(August 14, 2018 at 2:54 pm)mlmooney89 Wrote: 1) Overcrowded jails make it worth it
2) Burden on society is lessened
3) Punishment to those that fear death is still a punishment.
4) He took a life, he can give a life.
No it is not.
1. Over crowed prisons are a result of over charging people for mostly non violent offenses. The private contracts for prisons lead to the push to put more bodies in them. It isn't about punishing anyone, it is about sub contractors making tons of money.
2. It costs tax payers far more to prosecute a death penalty case with all the appeals than it is to simply give them life in prison.
3. No, someone that violent has no empathy for others, it is simply state sponsored revenge.
4. The criminal justice system with all crimes is not funded to protect the poor, and in many cases even those in the middle class. Any public defender can tell you they do not have enough lawyers to cover all the cases to an effective degree. Because of such it makes it that more easy to harm someone who isn't rich enough to hire a fleet of lawyers.
You are oversimplifying your argument based on emotion, not real legal issues.
I have personally talked to a man who was let out of prison who was on death row, because it was proven that the prosecutor left out evidence during discovery that could have let the court drop the charges. To assume the system always does that to avoid hurting an innocent person is a mistake.
I have never been or ever will be for an eye for an eye justice system. Everything should be based on evidence, and punishment should not be about revenge, but containment only.