Comments Related To: "Eye For An Eye" or "Let He Who Hath No Sin Cast The First Stone"

It has always been a contentious debate. Here, in Canada, we havedone away with the Death Penalty some 50 years ago. NOT that some people don't deserve it. Mass murders, child killers..all these perhaps. One must feel compassion for the victims and their families. The death penalty is one where we extract vengence and supposed justice. BUT..what ofthe wrongfully convicted? Science has made great strides in this direction with DNA testing and better forensics. Sloppy or lazy prosecutions have led to many people being wrongly accused and unjustlyincarcerated. What if your brother was on Death Row..then put in thekilling Room? What if later evidence came forward that a mistake wasmade? What if a rush to sloppy judgement killed the wrong person?Please take some time to read the article below. Well over 200 convicted have been exonerated for crimes they didn't commit. It begs at least a discussion. To allow the State to execute a personwho was innocent makes the public guilty of murder..doesn't it?http://www.huffingtonpost.com/barry-scheck/on-the-200th-dna-exonerat_b...

slydog, you are a very smart man. I am one on the "fence"for exactly the reasons stated. I know i could count on you for the "Great Debate"!

I believe the death penalty is just for those who exact horrible crimes, such as the rape and murder of a six year old girl by a pedophile years ago in Los Angeles. Imagine the horror on that little girl's face in the shawdow of this hulking monster on a lonely dirt road at dusk. But, like Slydog, I must pause and consider the possibility of innocent people being wrongly convicted and executed. From the 1930s through the 1960s in America's inglorious past, hundreds of African American males were wrongly executed on flimsy evidence. Now, with forensics being as scientifically advanced as it is, it is still not exact science. Mistakes are still made. But, I believe all agree; brazen killers and mass murderers offer no good to civil society. So, what to do?

I am also leary of giving the "State" the Right to Kill. What if I
become their enemy? Remember Joe Hill? Sacco and Vanzetti? Jesus?

Years ago because of all the crimes of murder and rape the Philippine
Government under Josef Estrada was debating whether or not to bring back the electric chair in the Philippines. I wrote in supporting the death penalty and largely through my letter they brought in the lethal injection. After Gloria Arroyo made the coup against Estrada and he was arrested on imagined plunder charges, the law doesn't exist anyway, they were talking openly on the Philippine news channel about convicting him and killing him with a lethal injection. I knew from the start that Mr Estrada was not guilty of any crime. After a while I
changed my ideas because they wanted to execute Estrada as a revenge
for something else and that something else was because he is a former
communist reformed and entered the senate. I started writing letters to
various government organizations, Amnesty international, the Australian
Embassy in Manila, the Bohol governor's office, various media, news and
magazines including the Reader's Digest. I went all out against the death penalty on the internet and all, even writing letters to friends
to say no to the death penalty and about two or three years ago the death penalty in the Philippines was abolished by Gloria Arroyo, the very same person who made the coup against Estrada and listened to lies
about plunder and the very same person who wanted to have him killed by
a lethal injection. Josef Estrada isw now free and next year he will be
running for his office as president of the Philippines again. 7/6/2009.