Capital Punishment For Murderers

[EasilyFound]

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Locking someone up forever doesn't seem quite as satisfying as executing them - like the state has done a half-assed job of the vengence. So I guess that's why I'm in favor of capital punishment. It might seem a bad reason to some, but it feels right to me.

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I thought the premise of this thread was to decide this question by leaving emotion out. Murdering a defendant because it "feels right" or makes someone else, like the victim's family feel better, violates the premise. But maybe that is not what the OP had in mind.

Now for my contribution to this debate. I disagree with how the premise was framed in the OP, which dismisses high falootin philosophy. I don't know what that means if it was not meant to dismiss a moral objecton to capital punishment. Serious and thoughtful people can oppose the death penalty on moral grounds, such as whether the gov't should be in the business of murdering its citizens. I believe it should not be in that business.

I can't help but believe that most people who favor the death penalty do so for emotional reasons or for vengeance, neither of which strikes me as a good reason for choosing the death penalty over LWOP (life without parole). Captial punishment is barbic. Also, look at the other governments that impose capital punishment, and tell me if you like the company.

As a practical matter, we know that innocent people are found guilty of all sorts of crimes, including captial crimes. For me, that factor easily outweighs any other argument for capital punishment. It is depressing that people feel otherwise.