Isn't it funny how many Christians support the Death Penalty?

Any true Christian has to know that human beings are fallible and that human institutions get it wrong some of the time. The criminal justice system is no exception and the death penalty system buries its worst mistakes. Some people haven't yet taken a hard look at the death penalty in action.

The worst thing about it. Errors:

The system can make tragic mistakes. In 2004, Cameron Todd Willingham was executed in Texas for starting the fire that killed his children. Multiple forensic experts have since found that the arson testimony that led to his conviction was based on junk science. As of today, 138 wrongly convicted people who were sentenced to death have been exonerated. DNA is rarely available in homicides, often irrelevant (as in the Willingham case) and can’t guarantee we won’t execute innocent people. Capital juries are dominated by people who favor the death penalty and are more likely to convict.

Victims:

People assume that families of murder victims want the death penalty imposed. It just isn't so. Some are against it on moral grounds. But even families who have supported the death penalty in principle have testified to the damage that the death penalty process does to families like theirs and that life without parole is an appropriate alternative.

Crime reduction (deterrence):

The death penalty doesn't keep us safer. Homicide rates for states that use the death penalty are consistently higher than for those that don’t. The most recent FBI data confirms this. For people who lack a conscience, fear of being caught is the best deterrent.

Keeping killers off the streets for good:

Life without parole, on the books in 49 states (all except Alaska), also prevents reoffending. It means what it says, and spending the rest of your life locked up, knowing you’ll never be free, is no picnic. Two advantages:

-an innocent person serving life can be released from prison

-life without parole costs less than the death penalty

Costs, a surprise to many people:

Study after study has found that the death penalty is much more expensive than life in prison. The high costs of the death penalty are for the complicated legal process, with the largest costs at the pre-trial and trial stages. The point is to avoid executing innocent people. There are tremendous expenses in a death penalty case whether or not the defendant is convicted, let alone sentenced to death.

Who gets it:

Contrary to popular belief, 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. Practically everyone sentenced to death had to rely on an overworked public defender. How many people with money have been executed??

It comes down to whether we should keep a system for the sake of retribution or revenge even though it isn’t effective in reducing violent crime, costs much more than alternatives and, worst of all, can lead to the nightmare of executing someone for a crime he didn’t commit.

It is a difficult argument. I'm not religious, but I agree with you mostly. No-one has the right to condemn someone to death, because none of us is perfect, there is not always fool-proof testimony and forensic evidence, and people (especially those helping to make the decisions) can make mistakes too. We can't always be 100% sure that these people have committed the crime.

However, society has to protect itself and I would find it really unacceptable that someone who could not be proved guilty but in fact was, would go free. It is difficult to measure out punishment and /or retribution when you are not sure. I feel the death penalty is definitely not the solution in case of doubts, but how sure can we be in 100% of the cases?

He wasn't condemning the death penalty.

The Pharisees could have cared less about justice and the Law.

They were only using it to their own ends. THAT was what Jesus condemned.

They were trying to trap Jesus into either violating Roman

law, or the Old Testament Commandments, so that they could have HIM killed..

Roman law stated that the Jews couldn't execute on their

own. If Jesus had said yes, stone her -- They could have blamed it on Him,

saying that they did it at His word. He would have been executed.

If He had said "Don't stone her", they could have charged Him with violation

of Jewish law, and also taken Him to the Romans to be executed.

What people also miss, is that the Pharisees were in violation of the

Jewish law already. The Old Testament law states the BOTH the adulterer

AND the adulteress are to be stoned!

She was "caught in the act".....

So where was the adulterer????

I always found those cultures that instead supported Banishment to be the more enlightened.

I know, Banishment sometimes meant the death of the person who took off into the wilderness to find a new village to live in, but the idea is sound. It is saying, "We can't live with you, you are a danger to us, leave!"

It is unbiblical to claim that God opposes the death penalty in all instances. Christians should never rejoice when the death penalty is employed, but at the same time, Christians should not fight against the government’s right to execute the perpetrators of the most evil of crimes.

http://www.gotquestions.org/death-penalty.html

=> not my own opinion, but just thought I would throw it out

probably extra beneficial than a million% and decrease than a hundred%. quite, i'm having a wager you will discover the comparable proportion interior the "inhabitants at great". this question has been asked two times this night, nonetheless incredibly diverse the 1st time.

Not if you are the family member of someone who has been killed and then found to be innocent

Like funny-disgusting.

isn't it also funny that a lot of people who receive the death penalty are christians?

Kevin your liberal views distort what Christ taught.