[El Scorcho]

I'm curious to find out what some of the views are on this board regarding capital punishment. I've found myself revisiting my own stance on this issue as I get older.

So, how do you feel? How do you feel this aligns with your faith? How do you justify your stance (either way) to yourself in the light of scripture and the example of Christ?

Please discuss.

[thepostman]

I am for it, but of course it should by on a case to case basis

While we are on the subject...kind of....much, much harsher punishments for child molesters should be implemented, I am so sick of hearing about these guys living in neighborhoods with kids around 2 weeks after getting out of jail where they were only there for 6 months (this happened right next door to my house in Florida about 6 years ago)

[TDDance234]

I'm guessing this is in light of the Saddam execution.

I've wavered on it for years. I can't say that I'm in total disagreement. You are under a law, and if you disobey that law, you're subject to its consequences.

I'll have to bow out to some with a little more knowledge than I. But for the record, I did vote for it, due to my above statement.

[El Scorcho]

It's in light of the Saddam execution as well as the botched lethal injection in Florida.

[thepostman]

what is the big deal about Saddam?? I don't understand what the media is going crazy about...what did they expect in a country where they still hang people?? I pretty execution???

[jmdickens]

I am for one against capital punishment, but I do believe in harsh convictions for child molesters........

[TDDance234]

what is the big deal about Saddam?? I don't understand what the media is going crazy about...what did they expect in a country where they still hang people?? I pretty execution???

Liberals.

[jmdickens]

in their country it should be done in any way that they would like to do it.......I thought it was done that way primarily to fight against the assumptions that the US was conducting everything about the trial and conviction

[El Scorcho]

I believe the current "deal" in the media is about the people who were allowed to use cell phone cams to leak the video on the Internet. I guess it doesn't seem plausible to some people that these people would actually be able to sneak something like that.

As for how it relates to this thread, it was just a highly publicized execution of an individual that segue ways nicely into a friendly conversation about capital punishment.

[jmdickens]

well, the man deserved the death sentence...I know I said I am against capital punishment; however this is an exception and it is not in the United States

[thepostman]

what is the big deal about Saddam?? I don't understand what the media is going crazy about...what did they expect in a country where they still hang people?? I pretty execution???

Liberals.

yeah but everybody was all for the execution and people knew it was going to be a hanging, but then when they saw the video there was an outcry....it doesn't make sense, what did people expect it to look like??

[thepostman]

I believe the current "deal" in the media is about the people who were allowed to use cell phone cams to leak the video on the Internet. I guess it doesn't seem plausible to some people that these people would actually be able to sneak something like that.

As for how it relates to this thread, it was just a highly publicized execution of an individual that segue ways nicely into a friendly conversation about capital punishment.

I understand that...I mean they shouldn't of been allowed to take the cell phone video, but the US clearly had nothing to do with the execution itself because if they had it wouldn't of been conducted like that....I am not the biggest Bush fan in the world, but this just seems to be something else liberals are trying to put on Bush....not everything is this guys fault...

[El Scorcho]

Okay, politics of Saddam's execution aside, let's please discuss capital punishment on the whole, from the perspective of faith.

I don't mean to be a stickler, but I don't start many threads in The Chapel, so I'd like to keep this one on topic.

[Sly Fox]

I live less than hour away from the Capital Punishment Capital of America ... Huntsville. I am a BIG proponent of the practice. I can tell you down here it is a deterrent.

[bigsmooth]

why are you against capital punishment dickens? our taxpayer dollars are paying for these degenerents to remain alive, and our prisons are overflowing as well. if you murder someone, you should be put to death IMO. if you are a child molester, you should be castrated.

[Libertine]

Mark me down as being for the death penalty. I don't believe it's a deterrent to crime in any way but, to me, the harshest crime (murder) should have the harshest consequences. If you take the life of someone else, yours should be forfeit. I do not, however, believe it should be used unless you can prove beyond ALL doubt that you've got the right guy and I don't have a problem with someone spending a decade or so on death row and giving them one appeal after another.
That being said, I have no pity whatsoever for the "victims" of a botched execution. They put the real victims in the ground a long time ago.

Incidentally, I think we could alleviate some of the taxpayer burden and non-violent prison population somewhat if we went to more of an exponential restitution system as in the old Judaic Law. Yeah, I know. Implementing that would come with its own set of abuses in this day and age but I think the threat of having to make 4x -- or whatever x -- restitution is a much bigger deterrent to non-violent crime.

[PAmedic]

Like Nick, I am reviewing my own stance as I age.

