I’m a firm believer if there isn’t a “top pillar of justice”, then you have no justice at all.
No; it’s unnecessary, pointless at best, wastefully expensive, and tends to be handled unjustly. It tends to have more to do with your race/gender/bank account than what crime you are accused of. And I don’t trust the government with the right to kill people.
Absolutely not.
Generally, not. There are too many instances of executing the wrong individual for it to be justified. “Better to let ten guilty men go free” and all that. THAT is what frightens me the most about it. The idea of executing an innocent man is far, far too high a price to pay.
The ONLY exceptions would be in extremes like say, the Nazis at the Nuremberg trials, or if they ever catch Osama Bin Laden. (Although I wouldn’t mind putting him on display somewhere and then people can throw things like tomatoes, or water balloons at him) 
Not, but not absolutely not.
That is a contradiction. There are criminals who ‘deserve’ to be killed. But I’m seriously creeped out by the government killing people. That’s enough to make me against capital punishment, let alone the possibility of killing an innocent person. We have the means to permanently remove dangerous criminals from society without killing them. So there is no need for CP.
I have no moral qualms, but in practicality there seem to be an awful lot of innocent people on death row. The only really compelling exception is for people who commit murder or armed assault in prison. Fuck em.
Didn’t you know? Everyone on Death Row is innocent! 
I am vehemently, 100% opposed to the death penalty.
No. Practically speaking, it costs a lot in both money and resources, and doesn’t really accomplish anything.
Also, giving the government permission to kill someone who does not pose an immediate threat to anyone is really, really uncomfortable.
Definitely not.
The government has no more right to kill people than people have to kill people.
I’m against the death penalty because it doesn’t deter crime and it’s applied arbitrarily and unfairly. Our justice system is not perfect (nor could any justice system ever be, but ours isn’t anywhere close) and that’s too big of a gamble to take when it’s an undisputable fact that mistakes will be made.
That said, even though I could never have any part in deciding it or carrying it out, when I hear about a really horrible person being executed, I don’t feel sad about it. But that’s only for truly evil people who seemingly have no humanity at all in them. If someone did a really stupid and bad thing but they’re not sociopathic monsters through-and-through, then it makes me very sad.
Is this not a Great Debate?
I’m for the death penalty for murder.
I’m against it for everything else.
I oppose it in all instances. Its imperfections are legion: the death penalty is expensive, effort-intensive, prone to put innocent people to death, discriminatorily-administered, and quite without any real moral justification for its use (usually people repair to vaguely mystical pronouncements such as “if there is no ‘top pillar of justice’ (?!) then there is no justice at all” or similar horseshit).
Opposed, but as a practical matter rather than a philosophical one. Too expensive, and too many wrongful convictions.
I presume this is supposed to be an argument for the death penalty, since as K_G notes people on the pro-side tend to make incomprehensible philosophical claims like this one.
However, it could equally be an argument against the death penalty- the top pillar of justice being the right of appeal and redress, which is obviously somewhat stunted by the the application of death.
If it is a pro-death penalty argument, I think life imprisonment is a perfectly sound “pillar of justice”.
As imposed by the courts? Absolutely not. It’s impossible to apologise to someone who’s dead.
Not one bit.
Completely. I’m in favor of death for murder, rape, armed robbery and treason to the country. I think there should be one appeal, and after that, death by hanging. It wouldn’t be expensive if they just did the damn thing in an efficient way.
I don’t have any sympathy for felons whatsoever; I don’t think they should be allowed to spend years in “crime college,” raping other inmates, doing drugs and joining gangs, on the taxpayer’s dime.
I have a very strong conviction in the idea of a social contract and I believe those who do malicious harm to others have violated this social contract and therefore forfeited all of their rights. I would be happy to see convicted murderers, armed robbers and rapists killed very swiftly.
Quoted because it’s succinct and true.
People have a right to kill people if the person’s life is being threatened. You realize that, right? If someone breaks into my home with a gun, and I shoot him in the heart with a crossbow and kill him, I am within my rights to do so.
Against in all cases because I believe the government has no business adjudicating death for any citizen.