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Important point before I start - this post isn't to say what my feelings are on the death penalty (in fact, I go back and forth on it), but instead to comment on some of the posts I've seen thus far.
One thing that I think some people are missing here:
Jail is decidedly NOT an "easy way out." Just because someone wasn't put on death row doesn't mean that they're getting off easy. Jail is a hellish place - there's a good chance that, depending on the crime, violent criminals could meet their death in jail anyways.
Now - as far as making the case for the death penalty based on personal cases (what if a loved one was killed, wouldn't you want the criminal put to death?) - I think once you start trying to apply a hypothetical personal tragedy to an overhaul of the system, that there should be more to it than that.
The fact remains that the death penalty has not served as a deterrent to crime. A tougher criminal justice system is needed for that. As Lil G said - if there's more of a chance of getting caught, the likelihood of committing the crime is lesser. If there are 1000 crimes committed, and only 5 people are caught (and all put to death), there's more of a chance of wanting to commit a crime than if the same 1000 crimes are committed and 500 people are sent to jail (with no or very few people sent to their deaths) If you're talking about stopping people from committing crimes, then the answer would be to catch/convict more of the people who are committing these crimes.
Collin
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