Sam Harris

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hotm3bI1ATeH-4vn-nHDqC2q8wPg?docId=8ad6acd252ab4cab9bd2c7ed9811d69a

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/deterrence-states-without-death-penalty-have-had-consistently-lower-murder-rates

In my own opinion the death penalty should be in every state, used with extreme caution, and only when there is no doubt of guilt for the most serious criminal cases. It doesn’t make sense to abolish the death penalty. The Death penalty is indeed a deterrent if only to make people think twice about certain actions, the subtle reminder is effective when it comes to premeditated crimes. My problem with the national statistics concerning the death penalty and lower murder rates is that people are different everywhere and so to try and base stats on whether or not some place has the death penalty is absurd in every manner.

So what do you think? Is the Death Penalty legit?

The death penalty should, in my oppinion, not exist because of a simple reason. It is immoral!
When the choice stands between killing a convict or locking him away for the rest of his life it is quite obviously the moral choice to lock him away. It acheives the same thing i.e. keeping him from doing harm to society, and without robbing him of his right to live. There’s another reason aswell: it’s not a deterrent. Murder, which is the only crime punishable by death in the US (as far as I know), is commited for one of three reasons: Profit, Compulsion and Passion.
Profit: this kind of murderer is very calculating and cold and is therefore sure that he will not be cought. Plus the “reward” is worth the risk for him.
Compulsion: this kind of murderer cannot be deterred because it is a compulsion. Being cought doesn’t even exist in the mind of this kind of murderer.
Passion: the kind of murder when, for example, a husband comes home and finds his wife in bed with someone else. He is gripped by an uncontrollable rage and so kills them, or atleast one of them. No deterring effect there either..
This is why the death penalty is both immoral and quite useless and a third reason, just because: if an innocent person is ever convicted and executed the entire population becomes murderers (or atleast those who are in favour of the death penalty, (I’m not really sure there)), is it really worth the risk?? Chances are that it may actually have happend already..