Attention getter
- Mistakes happen. In the last 35 years in the U.S., 130 people have been released from death row because they were exonerated by DNA evidence (DNA is not available in most homicide cases).
- It costs taxpayers MUCH more to execute someone than to imprison them for life.
- It is not a deterrent - violent crime rates are HIGHER in death penalty jurisdictions.
- It is inconsistently and arbitrarily applied.
- Jesus was against it (see Matthew 5:7 & 5:38-39, James 4:12, Romans 12:17-21, and John 8:7).
- Life without parole (LWOP) is on the books in most states now, and it means what it says. People who get this sentence are taken off the streets. For good.
Talk about JUSTICE and EQUALITY. Just bull shit around these two words and it will take up a lot of time.
Why should we abolish the death penalty? If someone kills another person, doesnt justice demand that the killer lose his life? It is argued the death penalty acts as a deterrent to homicide. Let us examine these arguments.
The Bible says a life for a life, a hand for a hand, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. This is biblical justice. But justice should be tempered with mercy. The Biblical injunctions were often interpreted to mean the equivalent of a life for a life, a hand for a hand, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. It became clear that because one person lost a hand, it did not do any good to anyone for another person to lose his hand. It would be better for the criminal to recompense the victim.
One reason against the death penalty is that taking an additional life does not resolve the problem. Why should society behave like its worst elements? The point of civilization is to rise above the worst in us.
What about the argument that the death penalty is a deterrent? The 1990s was the only decade in this century when the increasing number of executions was accompanied by a decrease in the homicide rate. In the 1920s the reverse was true; an increasing...