Does the appeals process for death row inmates undermine the deterrent effect of capital punishment?
Name: Amanda Email: topsecret_16@hotmail.com Response:
Well, i definetly am in favour of capital punishment. If we don't kill murderers,its an insult to the
victim, and the family. we are saying we don't value the victim's life enough. and after killing
someone, does this person really deserve to live? some might say that we can't kill to show that killing
is wrong. well, is there a contradiction to a police officer speeding after a speeder to enforce
speeding laws?if someone takes someone's life, how can we let them live? in countries like canada, that
don't have CP, when a murder is commited, the murderer gets life in prison-free food,free leisure time,
free education (and life in prison is only about 25years). they kill someone and they get a free ride?
it makes no sense. capital punishment is not a form of revenge..its justice.
Name: Mackalynn Email: I'm serious - I don't know Response:
I don't think that the death penalty has any crime-deterrent value. Let's face it -- anyone sentenced to death has the time span of at least three presidential terms separating him/her from the actual execution. However, I believe capital punishment to be a viable form of justice; the system of it simply needs to be revamped for people to start having faith in our judicial system.
Name: Kidpanama Email:Kidpanama@freemark.com Response:
The death penalty in of itself has never been a deterrent for criminal activity. In as much as people think in the now, particularly young people, the death penalty, even the thought of being apprehended are not thoughts long entertained. Consequently, the appeal process available to criminals once imprisioned is a mere after the fact gift. As a person who has spent many years volunteering in an outreach prison ministry in the prison system of Massachusetts, i've found that remorse, if it ever comes, arrives after criminals are imprisoned. THus, it is my conclusion, that the death penalty, and/or the appeal system have no direct effect on the prevention of criminal activity by those inclined to cause the rest of us grief.
Name: Darrick Williams Email:dwilliams2@usa.pipeline.com Response:
If criminals don't have anything to fear, then there will never be reform.
Being on deathrow is like being on an extended vacation. We do not have a perfect justice system, but we do, at least, have one. Besides, let us not forget that in the REAL END, those deathrow inmates as well as each one of us will be judged by the ONE TRUE JUDGE. Therefore, justice will inevitably be served.
Name: Sandeeeera Email:Sandeeeera@aol.com Response:
WHAT appeals process? I'm not sure what it consists of but having just read "Live From Death Row" by Mumia Abu-Jamal, I ask myself what we can do, if anything, to avoid the death row situation altogether. The appeals process seems to give false hope to death row inmates.
Name: Rita Email:Rita FP@aol.com Response:
What deterrent effect? There is absolutely NO evidence that capital punishment has any deterrent effect at all. In fact, there is eveidence that it has the opposite effect.
I oppose capital punishment because I believe that the only ethical justification for it is its use to deter crime; since it doesn't do that, I can't support it.
Capital punishment satisfies our need for revenge and long appeals processes thwart that revenge.
Name: Larry R. Manson Email:lmanson@ici.net Response:
No, the appeals process for death row inmates does not undermine the deterent effect of capital punishment. A current counter-terrorism bill passed by congress and signed by President Clinton supports and limits death penalty appeals and therefore shutting off multiple appeals of death sentences to the Supreme Court, under the habeas corpus provisions. In my opinion, this is an effort by the capialist goverment to continue the modern day lynchings that has been tradition in this country since slavery and more evident in the 1930s. In the 1990s, the pro-capitalist proponets of capital-punishment are esteemed with the current court desion. This means, at least, the current inmates on death row must face a three-judge U.S.appeals court panel before they can make their case to a trial court. However the panel's ruling goes, the panel's decisions cannot be appealed to the Supreme Court. In essense, "do if you die," and be parpared to die, even if you are innocent...
The Real Criminals within America are still at Large....
Name: Sonia Email:st94n8rz@dunx1.ocs.drexel.edu Response:
Yes it does undermine the deterrent effect of capital punishment. When the prisoner hears their sentence he/she may understand the depth of their crime because of the fact that their life must now be sacrificed. However after sitting in a jail cell for ten or more years, at the tax payers expense, the painful death they expected does not seem to be an urgent possibility and they deal with the concept of life imprisonment. Death isn't really their true sentence.
On the flip side of the coin our justice system and many of the individuals who are involved in it are so corrupt we don't know how many people on death row truly deserve to be there. The first step is to revamp our justice system. When we make a sentence stick by it and stop giving third and fourth chances.
Name: Perry Ashford Email:pashford@lcp.com Response:
Initially, I would say no it does not. After examining the issue closer, I may need to rethink the answer. First of all, it is my belief that capital punishment doesnít deter any crime. Anyone possessing the capacity to think of the consequences of a crime BEFORE committing the crime, more than likely isnít going to commit the crime in the first place. However, if the appeals process was removed from the conviction, and marketed as such, we all may see an impact, positive impact, in the lowering number of the amount of homicides.
