A selection of our reader comments is provided below. While not all of the comments are as on point as others, we believe many of our readers' comments add perspective and flavor to our core question "Should the death penalty be allowed?"and this site.
We posted these pro, con, and not clearly pro or con comments in the approximate ratio that we received them. (For example, if 60% of the responses received are "pro," then about 60% of the responses posted below would be "pro").
The comments are arranged in reverse chronological order within each category. We sometimes edit comments for brevity, clarity, and spelling. We may also remove comments posted when we find better comments covering the same issues or for other good reasons. To preserve confidentiality, only the writer's first name is noted, unless he/she has waived confidentiality. Respondents are generally notified when we add their comments to this section.
PRO Death Penalty
CON Death Penalty
"If a human-being wants to be treated as a human-being, then they need to act like a human-being. By killing another individual, they should lose the right to be considered a human-being. Whatever happened to an eye for an eye or treat others like you want to be treated?
My step-dad was a Pentecostal minister and he supported the death penalty for certain cases. Thou shalt not kill was a law that was set for the righteous people to follow. If you chose not to follow that law then you forfeit and are judged by the eye for an eye and treat others like you want to be treated. They did not think about the person that they killed's feelings. They enjoyed what they did. Why should we care about their feelings?" Rebecca, Nov. 6, 2009
"I believe in the death penalty for those who murder without just cause (Only in self defense), molestation and the assault of children (Period!) and those politicians who cheat the citizens out of life and dreams (Ignorant Crooks in office)." Vanessa, Sep. 11, 2009
"I believe that there are some people who have committed such unconscionable, heinous crimes that only removing them from the face of the earth will suffice. For that reason, I do believe there are times when nothing but the death penalty will do." Kathie, Aug. 5, 2008
"By killing someone who has killed, we become the killer and that makes us no better. I know someone who lost a brother to a killer. He was devastated but he prayed they didn't put the killer to death. He didn't want the killer's family to go through what his family felt. It doesn't solve anything. It only makes the family of the killer suffer more...
These people have to be judged for their horrible crime, but not by us. I understand that I'm not the victim's family. I know we can't slap them on the hand and let it happen again but we are in no place to decide if someone should live or die. Two wrongs don't make a right." Jessica, Oct. 28, 2009
"Capital punishment is a barbaric practice held over from medieval times. Civilized societies around the world have outlawed it.
I am not one of those simpering do gooders who cries every time a raindrop fools. Indeed, I firmly believe that people should be entitled to protect their homes and their hearths by means of judicious exercise of second amendment rights should be necessary.
But the simple fact is that we have a system of justice that is not perfect. We make errors. And thus, far too frequently, we execute innocent people! And what happens after you kill a person who was later shown to have been innocent? What do you say to his widow? What do you say to his orphans? "Shucks we goofed!" Jerry, Aug. 23, 2009
"[The death penalty] is appalling and hideous, should by all means be abolished. Innocent souls are destroyed due to lack of proper legal funds. The court system preys on the poor and annihilates family structure and the cohesiveness of family. Do away with it now before more souls are murdered." Anita, July 14, 2009
"Stop using the death penalty because humans inherently make mistakes. The DNA cases (DNA not used!) proving innocence prove two things; a) Some convicted murderers are innocent. b) The legal systems that are pro-death penalty are flawed in practice and design. California uses a dual legal system to minimize errors but that itself admits the possibility of error! innocent executed convicts can't be restored to life. Curiously missing are financial restitution definitions to these people killed by mistake. Life imprisonment without the possibility of parole is an accepted alternative to the death penalty. If proved innocent, restitution is possible." Lee, Mar. 11, 2009
"The recent life verdict in Georgia does indeed illustrate the random and irrational nature of the death penalty. But the answer is not to make death verdict non-unanimous. This only invites further arbitrary results. The answer is to recognize that the DP system itself is fatally flawed (because it is run by human beings) and should be abolished." Juliana, Dec. 17, 2008
NOT CLEARLY PRO OR CON Death Penalty
"Has it ever occurred that when the death penalty is enforced that the ones being penalized are the relatives. WE DO NOT know what happens after death. The wife, children parents and siblings are the ones punished. We may be sending the one who comitted the crime to the 'Garden of Eden.'" James, Aug. 12, 2009
"Please accept for the sake of argument that the death penalty is morally justifiable and correct for those who have committed certain heinous crimes. The question I would ask death penalty advocates is how many truly innocent people they are willing to execute per, say, 100 executions, in order to preserve the option for truly guilty people? Please note that the above statements do not have to do with whether a person has been found guilty 'beyond a reasonable doubt.' If death penalty advocates are not willing to execute the occasional truly innocent - just plain got the wrong guy - person, then they cannot be for the death penalty. Unless and until our justice system can guarantee absolute perfection,with no conceivable possibility of error, then the price of maintaining the death penalty for the truly guilty will be the occasional execution of the truly innocent. Thus, the really tough moral question is not whether the death penalty is acceptable for the truly guilty people, but the rate at which we are willing to execute truly innocent people in order to maintain the death penalty as a legal option. Is the death penalty worth 1 innocent person per 10, 100, 1,000 executions?" Ed, May 19, 2009
