capital punishment yes or no?

No. I live in Texas, and I supported capital punishment for a long time, but the more I learned about it, the more I came to oppose it. In the end, several factors changed my mind:

1. By far the most compelling is this: Sometimes the legal system gets it wrong. In the last 35 years in the U.S., over 130 people have been released from death row because they were exonerated by DNA and other evidence. These are ALL people who were found guilty “beyond a reasonable doubt.” Unfortunately, DNA evidence is not available in most homicide cases. So, as long as the death penalty is in place, you are pretty much GUARANTEED to occasionally execute an innocent person.

Really, that should be reason enough for most people to oppose it, but there are many others:

2. Cost: Because of higher pre-trial expenses, longer trials, jury sequestration, extra expenses associated with prosecuting & defending a DP case, and the appeals process (which is necessary - see reason #1), it costs taxpayers MUCH more to execute prisoners than to imprison them for life. This disparity becomes even greater when you consider the time value of money – most of the costs of capital punishment are up-front, occurring before and during the trial itself, whereas most of the costs of life imprisonment are spread over the term of incarceration (usually 30-40 years).

3. It is not a deterrent. In fact, violent crime rates are consistently HIGHER in death penalty jurisdictions. This may seem counterintuitive, and there are many theories about why this is (Ted Bundy saw it as a challenge, so he chose Florida – the most active execution state at the time – to carry out his final murder spree). It is probably due, at least in part, to the high cost (see #2) - every extra dollar spent on capital punishment is one that's NOT going to police departments, drug treatment programs, education, and other government services that help prevent crime. Personally, I think it also has to do with the hypocrisy of taking a stand against murder…by killing people. The government fosters a culture of violence by saying, ‘do as I say, not as I do.’

4. It is inconsistently and arbitrarily applied. Factors that should be irrelevant (geography, race of the victim, poor representation, etc.) are all too often the determining factors in whether someone gets death versus life in prison.

5. There’s also an argument to be made that death is too good for the worst criminals. Let them wake up and go to bed every day of their lives in a prison cell, and think about the freedom they DON’T have, until they rot of old age. When Ted Bundy was finally arrested in 1978, he told the police officer, “I wish you had killed me.” Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (the architect of the 9/11 attacks) would love nothing better than to be put to death. In his words, "I have been looking to be a martyr [for a] long time."

6. Most governments are supposed to be secular, but for those who invoke Christian law in this debate, you can find arguments both for AND against the death penalty in the Bible. The New Testament (starring Jesus) is primarily ANTI-death penalty. For example, in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus praises mercy (Matthew 5:7) and rejects “an eye for an eye” (Matthew 5:38-39). James 4:12 says that GOD is the only one who can take a life in the name of justice. In John 8:7, Jesus himself says, "let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

I hope that helps. The website below has some great info - good luck on your paper!

NO

Every human has the right to live.

A person who killed someone else should be kept away from society but defintely not killed.

Its so ridiculous America still has capital punishment and every single eu country does not. I personally get a really strange feeling when this country which builds up their whole state on christianity and still enters every war they can get to get oil for the next couple of years andstill has capital punishment says they are the head of the world and want to be like a father to other countries.

Capital punishment is one of the many reasons why we all have to move away from america, in both politics and culture.

If we go ahed like this these fat, creationist racists will destroy the whole planet!!!#

( Eye for an eye doesnt mean i kill you if you killed another person, it means i have to give you something which has the same value as the thing i stole)

The real question here is one of economics. Are there sufficient resources to maintain an honest justice system that produces reliably fair results and, if so, is there enough to maintain those who have broken the law? If so, is the general population on board to do so? Consider America in 1972 when the death penalty was abolished: http://pokerpulse.com/news/viewtopic.php?p=4344#43...

YES YES YES

If criminals knew there were something worse than a few years in a nice state prison waiting for them, they would be less inclined to commit the crime. There are some little punks who live next door to us who have broken into several cars, and probably (though I can't prove it) stolen a few. Take one of their hands, and I bet they'd be done breaking into and stealing cars. If someone breaks into your home, violates your privacy, steals or destroys things that you have worked hard for, don't you want to know that something is taken away from them? To me, it's not enough to know that that person would be in jail for a few years, receiving food, shelter, and exercise (among other "perks") until they're released. That doesn't teach them anything, it's just an extended stay in a crappy hotel.

Capital punishment has been eliminated in all European countries, and we have noticed no increase in murders.

Perhaps you should ask countries that retain hanging, death by shooting etc. what the pros are, like North Korea, China, Iran etc.

Capital punishment should be used against all violent or dangerous criminals.

Murder is murder no matter who commits it