What do people here think about the death penalty?

Then your computers or your favorite anime might not have been created because the guy who would have made them had his hand cut off for stealing when he was younger and stupid. It's been touched on in this topic, but people are black and white characters. The same person who's done something heinous may also turn around and do something heroic to save a burning bus-full of children and kittens from going over a cliff. And as for the firing squad, if you survive the first round, can they shoot you again?

@ jinsei if they hit you and you lived ... they should just put you out of your misery so yes. There are grey people, hell we don't only see good and evil we sometimes see a maybe or potential being used in the wronhg way.

I enjoy a this saying " The good doesn't wash out the bad, Nor the bad the good" If someone does something awful then Justice should be served. There is rarely a black and white, But that doesn't mean justice shouldn't exist because "Oh he did this right", No he still killed someone who 9/10 didn't deserve it. So he should suffer the consequences. The death penalty should only be used on those who truly deserve it, But it still should be used.

Hmm... How interestin'... We run the very real possibility of killing the one individual who could save us all. 'Nother dumb question: Does it state in any laws what the "death" in death penalty means? If someone is declared dead and then somehow manages to revive later, are they free if they were clinically dead?

We also run the very real possibility of killing the one individual that could kill us all. That argument makes little sense. Trust me if your hanged, injected with crap or shot in the death penalty I sincerely doubt they could survive. If they were revived later without good reason then they'd probably repeat the process.

Yeah, that is very true. What if Hitler got the death penalty an' all... But repeating the sentence wouldn't be considered cruel and inhumane seeing as they were sentenced to die and "technically" they did? Also what's considered a good buffer period to avoid wrongful convictions? There have been times where people have been convicted of murder or multiple murders only to be cleared a decade later.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-25201471 "First - and arguably foremost - there is virtually no difference among upper, middle and lower classes in Iceland. And with that, tension between economic classes is non-existent, a rare occurrence for any country."

@ vampire neko Did you also check the countries economic stability and its population density in comparison to other nations? Also the education lvl? Religious background and diversity as well as availability for drugs? And how many neighboring countries exert influence upon your culture and or nations borders? I can keep on going but the whole aspect is that the variables need to work together and are too many to bother with because in the end we won't change a damn Thing.

That is what it comes down to huh? In the end we won't change a thing... Unless it interferes with our ability to be lazy. But maybe we have changed things, even if we can't perceive it. By having discussions like these we show what separates us from thoughtless killers. Taking a mindful look at what we do and why give us a chance to move forward and affect a change. No progress can be made without a little introspection.