her life in prison? I seriously doubt it.

 

That's a good question, one I've been debating. Define a productive member of society? If that means living the rest of her life without killing again, I think she could. Rehabilitation is possible.

 

Can she live the rest of her life without committing another felony? I'm not optimistic about it. People do get institutionalized, and she would have very little time in society before being subjected to basically a lifetime in a prison society.

 

Yeah, probably.

 

That's what a parole board is for. They can make a determination on that. It's not unheard of for someone to spend 30 or 40 years in prison and come out a different person, one that can live the rest of their lives without another felony.

There are aspects of the death penalty I like, and some I don't.

 

You know who I feel sorry for? Her father, you know, the victim.

 

Not mutually exclusive. Biggest logical fallacy propagated in this whole debate. Only a matter of time before it came up here.