The Supreme Court recently upheld Kentucky's use of lethal injection as a form of capital punishment. PollingPoint asked for your reactions to this news. Here is what you said.
If there is a chance that administering lethal injections incorrectly can result in excruciating pain for inmates, should lethal injection be banned altogether?
Do you think the death penalty by lethal injection violates the 8th Amendment protection against cruel and unusual punishment?
How effective do you think capital punishment is at deterring crimes?
Which do you think is a harsher punishment?
What are your views on the legality of capital punishment?
We asked proponents and opponents of the death penalty to explain their opinions.
Why do you think capital punishment should be legal?
Because there are horrific crimes that deserve nothing else. Of course, capital punishment should not be given lightly. There must be forensic evidence to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
A life for a life. It is a Biblical model. It is moral and a good punishment even if it doesn't deter other criminals.
A murderer has forfeited his or her rights in society. It is not a matter of deterrence, but of punishment. The problem with capital punishment is that it is not used enough.
After witnessing the gruesome and cruel murder of my 14 year old son, I realized that some people are monsters who should not be allowed to live on this earth.
Life in prison is not as severe as it once was, weakening the effectiveness of prison sentences in deterring crime. Many criminals see prison as a reward rather than a punishment.
The death penalty gives families, loved ones, and friends of the victim(s) the confidence that the criminal will never do the crime again to anyone.
Taxpayers should not have to financially support a murderer forever. Murderers are not worth the millions of dollars it takes to support them while they stay on death row. I think capital punishment should be carried out faster.
Capital punishment is no harsher than the cruel treatment that the families and victims have to endure. There are far too many people on death row who show no remorse for what they have done and thumb their noses at their victims.
Many offenders are not capable of being rehabilitated. They either spend their lives in prison at the expense of the same citizens they victimized or they get released to re-victimize others.
I believe that there are situations in which the needs of society outweight the needs of the individual, and thus that killing another human being should be allowed.
I do not believe a person that commits a crime harsh enough to be considered for the death penalty has ANY rights. That person gave up his/her rights when he/she ignored the laws of the land and the rights of the person they wronged.
Why do you think capital punishment should be illegal?
It is not our place or our right to kill others. How can we teach our children not to harm another when we kill children in the womb and people who do bad things?
I think the vast majority of people have humanity in them and should be given a chance to change their ways.
Better to ban capital punishment altogether than risk even infrequently executing an innocent person.
Capital punishment is barbaric, and makes us no better than criminals.
I feel it should not be legal for the state to take a life to prove it is immoral to take life. If it's immoral for a person to kill, it is immoral for the state to kill.
Too great a portion of those receiving the death penalty are poor or minorities. In this country if you have enough money you can get away with almost anything. If capital punishemnt was fair across the board, I might change my mind.
Capital punishment is the easy way out. Criminals need to suffer the mental hurt for what they have done by spending life in prison.
Because our justice system is not 100% error free. Just one unjust capital punishment carried out is reason enough for it to be illegal.
Capital punishment is a very weak attempt at trying to correct the social problems that exist in the U.S.
Our society should have moved to a point where we are beyond "disposing" of people because we don't know how to deal with them.
Capital punishment is not a deterrent and is far too expensive. The justice system is too corrupt to avoid klling innocent people. Inmates on death row are more likely to die of old age waiting to be put to death than by being executed.
Capital punishment violates baisc human rights. The government has no more of a right to kill someone than any other person. By administering the death penalty, the government and courts negate their moral authority.
