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[axver]

I must say, there's something about the death penalty that seriously and deeply bothers me within my conscience. I cannot possibly view it as an act of a civilised people or as a means of serving justice. Maybe this makes me some bleeding heart, but on an intellectual level, I cannot find a purpose that validates capital punishment, and on

Comments

[khanada]

i agree with you. i don't like the death penalty at all. can't really think of anything else to say about it.

[axver]

I find the repulsion it inspires inside of me is difficult, if not impossible, to adequately express in words.

[khanada]

me too. i really don't know how to word it other than to say something as eloquent as "it sucks."

[axver]

I look for words such as "despicable" and "barbaric" and they don't quite pinpoint the discomfort and queasiness I feel inside.

[khanada]

yeah, i'm just having a hard time finding an adjective that actually describes how this makes me feel. i am a bit of a pacifist, i've never subscribed to that whole "an eye for an eye" line of thinking. someone steals something, and their hand is cut off? i don't see how these physical actions at all make up for the crime. at least the death penalty is the only barbaric punishment left here in the states, but that certainly doesn't make it any better.

looking at it this way, if someone were to kill someone, i'd rather them spend the rest of their life in prison being able to think about the heinous crime they committed and how they're stuck in that cell to rot away, rather than them being executed. not to mention execution can be a painful way to go. as horrible as murder is, i don't think murderers deserve lethal injections, electrocutions, etc. murderers should die in prison of natural causes, cancer, etc. not because some hotshot judge got to play god and decide the person deserved to die before his time.

[axver]

Yeah, exactly. And I just don't see how something vengeful like execution really solves anything. I remember as a child, if I did something wrong, I was taught to apologise, and if I had taken anything, to return it. Part of the punishment was erasing my bad activity with some good deeds. And that's how I think it should be. If you've done a heinous crime, you should be locked up and given pleeeenty of time to think about what you've done, and offered avenues within the prison to do positive deeds, contribute to society, and try to atone for your wrongs.

If you don't want to do that, we've got a nice, sparse cell over here you can sit in, day after day, year after year, ekeing out the most pathetic existence known to man.

[khanada]

yeah, to me doing something like that really just puts you on the same level as the murderer. i don't understand how a government can sanction an execution. i mean, to me that's essentially the same thing as murder, seeing as you're purposely taking another's life. i just don't get the justification.

[axver]

Last I checked, 'murder' is premeditated killing, and that's exactly what an execution is - the only difference is that the government and supporters of capital punishment find a loophole by stating murder is unlawful killing while executions have been written into the law as legal.

Talk about a bloody technicality.

[khanada]

yeah, i don't see how executioners (and everyone else involved - judges, etc.) can have a clear conscience about this. sorry folks, you're murderers too.

[axver]

I don't know how they sleep at night. How could you sleep soundly known that you have snuffed out a human life? I don't see how this is meant to provide closure to victims' families either, as to me, it seems to just spread around the sorrow to more people.

[khanada]

yes, i agree.