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A personal blog. Not made to be read or shared, but to be lost on the internet.

My Opinions On The Death Penalty

I am against the death penalty in the American Court. I think that justice when done properly should never result in the death of an individual. I have never been asked to explain but I was listening to a podcast talking about how nuanced this topic is to a lot of Americans, and all over the world.

Questions like “But what about Osama Bin Laden, did he deserve to die or if he lived should he have been put to death?” or “What if someone is about to hurt others in a suicide vest type situation and killing them is the only way to ensure that many others will not be killed”

First I want to say I attempting to ask these questions not in a straw man way but to really address the question issue. In either of these cases I think can understand that killing the individual was necessary, but say that does not refute my stance. I would say that if it was at all possible to capture Bin Laden, or the Suicide Vest person, in a way that was safe and they should be brought back to the USA and put through the justice system fairly and the death penalty never be on the table. I think that correct thing to do is shoot to kill a mass shooter, if they cant be captured and put to justice while not harming any more people. This in my mind is the the death penalty applied in a court system. This is instead protecting other people by killing one actively deadly individual.

But if someone actively hostile is ever captured and sentenced, the sentence should never be death. I think that the death penalty is a hold over from a more religious country, where death is seen as not the end, but instead a passage to hell. From my perspective, one should live out there life in person, till death. That in its own sense is a death sentence. If they are remorseful they have to live with what they did for the remainder of their life. And if they are not no reason to put them to death and take them away from existence any faster.

The death penalty as it exists now puts to death both people who are guilty and the innocence. By putting them to death the innocent never have a chance to plea there case again and be shown innocent and if one innocent person dies then the justice system is failing as it exists. Better to give everybody a chance to fight and refight their case guilty or innocent for the remainder of their life than change putting an innocent person to death.