1. Clif Soulo wrote:

Those last few sentences…really that last paragraph is very…it describes my feelings exactly. My feeling on it is simple, you cannot tell me that our justice system is 100% accurate, and since it isn’t, to take someones life with a chance of it being mistake is enough in itself for us not to use the death penalty.

2. james wrote:

i have no problem with the death penalty, morally or ethically, which gets along well with my moral speculations about just wars and abortion.

if a civilian plans to and successfully murders another civilian/civilians, the murderer probably has a death wish for himself as well. life in prison is cruel to people who really want to be dead, or are better off dead. accomodating them in the most humane way possible is morally correct.

vengeance, in the case of a loved one, would probably involve exacting some sort of torturous death.

that said, if major hasan is convicted of the crimes he is accused of committing in ft hood, i believe he should also be put to death.

3. EminemsRevenge wrote:

The thing that sucks about the death penalty is it’s too soft–for truly heinous crimes life imprisonment is MORE OF A PUNISHMENT–you’ve got to watch your back and fight being raped for the rest of your life!

Since all the states are broke, if they’re gonna do the death penalty might as well do it on pay-per-view and make some money off it.

4. MLL wrote:

Powerful last paragraph Dr. Hill. Thanks for the reminder.

5. Lasha wrote:

Great article…I’m not a fan of playing God either. Who am I to say who shall live and who shall perish? Wayward thinking leaves us in a world such as the one we live in today. -”Let’s set an example and punish violence with violence”. It’s like beating your child for getting into a fight at school, something that reinforces to that child that violence is okay. How long before the broken system is corrected?
‘

6. james wrote:

lasha, my children have never been in fights at school, so i don’t really know how i would handle the issue, but i can assure you that beating them can never be completely off the table. in fact, i have jokingly threatened physically punishment for taking part in or initiating any unnecessary violence at school.

i do believe that physical punishment depends on the child and the kind of behavior you are trying to correct. and the parent must be working from a well-respected and established position of authority. in other words, you can’t go around being nutty all the time and beating the shit out of your kid because you don’t like the way they look. the lines have to be clearly drawn and drawn early and often to make a lasting impression of discipline on the child.

i’ve beat my daughter with a belt for not sharing a piece of cheesecake with her brother. she has unbearably stupid issues with sharing and does not respond well to anything except a very occasional asswhipping. like twice in 12 years.

if my son or daughter successfully planned the murder of another fully human being, i would expect to see he or she die before me.

7. Lisa wrote:

I can see your view Dr. Hill and understand it.

What I have a problem with is the life imprisonment of ‘caught red handed’ murders or rapist or someone that mains another human. When there is clear guilt of the crime, then I believe a short prison term and capital punishment is fair and just.

For example, Alan Methany of Indiana beat his ex-wife to death with a rifle in broad daylight and in front of his children. She was feeding the girls when he showed up. He had been released (for his spousal abuse detention) in Indianapolis and driven to Mishawaka by his family for a short furrow (or is it furlow?). (That arrangement has been terminated at the prison after this happened). His family ignored him while he went to end her life.

He was eventually put to death but not after spending hundreds of thousands of state taxpayer dollars appealing his death sentence. It took the state over 10 yrs to finally put us (the taxpayers) out of this misery.

On the other hand, DNA is now providing evidence of innocence for several inmates and that is where this fine line is drawn. I don’t want capital punishment continued on an inmate if there is a doubt to his/her guilt. I think a life sentence would better serve our cultural punishment.

And at the same time, we need to release non-violent so called criminals that serve time for smoking pot or being a drug addict and give them mental health services, not jail terms. Those people that have drug addictions need doctors and counseling, not jail. Our prison system is messed up and ass backwards.

Put the dangerous criminals together and put the youngsters and druggies in other facilities. The death penalty does serve a purpose like an earlier commenter suggested.

And we need to make prison truly a place that no one wants to return to and still keep it humane. No tvs, no exercise rooms, no degrees earned while serving time, no health care better than law abiding citizens, etc. If a homeless person has 3 hots a day and a bed, prison might be better than the streets. There is always about 3% of society that don’t conform to ‘norms’ right Dr? But that’s going O.T.