Most appropriate punishment poll

[Nine]

13. Wrong question. There are many bad guys who deserve harsh punishment.

Ariel Castro, for example. There are also many people who consider a life sentence to be even harsher than a death sentence. At least one of Castro's victims felt cheated that he took the easy way out by committing suicide. I would never argue against the existence of crimes so heinous that they merit death. In that sense I don't have an absolute moral objection to the death penalty.

But I still think our society is better off without a death penalty. You need only consider how often we see headlines about convicts proven innocent years or decades after their conviction to know that our judicial system is far from flawless. A life sentence instead of a death sentence at least allows for the possibility of correcting these mistakes. It also allows, as mentioned upthread, for the possibility of studying these criminals and maybe learning how to prevent future criminals.

Besides that, my gut instinct is that the death penalty doesn't serve as much more of a deterrent than a life sentence. And eliminating the death sentence spares crime victims (as well as judicial authorities, doctors, state employees, etc.) the moral quandary of having something to do with another person's death as well as the trauma of having to witness it. Why put ourselves through that?