Okay, let's see if I can put all my thoughts into a well made post and with good points.... Probably not, this will probably be an incredible mess, but I'll try my best to make my thoughts as non-contradicting and make as much sense as possible. HERE WE GO:
1. It's irreversible. Once you've killed them, you can never take it back. People are seldom PROVEN innocent after they've been executed, because no one cares to take up the case after that, but there are cases where they have noticed that all the evidence doesn't support that they were the actual bad guy/girl, or that the situation was completely different than they first thought. It gets harder and harder to get wrongly accused because of DNA and such things, but there's still times when people are wrongly accused. Luckily they're often pulled out of death row before the execution, which leads me to point two.
2. Wrongly accused people whom has been freed from death row usually have horrible mental scars. They've been tormented by the thought that they might get killed any day, and many people are there for YEARS before they're finally proven innocent. There has been people pulled out just as they've been about to go to their own execution. At least in America. If we go to China, you either are proven innocent and leave the court room, or you're proven guilty and you're executed a few days later. No time for being proven innocent later on.
3. The families to death row inmates. Yeah. Death row inmates are humans, no matter what action they might or might not have taken. They have families, and that family can be completely innocent and love their child, spouse, sibling or parent no matter what they did. If the death row inmate dies, will they suffer for their crime? Depends on your beliefs about the afterlife, but I don't believe so. No matter what happens to the death row inmate in the afterlife, or lack thereof, what we can be absolutely certain about is that their family will suffer. (If they haven't cut all ties with that person, or if that person doesn't have a family)
4. What will their death achieve? They will suffer up until the point they are killed (if they don't want to be killed, cause there has been those inmates too.) but once they're dead, it won't matter anymore. No matter what you believe about the after life, it's what we do in this life that matters. No afterlife means that we need to live this life as happily as possible. An afterlife means that our actions will decide what happens to us. Wouldn't it be better to try and rehabilitate them so that they can give to society one day, and if an afterlife exists, that they can go to a good place?
5. Clear cut rules or at least some sort of guidelines are IMPORTANT!! At the moment in USA some people gets sent to lifetime for worse murder acts than other people that has been sent to death row. If the death penalty should be allowed to exist, you need to be consistent with what crimes should lead to death row, but it's not. Sometimes serial killers are sent to death row, sometimes they're not. Sometimes a ONE TIME murderer is sent to death row, but often times they're not (I hope). Sometimes mentally insane people are sent to death row, even though there's laws FORBIDDING it, or at least some rules saying they should be rehabilitated or something like that. While America seems to have NO guideline for who can be sent to death row, and just cherry picks the people they don't like, and China just executes people left and right (though apparently they have gotten better), Japan has at least done the sane thing and made a criteria list:
The nine criteria are as follows:
Degree of viciousness
Motive
How the crime was committed; especially the manner in which the victim was killed.
Outcome of the crime; especially the number of victims.
Sentiments of the bereaved family members.
Impact of the crime on Japanese society.
Defendant's age (in Japan, someone is a minor until the age of 20).
Defendant's previous criminal record.
Degree of remorse shown by the defendant.
IF any country is going to have death row, isn't it best to have some kind of guideline like that? Now I don't know how well it is followed, but considering how low their execution numbers usually are, I would say it's followed pretty well. Or maybe they just have so small amounts of murder they send everyone to death row o.O Either way, that's a somewhat good list to go after, as long as you follow it and actually look at the evidence. By the way, I would add mental stability to that list if I got to mod it.
6. Cases like this EXISTS:
A 15 year old girl (black American) whom had sold sex to men since she was 13 and had mental problems from her mothers side, eventually ended up shooting one guy she had slept with because of paranoia. She believed he was about to kill her, even though no such evidence was found, and most likely it was her mental instabilities acting up.
They actually thought that she, a fifteen year old girl, should be put on death row. She sat in prison until she was 18, and then got her trial in which she escaped death row, but got a lifetime in prison instead. Fifteen years old, mental instabilities, felt regret, was under aged, had no ill intent, in her mind she was only protecting herself, one shot, and she got a lifetime in prison (though they spoke about giving her death row). If we look at the list Japan has made, I doubt she would even be on the radar for death row, and usually kid's aren't.
I even think there has been a ten or eleven year old kid who they talked about giving the death penalty. Kids are still developing, they're still learning! If you make sure to rehabilitate them immediately they can actually become good adults. Thinking that the death penalty would be a solution for a child that has murdered once is flawed thinking. It shows a flawed system.
While I don't like the death penalty and never would want even the most horrible person to be put to death, I can accept that it exists if people uses it responsibly. Though I can't support a flawed system, nor accept it, and in most countries, if not all (haven't really checked up Japan properly to say if their criterias has worked in practice.), the death penalty is horribly flawed. There's no clear rules and it's just a giant mess. People are sentenced without 100% evidence supporting them guilty, and families on both sides are left without their loved ones. Death won't make the criminal a better person, and they will never get the chance to better themselves. Sure, if they have clearly showed that they can't become better, serial killer ala blood countess style, then do whatever you want, but a one time murderer or someone who has a mental disorder that they can overcome with the right professional help, or a child having committed the crime, might be worthy of a second chance. Criminals should be punished, yes, but they should also be helped and rehabilitated so that they can become good people and actually help society one day. We need to rehabilitate them and teach them how to get back into society once they're out of prison. (And of course make sure they're not a threat when we release them).
DONE!
And since I've seen this having been taken up at least once, I just want to point out that
pedophilia isn't an act. Pedophilia is the sexual attraction towards children. Saying they deserve the death penalty is kind of mean. :/
I know what you mean, you mean child molesters (hopefully). A child molester/rapist, can be a child molester/rapist without being a pedophile. Some adults have sex with children simply because they want to feel that they have power and control over their victim, and the easiest victim is often a child. Of course, pedophiles can also be child molesters/rapists, but it is not guaranteed. So please, please, please. Stop saying pedophiles deserves death. It makes it harder for pedophiles who doesn't do anything to search for help. They live in constant fear that people will find out and hate them even though they might never have done anything wrong.
Okay, now I'm officially done. o.O This was very fast put together (2 hours is apparently fast for me), and I don't think I did a very good job with it, but it is a rough explanation of why I feel that it is wrong and slightly about what could make it a bit more right (only briefly touched on), though I wouldn't like it still, and a small section explaining pedophilia... Cause apparently that's needed. Even though it shouldn't be.. People should know this.. But they don't.. And it makes me sad.
I've probably missed points that I will come to think about in a few days when this thread has been closed because of... reasons... But this is long enough as it is, and if I wanna make a better point I'll just use my very neglected blog where I usually put this kind of stuff. (It's not an iwaku blog btw, so no need to look there.)
REMEMBER FOLKS, IF THERE'S NO DEBATE PREFIX YOU SHALL NOT DEBATE!!! ... Just thought I put this out there before people try to debate me (or anyone else) o.O And if this thread happens to get a debate prefix.... Well, then I'll chicken out. I'm not good with debates. Friendly discussions sure, but debates gives me cold feet...And racing heartbeat, and makes me anxious... So no. Just no. I'm just here to leave my (at the moment messy) thoughts, and read other peoples thoughts.