This certainly took long enough

To be clear, I meant the OP's advocacy was revenge, not the state's - he said it was "personal" for him. I certainly understand the legitimate argument to be made regarding the death penalty as a punitive measure.

 

Nice to see that we can respect each others' opinions.

Calling something dumb adds nothing.

That said, this guy certainly seems to be just the kind of piece of crap the death penalty was intended for. Good riddance.

 

This made me laugh.

 

yeah, because this guy sure deserves to live.

 

Terminating ruthless killers from existence so they can never do it again is not.

 

No.

You have a stain on the carpet, you remove the stain.

Or, get tile.

 

I admitted my bias on this issue. That doesn't mean I throw my ethics out the window. I do have questions about the death penalty in cases where reasonable doubt may have been satisfied in the eyes of the law, but it isn't a 100 percent certainty. In this case, there is no doubt.

It is 10 years removed from the murders, Waylon. I've been able to think about it beyond the simple desire to see the bastard dead for the sake of revenge. I don't think you are giving me nearly enough credit here. You just saw somebody happy about the death penalty finally being enforced after an extremely long wait and don't bother to look at the facts or respect the fact that I was willing to admit my own bias.

I put a hell of a lot more thought into this than you did into your knee-jerk response.

 

Anyone here who is against the death penalty say without certainty that their take on the issue wouldn't be affected if a loved one was murdered? Because I sure as hell can't. It's easy for me to say I have a problem with the death penalty when I'm in no way connected to any of the cases. But I'm pretty sure if anyone close to me was involved, I'd want blood, and I make no apologies for that. I understand there are people who have been brutally affected by a death-penalty case and they still don't support it. OK, I can respect that, even though it's hard for me to understand. But the death penalty is not a black-and-white issue. Murders don't occur in a vacuum.

 

Waylon...that works for me, and I see your position.

 

Ten years later.. That's about right for the appeals process to run its course.

 

Well, there's a reason that juries aren't composed of people who knew the victim, or even knew of the crime.

That someone's opinion would be altered if a loved one is murdered doesn't reinforce the death penalty's validity. Quite the contrary.

 

I'm pretty solidly opposed to the death penalty, and have never had a connection to a case like this. A junkie broke into my car once and I was pretty much ready to have him executed, though. There's a reason why punishment isn't left to victims and their families.

I certainly understand OOP's feelings, particularly when it comes to the 10 year span between the sentence and the execution, which just seems unreasonable for everyone involved.

I'll revert to the same point I usually make in death penalty threads: compare the list of countries with capital punishment to the countries that have ended it, and it's pretty nauseating to see the company we're in.