hi! good day to all of u! im lan, a freshman student from phils. my class is having a debate about death penalty and i’m against death penalty.
Pls. help me… any comments, informations and related articles will be highly appreciated. thanks… i hope to hear from u…
Use it well. The people of the Straight Dope do not do your homework for you, and topics this likely to provoke heated debates do not belong in General Questions anyway.
If you want to learn about the death penalty, you are more than welcome to pick a side of the debate and start a debate in Great Debates. Both sides have fervent supporters and detractors, so don’t expect a quiet debate.
If you want to know the opinions of this board regarding the death penalty, I would suggest the following:
Find the “search” hyperlink at the top right corner of the page,
click it,
enter “death penalty” in the search string (or enter “capital punishment”)
leave the box for poster name blank
use the drop-down list of Forums to select Great Debates
find the “include posts from” drop-down box and set it to “any date”
then start the search.
This post should have been placed in Great Debates, as well, so it may be moved shortly.
U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary commissioned Columbia law prof James S. Liebman to prepare an exhaustive report on capital punishment. The Leibman Study probably has what you are looking for.
Moving to Great Debates. - Jill
That’s a good one! “I am against the death penalty but I don’t know why. Can you help me?”
If you already have a position, shouldn’t you be telling us why?
It might help if you could at least let us know why you’re against the death penalty.
I don’t believe it is always morally wrong to kill another human being. I don’t have any ethical problems with the idea of putting a murderer to death. But I do have a problem with executing an innocent person. So I think I’ll come out against the DP even though I think some people deserve it.
Marc
I too am against the death penalty, although I am not morally opposed to killing certain criminals. Its just impossible in most cases to determine actual guilt, versus mere guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. If anything a much higher standard should be in place for capital offenses that that.
As far as the omelet/eggs argument that someone will invariably trot out, who will be the first martyr to volunteer for the egg position?
i dunno, whut do u think?
hahaha, lolololol!!!
I’m against the death penalty on sound conservative fiscal policy grounds.
Sentencing someone to death is far more expensive than housing and feeding them for life.
How so you ask? Simple. Which is cheaper, a lifetime of shelter and food for a criminal or a living wage for two lawyers and a judge for a couple of decades?
Welcome, Lan_17, to these boards. As you might have noticed,
Chat room style posts here can get you some grief. Go to the posts recommended above to learn.
BTW; I’m also against the DP. Mostly because of the “omelet” idea mentioned by Ludovic, above.
Again, welcome.
Peace,
mangeorge
I am against the death penalty because I don’t understand how a society can be justified in its decisions about which humans whould live and which should die.
That’s all. The cost issue doesn’t matter to me. Racial bias doesn’t matter to me. The possibility of executing innocent people doesn’t matter to me.
The judge who sentenced Timothy McVeigh to die was absolutely convinced that it was right for McVeigh to die. But McVeigh was absolutely convinced that it was right for his victims to die. So why is the judge correct but McVeigh incorrect? If McVeigh had decided to become a judge rather than a terrorist bomber, would he still be able to make correct decisions about who should live and who should die?
I know a clever qutation from a clever man whose name I do not remember: The best argument against death penalty is the fact that there are no arguments for it."
Well, first, in a debate, one uses the language correctly, like a surgeon uses a scalpel. Given that, let’s analyze your post.
We’ll start with your subject header. In a debate, one wouldn’t SHOUT THEIR ARGUMENTS. Also, in debates in which I’ve particpated, one is not marked down for using articles. Therefore the subject title would be “No to the death penalty”. Always remember: Articles are your friends!
Next. look at your keyboard. Thank you. Do you see the key next to the “Z” key? It’s labeled “Shift”. It’s used to capitalized words. As a college student, I’m certain you’re familiar with the concept of capitalization. If not, remedial courses may be necessary. In a debate, no one can see if your notes are correctly capitalized, of course, but sloppy writing leads to sloppy thinking and sloppy speaking.
Third: I’m not sure what your native language is, but might I suggest a refresher course in English would be appropriate? If “u” speak like “u” write, you’ll not do well in the upcoming debate. “im” sure of that! Debate debacles depress.
Fourth: A grand part of the college experience is called research. That means going to the library and reading. It means going on the internet and finding primary sources. It does not mean going to a message board and asking people to do your homework for you. Were I to answer your question, I’d be depriving you of that experience, and I’d never do that.
Are “u” still glad “2” have heard from me?
Fenris
Hi, Lan. It’s not that nobody wants to talk to you, it’s just that every time you want to talk to us, all you want is for us to help you with your homework.
http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=68628
The rest of us are here to talk, to converse, to debate. Tell us what YOU think, then we can have a nice discussion. 
Otherwise, use a search engine to find out what the rest of the world thinks about a particular subject, or to look stuff up for your term paper, okay? Here’s a link to a good one.