I'm doing a research on capital punishment!?

How are we to decided which side you take? Can you not form your own opinion? I mean if you were *for* capital punishment then those against it could give you their point of view or vise versa, but we cannot chose a side for you. This is how you start... choose a side... the rest will fall in place.

Hmm, I don't really see any solid connection between capital punishment and moral relativity. One could be any combination of for or against either one.

I think there are enough legal, moral and practical problems with the death penalty that it should not be used. Its deterrent effect is questionable. It doesn't teach the criminal a lesson because how can you learn a lesson when you're dead? It's irreversible, a big problem since innocent people do occasionally get put to death. It doesn't do anything to further protect society since the criminal is already behind bars. It's essentially state-sponsored lethal vengeance.

As for moral relativity, I wrote a web page about it many years ago. (This was in the era before blogs.) Not exactly my best writing, but you may want to check it out anyway.

All socialized punishment is legal revenge. A person does something and the victim or family of the victim uses society to exact revenge for the offense. That's all that is there. In nature if something kills something else it eats it and so does everything around it. The idea that there is a moral problem or a social norm has been stepped on is what helps to exact this revenge. It is legal to kill someone under certain circumstances like home invasion, etc. The idea of property and morality are social ideas which make killing and taking a crime and should be revenged. These ideas don't exist in nature.

You may want to start with some facts about the death penalty. Visit www.deathpenaltyinfo.org In the meantime...You don't have to condone brutal crimes or want the criminals who commit them to avoid a harsh punishment to ask whether the death penalty prevents or even reduces crime and whether it risks killing innocent people.

124 people on death rows have been released with proof that they were wrongfully convicted. DNA is available in less than 10% of all homicides and isn’t a guarantee we won’t execute innocent people.

The death penalty doesn't prevent others from committing murder. No reputable study shows the death penalty to be a deterrent. To be a deterrent a punishment must be sure and swift. The death penalty is neither. Homicide rates are higher in states and regions that have it than in states that don’t.

We have a good alternative. Life without parole is now on the books in 48 states. It means what it says. It is sure and swift and rarely appealed. Life without parole is less expensive than the death penalty.

The death penalty costs much more than life in prison, mostly because of the legal process which is supposed to prevent executions of innocent people.

The death penalty isn't reserved for the worst crimes, but for defendants with the worst lawyers. It doesn't apply to people with money. When is the last time a wealthy person was on death row, let alone executed?

The death penalty doesn't necessarily help families of murder victims. Murder victim family members across the country argue that the drawn-out death penalty process is painful for them and that life without parole is an appropriate alternative.

Problems with speeding up the process. Over 50 of the innocent people released from death row had already served over a decade. If the process is speeded up we are sure to execute an innocent person.

1. Some people believe that the soul learns a lesson if its life is taken from it prematurely as just recompense for having done a horrible crime.

2. Another belief is that capital punishment deters others from committing the same crime.

3. Life imprisonment without parole may be as effective as #2., according to some research stats.

4. How would you feel, if your friend were to lose his or her life due to a bad criminal act? Would you advocate the death penalty, or some lesser sentence? If you were the criminal, would you feel better about life imprisonment, the chance to read the Bible, repent, listen to talk radio (<http://www.coasttocoastam.com>/ is a favorite among prisoners), etc.?

5. Another perspective: Jim Tucker, M.D., "Life before Life," Free and Wilcock, "The Reincarnation of Edgar Cayce?", http://www.divinecosmos.com/

6. "A Philosophy of Universality," O. M. Aivanhov, is a collection of talks to ordinary folk, worth reading.

7. "The Path of Virtue," Jonathan Murro, has many ethical quotes and easily-followed insights and discussions.

"Gandhi, the Man: The Story of His Transformation," Eknath Easwaran, Ph.D., http://www.easwaran.org/ is also worthwhile.

best regards,

j.

I am against capital punishment primarily because we are an imperfect society making imperfect decisions mostly based on emotions instead of reason. Mistakes are made and innocent people are put to death. As long as error exists, there should be no death penalty.

Once caught Its often an easy death they seek. So keep the bastards alive. Put them in a hole in the ground and throw the key away, no books, ,no TV, no visitors, just a basic diet and no company. That way we can in part rectify any miscarrage there might be.