I still support it, esp in serial crimes, crimes against public safety officials, children, etc- but am frustrated with the way the system operates in general. Having said that, I realize we have a presumption of innocence, but 20+ years of appeals seems crazy to me.

with DNA evidence being accepted now, not to mention incredibly reliable, it seems as though we could streamline things a bit.

FYI: Jersey is attempting to eliminate it over there. Yet another genius move by an incredibly screwed up state.

[Sly Fox]

I am sure its not a deterrent in states where they only talk about the death penalty and only actually do itonce every decade or so. Where we do the business it is most certainly on the minds of criminals.

[PAmedic]

true that.

not really a deterent when you know its 75% probability you die still getting 3 hots and a cot, or get it overturned when your lawyer finally finds a sympathetic judge with an axe to grind on trial # 45, 20 yrs after the original conviction, when all the witnesses are dead or in nursing homes.

[4everfsu]

If someone has taken a life and found guilty by his or her peer, then I say hang them high. As a matter of fact, it should be a public display. Let people see the consequences of their actions, great deterrent to others. Cruel, mean, not really. A dog will be put down for biting a person, case in point years ago in Tampa, Fl. Some little kid got near a mother and her litter of puppies, the dog bit the girl, both mom and puppies were put to sleep.

[El Scorcho]

I guess my view on it (and I don't say any of this to be argumentative) is that I lean more towards compassion in my older age. I feel upset when someone is murdered. I feel sorry for their families, and I do think the deserve some sort of justice. However, there's a part of me that wonders if Christ would have given the order to execute a man because he had murdered someone, if given the choice. I don't see much in his example that tells me that's the way to go. On the contrary, leaving vengeance for the Lord does seem to click more with my faith.

Don't get me wrong, I come very much from the "hang 'em high" position prior to just recently. I've just be re-evaluating a lot of the ways I live out my faith lately, and this is one of the things thats been on my mind. I'm trying much harder to truly follow the example of Christ, and I don't think the church is doing that in about 80% of the way we're conducting ourselves these days. It makes me sad, angry and sometimes bitter. I could go on and on, but like I said before, I'd prefer for this thread to stay on topic.

I've read statistics about the cost of incarceration versus execution, it's effectiveness as a deterrent and a few other things. However, for me, cost is irrelevant in the face of protecting life. Of course, that can be turned around and used as an argument for deterrence, which is exactly what leaves me wavering on the issue. If it really protects more lives to have it than not, I'd have to be for it. If it doesn't, then I'm hard pressed to justify taking any life, be it innocent or not.

[El Scorcho]

In light of me currently being undecided, I added a third option to the poll.

[TDDance234]

with DNA evidence being accepted now, not to mention incredibly reliable, it seems as though we could streamline things a bit.

Unfortunatly, we still have a LOT to learn when it comes to DNA research. Which is good and bad.

And when it comes to streamlining these cases, we're still getting the wrong man set free twenty years after the crime. I'd rather wait it out a bit and investigate a bit further, than kill an innocent man. Of course, the same can be said for the other side of the coin, with you don't want a guilty man to go free. It's a fine line to cross but I'd rather tightrope on the line of caution.

[Purple Haize]

Odds would dictate that at some point in America we have executed an innocent person. That said, I am still all for the death penalty. One of the reasons is taht I have not heard a good argument against it.
1. It is not a deterrent - Correct me if I am wrong, but no excecuted criminal has ever commited a crime again. Pretty strong deterent in my mind.
2. What if you execute an innocent man. This is a non starter for me, especiallly now. DNA is not perfect but can do a pretty darn good job cutting down any doubt of innocence or guilt.
3. The Bibe says not to kill. THese people obviously don't know their Hebrew.

In the words of the great philosopher Ron White "Some states are trying to get rid of the death penalty, my state is putting in an express lane"

[PastorZack]

The idea of capital punishment is of course from Genesis 9:6...anybody remember GNED??? But, living under grace now, I still feel that Capital punishment is needed and useful. I know that through the systems now, the appeals process takes years for "death row" inmates to finally meet their maker, but I'd rather only pay (tax-payers) for them to live maybe 10-15 years on my dime....as compared to "consecutive" life sentences. The burden on a state is far less when the punishment is exacted...plus you don't have a overcrowding issue, like the one I moved into in PA. The old stories of people that lived in Huntsville,TX back in the day, when the lights flickered in town, was just when they put someone else in the chair. For all of the people that think that capital punishment is "cruel and unusual" punishment...what about their victims families who still deal with the grief or still having to pay for their current existence through their own tax dollars??? what about "cruel and unusual punishment" does our legal system not understand?