[kestrelx]

Originally Posted by walkinman221

In time, the convicted murderer will adjust to their incarceration and find within its limitations, time when they feel joy, times when they laugh, talk to their family, etc., but as the victim, no more are such opportunities available to them. Those that are pro death penalty feel it is society’s responsibility to step in and be the voice of the victim and determine what is a just punishment, for the victim not the criminal.

Think of the phrase itself, "life sentence." Does the victim get a "life sentence"? The victim is dead. To serve justice, that person who ended their life should have to pay with their own in order for the scale of justice to remain in balance.

Opponents of capital punishment say, capital punishment is barbaric and cruel and has no place in a civilized society. It denies an individual of due process by imposing irrevocable punishment on them and depriving them from ever benefiting from new technology that may provide later evidence of their innocence.
Murder in any form, by any person, shows a lack of respect for human life. For victims of murder, sparing the life of their killer is the truest form of justice that can be given to them. Opponents of the death penalty feel to kill as a way to "even out" the crime would only justify the act itself. This position is not taken out of sympathy to the convicted murderer but out of respect for his victim in demonstrating that all human life should be of value.My standing on what is a very emotive issue is that if there is no doubt capital punishment should be implemented, our justice system as it stands seems to be weighed very much in favour of the perpetrators of crime and not the victim.

If you really want to make sure someone convicted of evil crimes be punished then we should have a TV program bit like Big Brother in which the public phone in and vote on forms of trial and punishment for criminals and they are shown on TV carrying out their ordeal. This would make sure they never got too lax in their prison haven of pleasure and pain! The program would ensure they got pain and lots of it!