Let’s start with your DNA proposal. There is not always DNA evidence. Even then just because a persons DNA was present doesn’t mean that they committed the crime.

In the entire history of the death penalty no family was ever made whole by seeing a human being die.

That manslaughter verses involuntary manslaughter is a bunch of crap. If guilt could be measured the person that knowingly gets behind the wheel of car and drives after a night a drinking is far more guilty than the person that snaps and has a lost of reality.

Again, as long as there is thorough reform, I have no problem with the government doing what it supposed to do.

Yeah, it was a good debate. Take care.

Nice debate though…. Peace Bro.

If you go back to the original post, I have already made the argument that the ABA does have a valid point(s) for wanting to kill the death penalty. I also made it very clear that the current system is rife with loose policies that do not give a significant numbers of these folks their fair day in court. This is why I am 110% for DNA testing as you have pointed out has been successful in some cases.

What I do not agree with here is this general assumption that every person on death row is more innocent than the person(s) they murdered. When the then pending execution of “Tookie” Williams was the hot topic, there were many folks who were calling for not just a stay of his execution, but a complete release. This after his case was tried numerous times and he was still found guilty of those murders.

If a person has been tried numerous times and it has been proven that he/she was given fair due process (with DNA testing), that person should be eliminated from our society. Money keeping these individuals alive AFTER IT HAS BEEN PROVEN OVER AND OVER AGAIN THAT THEY ARE GUILTY could go to much better use like poverty and homelessness. Otherwise, keep that convict alive until he/she is given due process.

Folks tried to justify keeping “Tookie” around by pointing to a book he did for children warning them about the dangers of gang life. Trust me, if kids will not listen to folks who left the game and are not in prison, “Tookie’s” message is just another boring infomercial.

And I don’t understand how you can just dismiss innocent people on death row. Aren’t they a victims too? What about THEIR families? You don’t come back from DEAD. You can’t appeal DEAD. Are you saying you would place someone’s grief at a higher level of importance than the life of an innocent man? I don’t understand that. And I could care less about the ones we KNOW are guilty. Manson.. Kill em. DC Snipers.. Kill em. I could care less. But all cases are not that cut and dry.

I read your link and I will accept your argument that “Thou shall not kill” means murder.. In Illinois I believe the numbers since the death penalty was re-instated was 11 killed and 13 released from death row because of DNA evidence. If activists had not stepped in and done those DNA tests then those 13 people would either be dead or on their way to being dead. Killing an innocent man is MURDER. In these cases murder by the state. Should they have stayed on death row in order to satisfy some other families grief?

And I’m not a very religious man but what happened to though shall not kill… Aren’t these suppose to be direct words from GOD himself? It doesn’t say, thou shall not kill EXCEPT for when you think it is justified for justice or revenge.

If you really want to start injecting the Bible into this, you can start by understanding the full context of random quotes.

“Kill” in “Thou shall not kill” actually refers to murder. If this was not the case, then God would not have given the Israelites instructions on how to kill animals for various sacrifices.

If your comment was a true and legitimate question about the Biblical view on capital punishment, may I direct you to the following link:

http://4simpsons.wordpress.com/2006/10/31/bad-biblical-arguments-against-capital-punishment/

Here you will find biblical responses to arguments like:

# Jesus would forgive

# We might be eliminating the condemned killer’s opportunity to place his trust in Christ and thus causing him/her to miss out on eternal salvation.

# Jesus is against capital punishment / Jesus reversed the Old Testament teaching on capital punishment

# We might be killing someone who is innocent

# Capital punishment is not a deterrent

# The Bible says, ‘Thou shall not kill’

I would copy the whole thing here, but it is just too long.

After you finish reading this, I can give you case after case in the bible where God made the distinction between killing and murder. But again, based on the tone of your comment, I’m not quite sure you wanted to go down that path.

Lets just say for the sake of argument that in the whole history of the death penalty in the U.S. that only one innocent man has ever been executed. How much is that man’s life worth? Is it worth this person’s life to maintain a broken non-perfect system that will surely kill other innocent people. Where is the civility in that?

And I’m not a very religious man but what happened to though shall not kill… Aren’t these suppose to be direct words from GOD himself? It doesn’t say, thou shall not kill EXCEPT for when you think it is justified for justice or revenge.

Which is why you execute them if it has been thoroughly proven that they are guilty of the crime.

What makes person who gets drunk and drives and kills a family of four any more or less worse than a person who snaps and kills his wife and kids.

The difference here is voluntary versus involuntary manslaughter. A person found guilty of involuntary manslaughter (as you described) has a much better chance getting his sentence reduced than someone who purposely took the life of another individual.

The death penalty has no place in a civilized society.

On the contrary, people who take the lives of innocent individuals are the ones that are UNcivilized. If found guilty of such a crime, KILL THEM!!! By doing so keeps society civil.

The death penalty has no place in a civilized society.