I just got done reading "Bloodsworth"....a true story about a man wrongly convicted (Rick Bloodsworth)of a rape and murder of a 9 year old girl in 1985 and was sentenced to death....until he was exonerated by DNA in 1993...as he was innocent the whole time !
Anyway with that being said, how many of you believe in the death penaaly? And why or why not? (Just curious )

As long as it is known for sure that the person has commited the crime, I'm for it. If it's because a deal was made or something that gave rise to a death penalty that should not be, then it shouldn't happen. I'm all for real killers getting their own medicine, though.

Thanks Newkid...i agree..

I'm not going here again. We had one of these a long time ago and it turned into a slaughter house. I'm for it though.

Sincere...I neve saw it sorry.....

It's ok, it was a long long time ago but I bet a few people remember it lol.

Gosh..how come i always miss the good ones? I"ve been here a long time and never saw that one...

All I'm sayin is I am for it and I have my reasons..not gonna list em

i dont believe in it because murder is murder,even though it may be the law i would hate to be the person who had to carry it out.sometimes having to live with the guilt is worse that and knowing youll never get out or..living with a cell mate named Bruno who is determined to make you his *****.i still dont like the fact that theyre still alive especially when it comes to the murdering ofa child that and for the same reason you described in your book i wonder how many innocent people have been put to death before there was DNA testing

There are certainly a lot of people who deserve to die.
But there are many dead that had deserved to live, can you give them their life back?
Think about it.

I could have sworn you were in that one lol. Maybe I'm just losing my mind. I'm sure I am.

Tomb..very true....i would hate to hear of thos that were innocent and died for nothing...

Sincere..yes u are losing ur mind..i wasnt in it..lol

I am undecided on the death penalty. In some ways, I agree with it. Yes, I think that people who commit heinous crimes deserve it.

But, the thing is, with the way the death penalty is enforced in this country, its purpose is diminished. It takes an average of what, 10 years or more, before a person is punished for their crimes. In that time, countless millions of dollars are spent by the government in trying to enforce it (as a whole, not just against one person). People know they can commit these kinds of crime and know they'll stay alive and well for a very long time and that with the way the court system is, may never actually receive the death penalty. Therefore, it's not really an effective deterrent. And, for the reason you gave, Hawaii, at this point in a lot of cases, there is a strong possibility that there was an error somewhere. I wouldn't want to be responsible for the death of a human being due to an error being made in a lab or by an eye witness.

I think, though, that in those cases where guilt is an absolute, with every shred of evidence screaming that that person is guilty, then the death penalty is warranted. But this country needs to figure out a way to administer it quickly and effectively. Otherwise, it needs to abolish it altogether.

Sadly because our justice system is imperfect there can be no punishment that cannot be undone. So hell no to the death penalty. I know there are innocent people who have died under this system which makes the advocates of the death penalty murderers of innocents. Isn't that punishable by death???

Suzin...just to let u know...there were no errors in finding this man innocent..they tested the DNA more than once and then the real killer was found and he admitted to it...so for this story...this guy REALLY WAS innocent for ALL those years...sad!

Here's why it makes no sense to me:

1. Given: Killing is wrong

2. You killed somebody, and killing is wrong

3. So we're going to kill you

4. But, if killing is wrong....??

If killing the killer would bring the innocent dead person back, then fine, there's a justification. In the absence of that possibility, all it does it make the sanctioning government agency as bad as the original murderer.

But then, I don't believe in people having authority over other people anyway....

No, I got that But he was found guilty in the first place because of an error somewhere, is what I meant. That's one of the reasons I don't think I could be on that kind of jury, I'd be so afraid that someone, somewhere made a mistake and I would be partially responsible for ending someone's life.

Hot topic! It could get scary in here

ITs all good Suzin! It was just a really good book to read and it got me thinking about the death penalty...

i will agree the fact that they cost us alot of money to support while theyre in there they live in acell for 23 out of the24 hours in aday .i dont know why alot of the prison nmates cant beused for the man power that is there not necessarily the murderers with all the land the prisons have that surround ityou can farm to feed the hungry or you could use the manpower to rebuild homes in Louisiana for the Katrina victims.this is definitely an un tapped resource that could benefit alot of peopleand would help feed the inmates which in turn would drive down the cost to the tax payer