A dozen reasons to vote against the death penalty:
- The Death Penalty Is Not An Effective Criminal Deterrent - Crime has not decreased since capital punishment was reinstated in the late 1970s. Moreover, states without the death penalty have much lower murder rates. The South accounts for 80% of US executions and has the highest regional murder rate.
- The Death Penalty Risks The Killing of Innocent People – The United States judicial system is not flawless, we stand a huge risk of killing innocent people. If we allow a corrupt system to execute innocent people every citizen is held responsible for those deaths.
- You Are Responsible - As a member of our society you hold equal weight in determining whether we as a state should kill in your name.
- DNA Evidence Is Not Infallible - Sloppy lab work and ill-trained staffs have lead to many cases of contaminated evidence; eleven people in Oklahoma have been executed based on contaminated DNA evidence.
- The Death Penalty Costs More - Death penalty cases cost far more than life without parole. After appeals, expert witnesses, and lab tests a death penalty case can cost up to 90 million dollars. A number of US counties have gone bankrupt because of a single death penalty case.
- Death Penalty Is Racist and Classist - African Americans account for over 40% of the death row population, while they are only 12% of the total US population. Most people on death row are poor and uneducated and often cannot afford quality legal assistance.
- The Death Penalty Is Unnecessary - Wisconsin has recently enacted tougher sentencing requirements for murder cases making the death penalty unnecessary; the sentence of life without parole guarantees no further crimes will be committed.
- The United States Is One Of The World’s Leading Executioners – The United States execution total puts us in a category with countries like China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Vietnam.
- The Death Penalty Is Inhumane - The current method of lethal injection used on death row prisoners is so inhumane that even veterinarians don’t use it to put animals to sleep.
- The Death Penalty Is A Violation Of Medical Ethics – According to doctors code of medical ethics assisting with an execution would breach the code.
H/T NoDeathPenaltyWI
Other Wisconsin bloggers talking about the death penalty vote
Some Walk Out Of Mass Due To Bishops Statement - The Cafeteria is closed : ..Catholics don’t HAVE to oppose the death penalty. In recent years, there’s been strong opposition to it, eg John Paul II. inserted strong language into the Catechism, but it’s not intrinsically wrong. In RCIA, a deacon told us, “You can’t be Catholic and not oppose the death penalty.” One of the more rare absolute statements I heard in the “process”.
Vote Yes for Justice - GOP3.Com: ..I am voting (actually, already have voted absentee) YES on the death penalty referendum advisory question.. (this same blog proudly sports a “ProLife” badge)
WI Voters to Decide on Death Penalty - TalkLeft: Wisconsin has not had the death penalty for 150 years. Somehow, it’s back on the ballot this November…
Ultimate penalty on the ballot in Wisconsin - titusonenine: ..It was 155 years ago when more than 2,000 people in Kenosha, Wis., watched John McCaffry dangle from a noose, writhing for several minutes before his body went limp..
PUBLIC OPINION: Wisconsin Voters Favor Life Without Parole Over Death Penalty - Death Penalty Information Center: ..In a recent University of Wisconsin Badger Poll, more respondents favored a sentence of life without parole rather than the death penalty. Only 45% supported capital punishment, while 50% favored life sentences..
The current method of lethal injection used on death row prisoners is so inhumane that even veterinarians don’t use it to put animals to sleep.
Good. Some people don’t deserve to die as humanely as animals. I do believe that the death penalty should only be used in the most extreme murder and rape cases, the guilt of the accused is irrefutably concrete and all due process has been exhausted. But provided that the above criteria are met… Let ‘em have it! You can’t convince me that parasitic scum like Tookie Williams or Steven Avery deserve to live.
Personally, I don’t think the term “irrefutable” exists in our legal system. There have been too many errors - - our courts are not infallable. Just ONE story of an innocent being put to death is one too many.
consider this:
What YOU think.. .or the JURY thinks about irrefutable evidence may not be the whole story.
If you can live with even one innocent person being put to death for a crime they did not commit - all in the name of killing the guilty… then that lives in your conscious. I won’t have it living on mine.
Hey, by the way… Death penalty aside, I couldn’t agree more with you in your “about” section. I too voted for Bush, but after the last two years I’ve all but given up on the Republican Party. I’m no Democrat and I’m no liberal. I still feel the same as I always have about the litmus test issues like taxes, abortion, gun rights, family values and the new big one - border security. But I honestly don’t feel like the Republicans deep down share my hopes and values much more than the Dems. I did vote today, and I did vote a straight GOP ticket - but only because of the alternatives, not because I really support the candidates themselves. And honestly, I’ve pretty much given up on Iraq too. I’ve kept pretty quiet about that on my blog though, so as not to aid the left in demoralizing the troops we’ll they’re still have over there and fighting for their lives. Hopefully things will get better, but this has been a really long six years looking back. I’ll just be glad when it’s over.
Thanks for linking me (Holstein Grove). I’ll be sure to add you to my links page this evening.
Thank you, John! I’m brand new to the blogsphere.. well, at least this blog is new. I’m no Democrat or liberal, either - - but certainly am no Republican. At least, not anymore.
this election season has been a mess. I, too, will be glad when it’s over.
I think that Wisconsin should not have a death penalty because it is
not be right to take people life’s. How would you feel if they had your
son was to death row for something that he did not do? You
know that you would think that’s not right. I think God said if it is time
then let it be for me. We should not kill God people because in god eyes
we are all brother and sister. People should not kill people because we
all have the right to live. A person should not be put to death because it
can happen to one of your kids and you well not be happy.
Some people don’t deserve to die as humanely as animals. I do believe
that the death penalty should only be used in the most extreme murder
and rape cases, the guilt of the accused is irrefutably concrete and all
due process has been exhausted. But provided that the above criteria
are met… Let ‘em have it! You can’t convince me that parasitic scum
like Tookie Williams or Steven Avery deserve to live.