Death Penalty

[Sandman]

[Sandman]

Before you start responding to this, I'd like to remind EVERYONE to play nice. Everyone has the right to their own opinion. Please give us your opinion, but do not put down others for their opinions. Don't make the Administrator have to respond. If he does have to, 100 karma points will be deducted from ALL parties that break rules (no matter who does it first), along with a 2 day suspension. Thanks.

Now have fun and enjoy the debate...

[Yosemite Joy]

I am all for the death penalty. I think that celebrating someone recieving it is disgusting, but I am all for vicious murderers to be killed. I know if someone brutally harmed my children the first thing I would want to do is grab a shotgun.. and it makes me see some sort of relief or whatnot to think that is essentially what the State is doing to the people who are sent to their death.

[Sandman]

This is a tough one for me. In the past, we have killed innocent people... DNA later proved they didn't do the crime. But now, we have DNA testing and that helps prove if they did it or not. However, it is possible to frame someone for murder. If it is later proven that the person didn't do the crime, we can let them out of jail with an apology... unless we killed them already. Yikes! I just put myself in that situation. I would never kill someone. But what if someone framed me and they put me to death, only to find out a year later that I didn't do it?

Also, Yosemite_Joy had a great point in the Peterson thread and I'd like to quote her here:

"Since when is the "Christian" country we live in so dependent on worldly conviction? I thought we get our punishment when we die. " -Yosemite_Joy

It's okay if this thread gets into religion a bit... I want to know what Christians think about this. Do you think God would want us to murder a murderer?

Now from a non-religious stance... do you think it's okay for the government to kill someone?

Remember, votes are annonymous... reply if you wish.

[TOT]

i voted 'other' - i have very mixed feelings.

http://www.nodeathpenalty.org/

[MtnEagle]

Well Mat, I think many people within the "Christian" arena itself have differing opinions about it as well. Many people think that if you are a Christian, you are some sort of powder puff who will bend and take the abuse willy nilly.

Many point to the ten commandments quite quickly and quote "Thou shalt not kill." No-one seems to take the time to read it correctly where it says "Thou shalt not MURDER". There is a difference.

Make no mistake, taking a life under any circumstance is an awful thing, but it shouldn't be something that cripples a person from defending life, limb, and/or property.

The problem is that as a Christian (or not even), one should try to forgive and let it go (very hard to do). Forgiveness is not so much for the purpetrator, but more for the victim. Without it, the victim stays in a perpetual hell of hatred and anger that slowly eats away at their soul like a cancer.

Obviously, we have cases where the perpetrator doesn't care, will never care, and if let out will continue (Petersons, Dahmers, Bin Ladens of the world). In a case like this, I think cleansing society of the danger is warranted. I really don't think we should be footing the bill for steak and TV for years on end for this kind of incdividual when there are so many much more needy souls in our midst to benefit from the expense.

The problem is compounded by the massive amount of people of lesser crimes that are inmates. I think a different scale of judgement should be used on them to reduce over-population in prisons.

Yeah, so I am once again going off topic... http://oakhurstforums.com/icon/tongue2.gif

[Yosemite Joy]

Mtn Eagle is very correct. I completely agree with the difference of "kill" and "murder" as they are not the same, and in the reference of the commandments should not be taken as the same.

As far as forgiveness goes, a lot of people think that if they do an "eye for an eye" type of revenge or something of a justice [system] they will find "closure" or forgiveness. I do not see this as fact. I would like to talk to a psychiatrist or someone of that profession about it, but my guess is that if there is a feeling of forgiveness that comes with a death [penalty] it is temporary and false.

True forgiveness is difficult to obtain, and can take years.

Anyway that is sort of off topic too, and I still stand by my already stated opinion in this topic and the other.

[Kahlua Kid]

Mtn Eagle said it best.

[John @ 3300ft.]

I think the poll could have been worded better...
Maybe just poll for or against it?

I hope everyone knows that we already have a death penalty here in California. It's just rarely carried out. The last one to die was sentenced 22years earlier...
"justice delayed- is justice denied"

I'm all for speeding up the process here...

[Keith]

Scott won't make it one year in jail before he meets his maker. http://oakhurstforums.com/icon/shame.gif
Death sentence will be carried out by his fellow inmates. http://oakhurstforums.com/icon/anxious.gif http://oakhurstforums.com/icon/zzz.gif
Addios Scotty. http://oakhurstforums.com/icon/snobby.gif
Say hello to all those people in hell and good luck getting a tee time. http://oakhurstforums.com/icon/sneaky.gif

[Curious]

If I am a Christin and believe in the death penalty, I must, in good conscience, be able to picture Jesus Himself injecting the lethal fluids. As I remember, Jesus refused to punish.

[MadScot]

I feel much like Tot this is not a simple question. I even have questions which is worse the death penalty or life without parole.

[beautiful_mess38]

You may think I'm heartless and brutal, but i'm not. I just can't understand killing someone for your own benefit or for pleasure.

And I don't want to support those killers for 20 years either. Why should I help to support the man who shot my kid. (for example)

I say go back to public hangings.

