On the Topic of the Death Penalty

In a BBC Article from Dec 9 2005 titled "Gang Boss Sparks Death Row Debate", the BBC discusses the growing opposition to the practice of executing criminals that is allowed in this country.

At the end of the article, the readers were invited to comment on their position regarding the death penalty. I wanted to post the comments I submitted to the BBC on this topic.



On general principal, I am opposed to the death penalty. Murder is a terrible crime and if he committed murder, then he should face the consequences, but one can evaluate a society's ethical development by how it treats it's criminals. Murder for murder is not civilized. Also, mistakes are often made, and once someone is executed, if an error was made, one can't un-execute them. It's not even a deterrent to crime. There is no upside to executing people.

The USA is the only western (and so-called developed/civilized) nation that allows a death penalty. Clearly that says something about the underlying barbarism that has infected this once proud Nation. Punish criminals, put them in jail. We don't even need to give them Cable TV, or Internet Access, or all the other luxuries that are afforded to criminals in prison. But - the death penalty is barbaric... and usually it's most strongly supported by those who would deny a woman's right to manage her own body on claims that a blob of cells hardly more complex or developed than a tadpole is a "human" with a so-called "soul" and that aborting that brainless, nervous system-less little collection of cells which would possibly, eventually, some day, after many months, if brought to full term, become a baby that can be birthed, that that is murder. How insane is that? Murdering a full fledged adult as punishment for crimes is ok, but excising an undeveloped mass of cells that might some day become a person is murder? It makes me ashamed, ASHAMED to be a citizen of this insane country.