Does anybody really "Deserve to Die"?

[trumad]

I see that comment quite often here on DU---

just askin.....

[frogcycle]

1. we all do

and we all will

[bluerum]

2. I'ts just a matter of time. But sometimes we get to choose the time and place.

[DangerDave921]

3. Yes

Anyone who would steal, rape, torture, and kill a child deserves to die. If a person chooses to do those things, then he has abdicated his right to be in this world.

[Deja Q]

5. How about adults?

Lots of them get stolen, raped, tortured, and killed too.

[LuckyTheDog]

4. That guy in Reno didn't

And yet, I shot him, just to watch him die. Sometimes I kind of feel bad about it -- especially when that passenger train passes Folsom Prison. I hang my head and cry.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

6. Of Course

There are some acts that are so heinous that by committing them you have given up your right to live...

The debate arises as to if the state is the agent to take that person's life...

I oppose the death penalty but it is not a position I come by easily...

[book_worm]

7. Yep, if somebody is beating the heck out of me trying to kill me and

I'm able to grab something (like Grace Kelly did in Dial M for Murder) and kill him first then I guess I'd feel my life was worth it. I'm just using myself as an example--I think ultimately we are all survivors and if any of us are threatened by somebody who wants to kill us I think all of us would do whatever we had to do to survive.

p.s.
I'm also against capital punishment.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

12. Not quite the question asked.

You appear to be answering "is it sometimes justifiable to kill someone" rather than "are there people who deserve to die".

I don't think that answering either question automatically implies the answer to the other.

[H2O Man]

8. Though I'm not

fond of people who talk on cell phones while driving, I do not favor the death penalty. I assume that is what you were talking about.

[sam sarrha]

9. there has never been any scientific proof death is a penalty there is proof the death penalty is and

has never been a deterrent to crime, but it is a 'blood sacrifice' for votes if a politician promises to kill prisoners in custody if elected

it is only opinion or religious dogma to say death is a penalty, there is no proof of any sort death is a penalty.. just because some fear death, we cant make it a penalty

and when they execute a prisoner, he accepts Jesus as his Saviour and is escorted to heaven by Jesus,.. that goes back to the story on the cross where Jesus converts the chicken thief.. the other guy went to hell ..so Jesus becomes the patron Saint of chicken thieves and murders

[Uben]

11. I think you are wrong

Death is a penalty. The penalization comes in the form of removing the opportunity to commit further crimes against humanity.
It is two-fold in that it also rids the rest of humanity the burden of housing and feeding the perpetrator for the rest of his life. Is it a deterrent? Well, I suppose that is subjective, because I know it would sure deter me from committing a crime with a penalty of death! Jesus asks us to forgive sinners, and we should. But, forgiving is not necessarily tied to punitive measures. You can forgive someone for their crime and still exact punishment on them for committing it. Crime without punishment would lead to all out chaos. Civilization came about by establishing rules of law, and penalties for violating them!

You can sit around all day and say death is not a penalty, but ask any prisoner on death row if it is a penalty and you will receive a resounding affirmative.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

13. There Are People That Deserve To Die...I Just Don't Think The State Is The Appropriate Agent

DSB

[sam sarrha]

14. but it is cruel and unusual to use a penalty that is not a Durant.. all statistics on the death

penalty show it not to be a deterrent at the time of the crime..

your reasoning is simply 'opinion'.. how do you feel about sending child murders to eternal Paradise with jesus.. in lue of life in prison

[madokie]

10. I'm looking toward that day for me

no I have no death wish or suicidal thoughts just a fascination with what or how the after life will be if any. if fact when I die my old stinkings ass is to be cremated with my ashes placed into the ground where ever the placer so chooses to place them and I ask they plant a tree upon that place. no funerals I only want my spirit to roam free not be prayed up into the heavens, I want to stay right here on planet earth and maybe cause all the mischief I can just saying

[Kingshakabobo]

15. People that hang the toilet-paper roll backward.

[aikoaiko]

16. I think I've said something similar when someone consciously acted so stupidly reckless

that they may have deserved to die.

[Orsino]

17. Well, if you're really into Original Sin...

...or other fatalistic religious doctrine, I guess you could say that. I just think we should keep the big decisions out of the hands of the death cultists.

[yurbud]

18. what if someone kills and is likely to kill again? if a lifer kills a prison gaurd, punishment?

Go to bed without dessert?

The big problem with the death penalty is that it is applied capriciously and using inhumane weapons.

[supernova]

19. Normally I don't go in for the DP and oppose it wherever possible

But I have a really hard time opposing the DP it when it comes to mass murderers and political leaders like Pol Pot or the people responsible for the genocides in Rwanda and Bosnia. And it would not be a deterrent. it would be removing them from society permanently.

Like I' said, I'm conflicted about it when it gets to be so great a scale.

[piedmont]

20. Yes. nt

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

21. If the answer is "yes". Then the question becomes "does anybody really deserve to live?"

If so, what are the qualifications?

[Az]

22. The concept of someone deserving to die is an emotional backlash

It comes from the nature of how we learn things. We learn by copying. We teach by demonstrating. When someone does something wrong we first try to show them the right way to do it. But if they fail to learn from that and what they are doing causes someone harm we presume they do not understand the harm they are causing and thus we try to cause them harm similar to what they are causing so that they may understand it.

In the case of an emotional reaction to a harm that is so overwhelming we often come to the conclusion that the perpetrator deserves to die as that is the only way to convey to them the degree of harm they have caused others. Of course this does not achieve the purpose intended as once dead a person stops learning much of anything.

No one deserves to die. Once a dangerous person is held and controlled there is no need to kill them. Confinement suffices. Killing them teaches them nothing. Even in the case of killing someone while defending yourself the attacker does not deserve to die. But it may be necessary in such a case.

[backscatter712]

23. Maybe for lying to start a war that killed 1.2 million people.

If there are any crimes in the world that deserve the death penalty, maybe it's that one.

[liberalsoldier5]

24. See Osama bin Laden.

N/T.

[Gabi Hayes]

25. how about 'deserves to be waterboarded every day of their lives?'

until they tell the truth about what they've done in our name?

[LostInAnomie]

26. Not sure, but I do know that there are hundreds if not thousands of people...

... that would make the world a better place if they were dead.

[Forkboy]

27. Yes, some deserve to, but we shouldn't be the ones to make that decision AND carry it out.

I prefer that the people who deserve to die off themselves.

[LWolf]

28. Death is not something that is deserved.

It's inevitable for us all.

Choosing the time, place, or manner for someone's death other than your own is hubris, and is not acceptable.

When it comes to those who harm others, the issue should not be what they deserve, but how to protect the innocent population from harm.