Anyone else surprised (and saddened) by the blase tolerance for the death penalty in this country?

[marmar]

I'm watching a segment on prospective Supreme Ct justices on CSPAN, and they just showed a clip of potential judge Diane Wood, where she said death penalty cases need to be scrutinized closely, but she supports enforcing it.
And I know there are lots of people, including many self-identified progressives, who support the death penalty in some cases. I guess I just don't get it. How does a society become better by doing the very thing it supposedly holds in contempt? And why is this the only advanced Western country that still puts people to death?
Sometimes I feel like my body is the United States but the soul is in northern Europe or Canada.

[Oregone]

1. And spanking. :)

You barbarians

[ZombieHorde]

2. And the same people who are for the death penalty

are against the poor eating those who are killed, because that would be "socialism".

[ddiver]

4. are against the poor eating those who are killed,...you lost me there.

I understand sarcasm and dark humor, BUT, you lost me at how that is socialism.

Feed the destitute deceased to the homeless I understand. :evilgrin:

[ZombieHorde]

5. Conservatives are against free lunches, so we just throw away the victims of the death penalty.

Waste not, want not.

[rwheeler31]

3. People here have been trained to respect money.

It is their religion.

[mth44sc]

6. Back in the day

when I was a Juvenile Court Director, I used to pass the slow days by heading to the law library and reading the Supremem Court Reporter. I recall reading over and over - even in cases the Court refused to hear - the objections of Brennan and Marshall to every death penalty case that was petitioned to the Court. Every damn one of 'em...

[blue_onyx]

7. I don't understand the support of the death penalty either

I'm proud Michigan was the first English speaking territory in the world to ban it. I don't think killing someone is an effective way to persuade people to not kill others. Plus, I think living in a prison for the rest of one's live is a worse punishment.

[Mythsaje]

18. Me too. Death is a release. Prison is hell on Earth.

And you can't take back death if a mistake is made.

[canetoad]

19. Spot on

The real punishment in in the anticipation.

[patrice]

8. It IS very odd how so many have no reservations about becoming the very thing they claim to Hate.

Not concerned about perpetuating the evil.

[mth44sc]

10. It is after all

we the people who are killing people for killing people.

Our willingness to accept this says so much about who we really are...

[patrice]

17. Indeed it does say a great deal about us that we ignore a basic organic law: Killing causes Killing.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[patrice]

16. And there are so many other things we could be doing about these problems that would

be good for us as a whole, good for victims' families, and yes, even, good for the guilty.

If they are truly guilty, they don't have to be let out of prison, you know, they could just stay in prison and work for all victims and maybe someday the guilty, or people involved in crimes like John Skillicorn recently, would be sorry for what they have done and make amends and maybe even receive forgiveness from their victims. I think it is profoundly sad that none of this is ever given a chance. We just preserve all of the pain and hate instead.

Welcome to DU, monika465 :hi:

[closeupready]

9. I think as time lengthens between 'now' and the end of WWII, which

seems to have been a hallmark in terms of establishing modern civilization's standards, we have now compromised almost all the lessons which we supposedly learned as a culture. And though there are some people whose death I would be indifferent to (okay, maybe even enthusiastic about), I have always been opposed to the death penalty.

[Esra Star]

11. If you have a "state assisted suicide program"

there will always be a certain demographic who will take advantage.
Not to mention the "blaze of glory" set who arrange for a trigger happy policeman to
take them out.

[depakid]

13. Not surpised and no longer saddened

I've basically accepted that this is how most Americans are. It's at the core of their nature and reinforced by their culture. It's why the nation fell so easily in line with torture, why they built the world's largest prison system- and why many embrace so called "zero tolereance." Until it happens to them or theirs, at least.

Sometimes I feel like my body is the United States but the soul is in northern Europe or Canada.

Don't forget Australia, mate!

Or the Kiwi's.

[TreasonousBastard]

14. Not at all surprised. I've been an activist against...

capital punishment for years, and it is the sort of thing that most people find far removed from their daily lives. Even us activists rarely get up close and personal with Death Row. I do know people who have been defenders and spritual advisors with death row inmates, but for most of us it's still too much of an abstraction.

The Catholic Church teaches against the death penalty, just as it teaches against most war, but you'll never see many bishops out there with Pax Christi demanding executions be stopped. Or war, for that matter. Abortion, homelessness, hunger... these are things that the bishops see affecting real people on a daily basis, and they're out there in force. We don't like their activism on abortion, but we can agree with them on hunger and homelessness. And we could wish they would speak more toward war and capital punishment.

The death penalty, except for the Peace Churches and a few activist congregations, is a side issue. Except for a few activist Reform congregations, Jews generally support it, and Muslims have no problem with it. Buddhists and Pagans tend to be gainst it, and the nonreligious are all over the spectrum in their attitudes toward it.

Even as a side issue, though, it's slowly dawning on the general consciousness that the death penalty is barbaric and largely useless as either a punishment or a deterrent. It's also incredibly expensive and inefficient, with appeals going on for as much as 20 years. the wingnut answer to that is just reduce the number of appeals and execute faster, but when that's expressed a lot of people who never thought much about it before start thinking about how rushing to judgment leads to mistakes.

Irreversable mistakes.

[Rowdyboy]

15. Its a difficult issue that I personally have agonized over for nearly 40 years.....

There have been times when my revulsion at the evil that some criminals have done overwhelms my revulsion at the concept of state sponsored murder. Other times not so much. :shrug:

[ashling]

21. Me too.

I am firmly against the death penalty because of one reason, however: error inherent in the system.

[Hippo_Tron]

20. It bugs me because it's a highly irrational policy

It's more expensive to execute somebody than it is to keep them in prison for life due to appeals cost, etc. That alone should be reason enough not to execute anybody given that there are no tangible benefits to it.

The fact that it supposedly comforts the victim's family in some cases is an equally dumb reason to do it. If one of my family members were murdered I'm sure I would want to beat the guy who did it to death with my bare hands. But in a civilized society we don't allow that sort of thing and likewise in a civilized society we shouldn't allow the state to do vengeance killing for us.

At the end of the day it exists because it's a good political wedge issue for those who support it.