So then, Capital Punishment, controversial and divisive, it is nonetheless a topic guaranteed to draw an emotional response from most individuals. It raises many questions that probe deeply into our sense of moral justice, and many answers that themselves force us to examine our own humanity.

But what exactly is Capital Punishment? It is the termination of another's life usually under State Control as a means of punishment for some heinous crime for which no lesser punishment is deemed appropriate.

It is reserved for extreme criminal acts, such as Murder.

In various Countries today Capital Punishment is enforced for various crimes, similarly in other Countries it is considered too extreme a punishment to consider, and is thus not enforced. Indeed, forward thinking modernists favour rehabilitation of criminals within the community, even though this is condemned by some communities as unthinkable. How then should punishment be administered to our most violent of criminals, and should we punish them at all?

It is long established that justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done, and must not in any way be perceived as an act of revenge. Here in the United Kingdom Capital Punishment was abolished many years ago as it was seen to be not only too controversial, but several instances of judicial errors culminated in the hanging of innocent people who for various reasons were incapable of proving their innocence.

The last thing the Law Courts want is their ability to determine the guilty from the innocent called into question, and executing an innocent person will always be possible as long as Defence Attorneys are human beings with human frailties.

Which puts us in a quandary, do we thus rely on our learned Lawyers to put aside their frailties when separating the wheat from the chaff in our courts, or do we say the hell with it and burn the witch? After all, it is not only the victims of these inhuman crimes that need justice, victims' families and loved ones demand it too, and if justice is not best served by correct sentencing then how do we deter other criminals, and bring a sense of justice to the community. I have my own views on this, but I am human as are you, kittens.

What course of action therefore do we take to deal with our most violent criminals and bring justice to our peoples? I do believe that that is another question for another challenge.

So then I fear I cannot be trusted to provide a solution to this ongoing debate, for I am by nature human and it is my nature to avenge a wrongdoing, thus I must be ruled out of this debate. All I will say is burn the witch.

I've actually developed a rather strong opinion on this matter and will voice it -- metaphorically speaking -- now.

So capital punishment is the taking of the perpetrator of a crime's life usually due to the extremity of the crime. Usually reserved for very disgusting crimes in the US but lately it has gotten to the point of rarity even nonexistence in many states.

Now here is the rant:

What I don't get is when people are sentenced to more than one life sentences in prison. They only have one life, so they cannot fulfill their sentence; in fact, they can only fulfill ONE life sentence not two, or four, or seven, or fifteen. And here is the part that pisses me off: American tax dollars are going to keep this said person who's just been sentenced to more than one life sentence -- something that we've established that he cannot fulfill -- alive in prison where criminals can and do thrived. If you're in the states are you're reading this YOUR money is going to keep a person worthy of more than one life sentence alive. THAT IS DISGUSTING. That money that's going to "serve justice" to this criminal to keep him alive in prison could go to so many other places. For instance schools, medical facilities, highway maintenance and so many other things. Would it not be cheaper to inject that said criminal with a poison of some sort -- of course it should be one that kills them quickly and humanely -- instead of keeping them alive for decades. And also keep in mind the people who would be eligible for capital punishment are serial killers, serial rapists, things of that nature.

How people can deal with knowing their money goes to keep people like that alive is beyond my understanding. Crime is crime. Now of course you need to prove without doubt that the said criminal is in fact guilty and things of that nature BUT if someone is being sentenced to more than one life sentence I would think that it had been proven that he is in fact guilty.

That's why I'm in support of Capital Punishment, because JUSTICE is NOT being served by sentencing someone to a sentence that they cannot serve in any way. That is absurd. And not only is it not justice, they -- the government -- make you PAY to keep them alive.

BS, that's what it is.

- Michael Hall

Capital punishment comes out of old Bible thought, justice in which it is decided that if one takes an eye, that person should give up and eye, likewise, if one kills, that person should give up their life. Yet, God said, thou shalt not kill. Which is the true answer to a bad situation where one person lies dead and another found guilty of his murder?

Laws that allow capital punishment in special legal cases make many people uncomfortable because the Ten Commandments are very explicit. One of the cases where it should be possible is if the guilty person requests it as a relief from the life of murderous crime they live. If we outlaw it for them, then it should always be outlawed.

Why don’t we? Jesus offered up the rule that we should turn our cheek when someone offends us. So, shouldn’t we forgive the person who kills someone? My answer is, yes, we should forgive them, but what about my safety? Won’t I be killed next? The best answer is to solve the problem that caused the murder in the first place.

As a society, I don’t believe that we know how to prevent murder, but we are finding ways to make it less likely. Recent studies have shown that jail parolees are less likely to return to jail if they are provided with life skills--information about money management, how to do job searches, entry level starts in a job, etc. The government now recognizes that people have learning disabilities and provides additional help to pass school tests, get reading literacy, job skills, and more than this, laws protect people with learning disabilities from discrimination. Another thing that helps is teaching mothers to talk to their children early in their life, before birth even, because even if the child is born with a learning disability, these children then have progressed more by the time they enter school, and every little bit of help may prevent a murder. One last thing to be thankful for is that ObamaCare as it is called, has added coverage for mental health benefits, which aids everyone from the slow learner, to the divorcing parents, to people with mental health problems find better tools for making decisions and preventing emotions from boiling out of control and thereby causing murder.

While I can understand in some societies, humans might not be able to afford housing, treating, and feeding criminals that they will never allow back into society, and capital punishment is an easy solution, perhaps this easy solution prevents the deeper solutions. If humans continue to look beneath the surface of problems, perhaps one day we will all live in a society where murder and killing never exist.

I am often called wishy-washy because I like to be able to see both sides of a question. I can say, yes, today, we might need capital punishment and we might need abortion because we as a society haven’t solved the problems yet. But if it were my hand on the decision--pulling the electric switch or injecting the person with poison, I would choose to follow God’s commandment, thou shalt not kill. Unless the person tried to kill me and I decided I needed to protect myself.