Does the death penalty help or hurt society? What is your opinion?

Arthur Hu:

It needs to be legal. It is a sure punishment worse than a life sentence, which is necessary for some situations. I don’t think it should be done carelessly.

Erin Taylor:

I think that it shouldn’t exist. It is a really harsh punishment to put on anyone. The punishment of being in jail for life is worse than getting off easy by dying, in some sense. I feel like [prison for life] is a worse punishment.

If execution is unacceptable, what do you think is a better alternative?

E: 

Especially with really bad cases, like rape and murder and things like that, I don’t believe that they should be executed, but I do believe that they should stay in jail.

A: 

I don’t entirely disagree with you. But at the same time, there are some crimes that are so atrocious, that prison isn’t really enough. [The death penalty] also alleviates the pressure from family members to take revenge. [The death penalty] also can serve as a deterrent for other people to commit similar crimes. If you know the crime you’re about to commit could result in the death penalty, then you might think twice about it.

E:

I like your point of saying that it brings peace to families, because I think that is true. Although I think that some people are not right in their mind anyway. I don’t know if just saying, ‘oh, you could be killed by doing this’ would necessarily stop them. I don’t know if being in jail would stop them either.

A:

I agree. Most people [who] do really atrocious crimes are somewhat wrong in [the] head. I don’t think they’re necessarily insane because, typically, insane people don’t even get tried normally, they would just get sent to an asylum.

Are there any certain cases or things that you think should result in a death penalty?

A:

Really atrocious crimes, like the school shooting we’ve been hearing about. A 20 or 30-year-old person going to school, and shooting a bunch of kids, is kind of where we draw the line. 

E:

I don’t agree that the death penalty should be legal. I do agree that there are some really atrocious crimes, school shootings, that do deserve very serious punishment. I also feel like the death penalty is a bit hypocritical because the punishment for killing someone else is getting killed.

A:

The same could be said for jail. It’s almost like if you imprison a kidnapper, then you technically are holding a person against their will, for holding someone else against their will. 

In what ways does the death penalty help improve society?

A:

Just knowing that there is a penalty for doing certain things deters people from doing those things.  A lot of people say that it’s cheaper to kill someone, which is not true. If someone does something really bad, and all you do is isolate them for the rest of their lives, it doesn’t feel like it’s an adequate punishment for the trauma that the victims and their family would endure for years to come.

E:

I also think being surrounded by a lot of death can have a bad effect on society. Not just having someone kill another person but then have that person be killed too. It is an endless cycle of a lot of killings, and being surrounded by and hearing about all that death brings down society.

A:

If no one ever was sentenced to death, then there could be more criminal activity.