These killers know what the circumstances are for killing. If they choose to do so, then they choose the consequence for it.

We now have better technology and DNA. To put the right killer to death. And they should be put to death within 2 years time, not 20 or 30.

[Curious]

Sure, we can kill them within 2 years, and then when we find that someone else committed the crime, we can say "Oooooops, sorry."

[Curious]

Sure, we can kill them within 2 years, and then when we find that someone else committed the crime, we can say "Oooooops, sorry."

[Mysteefied]

I agree that if someone hurt one of my children or family members, I'd want to grab the shotgun, and I agree for the most part with the death penalty, however, sometimes it seems even better to me if they get life sentance and HAVE to spend their life behind bars, dealing with other inmates....I hope scott has to for awhile...and also having to go by prison rules...sometimes that seems an even better punishment to me.

[MtnEagle]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Curious:
If I am a Christin and believe in the death penalty, I must, in good conscience, be able to picture Jesus Himself injecting the lethal fluids. As I remember, Jesus refused to punish. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

http://oakhurstforums.com/icon/nice.gif I can respect that Curious.

But I'm also looking at his mission when he walked the Earth as well. There will be a time when he will return in judgement. I believe that.

and...

I ask you, wouldn't a shepherd kill a wolf to save one of his flock in harms way, especially a child?

It's a call that has to be made based upon each circumstance, there is no blanket answer I guess.

Our system is flawed, and I doubt it ever will be perfect.

http://oakhurstforums.com/icon/smoking.gif

[concerned]

I do not believe in the death penalty however I donot blame those who do believe in it. I think a life sentence without possibility of parole is harder in sense than death. But I accept what the vast majority choose to do.

[Curious]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by MtnEagle:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Curious:
If I am a Christin and believe in the death penalty, I must, in good conscience, be able to picture Jesus Himself injecting the lethal fluids. As I remember, Jesus refused to punish. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

http://oakhurstforums.com/icon/nice.gif I can respect that Curious.



But I'm also looking at his mission when he walked the Earth as well. There will be a time when he will return in judgement. I believe that.

and...

I ask you, wouldn't a shepherd kill a wolf to save one of his flock in harms way, especially a child?

It's a call that has to be made based upon each circumstance, there is no blanket answer I guess.

Our system is flawed, and I doubt it ever will be perfect.

http://oakhurstforums.com/icon/smoking.gif <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Can you picture Jesus Himself injecting the lethal fluids or do you think it is o. k. with him for someone else to do it? He did say, "turn the other cheek."

I don't want any of the tax dollars I pay to the state to be used to facilitate a state killing. I don't want my state to lower itself to Scott Peterson's level.

Capital punishment serves two puposes: Revenge and alledged deterence. The revenge part works, but there is no credible evidence that the deterence part works. In fact, there is some evidence that it is counterproductive. The 12 states that do not have the death penalty have a significantly lower average capital crime rate than the states that do.

http://www.religioustolerance.org/execut4.htm

[moonchild]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Curious:
Sure, we can kill them within 2 years, and then when we find that someone else committed the crime, we can say "Oooooops, sorry." <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Curious; did you read what she wrote? We now have better technology (dna) to prosecute the right person.
I'm totally with beautiful_mess on this one. I do not wish to support these criminals for the rest of thier lives. I say inject them and hand them over to Jesus.

[Curious]

Well Moonchild, if you're for killing people you're for killing people. I am not. Scott Peterson should not kill people - The state of Caifornia should not kill people.

There is no scientific or forensic evidence to connect Scott Peterson to the crime. It is a toatlly circumstantial case, although it appears obvious that he did it. But we cannot be sure - not sure enough for me, but then I am not convinced that killing people to demonstrate that killing people is wrong, is a good idea.

We can punish Scott Peterson only as long as he lives. If we shorten that time we shorten the time we have to punish him. Then we are left with only a sense of revenge, and the punishment falls to his innocent loved ones to suffer just as Laci's innocent loved ones suffer. Revenge may help some to feel better, but not me.

Twelve states and virtually all of the civilized free world have abolished this barbaric practice. When, oh when will we become civilized enough to end it?

We can keep Scott Peterson in jail for the rest of his life for a fraction of what the appeals process costs.

[Mysteefied]

Curious...
While I completely understand what you have said here and pretty much agree.

I can honestly say that if my child where dead, no matter how old she was, and we could PROVE who did it, I would want revenge. Just this one mothers feelings.

[beautiful_mess38]

Curious; people killing people is not going to go away until the laws change to harsher punishment. These criminals have a choice. "if i kill this person, i may be killed" so, is it worth it? When you choose the behavior, you choose the consequence of that behavior.

[Raider]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by beautiful_mess38:
Curious; people killing people is not going to go away until the laws change to harsher punishment. These criminals have a choice. "if i kill this person, i may be killed" so, is it worth it? When you choose the behavior, you choose the consequence of that behavior.[/QUOTE}] http://oakhurstforums.com/icon/yes.gif http://oakhurstforums.com/icon/yes.gif