17 replies to this topic

[mzwebfreak]

Saw this article today, and was wondering what the views on this board were about this kind of subject. Do you agree/disagree with the death penalty for teenagers? Do you agree/disagree with the death penalty as it stands in the US at all? Would love to hear some feedback on this topic.

[talbotda13]

Well i would rather see the death penalty for teenagers. If they can kill people then they should gat the ddeath penalty if they kill more than 2 people. now as for the death penalty as it stands in the US. I think they should keep it which i pretty much know they are going to. but if you can commit a crime that involves raping someone or alot of people, or murdering people then i think they should go to the front of the line instead of waiting. most of the people now days that are sentenced to death by lethal injection die from the waiting in the prison cell. In my honest opinion i think that more states need to have the death penalty

[NotoriousZach]

I cant say, I think that sort of thing depends on the crime....Which I guess would mean I do agree, but I think it would have to be an extreme crime. A girl at my school a year or two ago got angry with her fathe before she went to school one morning. That afternoon when she got home she loaded his shotgun, took it outside made sure she knew how to use it and waited for him to return home from work later that evening. As he walked into his home she shot him in the chest killing him instantly. She took the money from his wallet, his credit cards, and his checkbook, And took off towards the mall. She was 16 years old when that happened, she is now 17 or 18 I assume. I saw in the paper she will go up on trial or something in the next week or so and she may face the death penalty. Now, tell me should that recieve the death penalty. This was a normal girl, who I had known and spoken to....She got mad at her dad over something that was probably insignificant....She obviously thought about it over the day then went home and prepared for his death. That deserves the death penalty if you ask me, it was COMPLETELY premeditated and out right cold hearted. How could you shoot a family member, muchless your father. I know I might as well get this out because someone will say it.....Well what if her father beat her or abused her...Then she should have called DHS, or Social Services or whoever, told a school councelor. There were many other ways of fixing that problem.. I was in a class with her and never noticed any suspicious activity from her, she never looked bruised on the face or anything. I dont know if it is just me but things just dont seem rihgt.. She will now most likely be in prison for the rest of her life....Now you tell me do you think a teen deserves the death penalty?

[the_furious1]

I don't believe that death penalty should exist at all. No matter how big the crime somebody has committed, anybody who kills that person is committing another crime!!!
I believe that person can change (that does not happen a lot of times, but it happens) and can do something good after that. In another words everybody deserves another chance!!!
Life sentence is the solution!

[mzwebfreak]

Ya know, I put up this link and asked these questions, and forgot to answer them myself. I believe that Justice Kennedy, who wrote the majority opinion, was right on the money when he said

Quote

many juveniles lack maturity and intellectual development to understand the ramifications of their actions.  The age of 18 is the point where society draws the line for many purposes between childhood and adulthood. It is, we conclude, the age at which the line for death eligibility ought to rest.

I believe that should be the case. In the example above about the young girl, it simply illustrates his point- these 16 year old girls get all bent out of shape, probably because Daddy wouldn't let them go out to a party or something. And, since most teenage girls think their life will end if they don't get their way, feel that, according to their version of logic and reason, they have no other alternative but to make Daddy pay.

Now, as for the death penalty in general, I believe that the way it's set up in the separate states right now (i.e. multiple murders) works just fine. For example, if Lee Boyd Malvo, the younger of the two DC snipers, had been over 18 when he'd committed those crimes, I believe that, in such a case as that, he should pay for the lives he took with his own.

[NotoriousZach]

Quote

I don't believe that death penalty should exist at all. No matter how big the crime somebody has committed, anybody who kills that person is committing another crime!!!
I believe that person can change (that does not happen a lot of times, but it happens) and can do something good after that. In another words everybody deserves another chance!!!
Life sentence is the solution!

So you believe a serial killer who kills 30-40 people, then rapes the young weman shouldn't recieve the death penalty. Yeh lets give them another chance........I think not

[Dooga]

Put yourself in their shoes. They must have a problem if they kill 40 people, and do you think they're happy? They need councelling not an injection! (But they can problably escape from the plea of insanity... I mean it's the US right? I'm joking, but they probably could, because they probably are insane...)

[JaVe]

Death penalty should be for foetusses for all i care; if any being can conciously make the decision to kill someone else, they deserve death! Don't give that temporary insanity crap or that human rights crap. Death penalty should come to holland.

[spiderink]

JaVe, on Mar 3 2005, 05:39 AM, said:

Death penalty should be for foetusses for all i care; if any being can conciously make the decision to kill someone else, they deserve death!  Don't give that temporary insanity crap or that human rights crap.  Death penalty should come to holland.

What about that five/six year old kid a while back? He probably didn't understand death yet. I didn't know teens could get the death penalty before. Teens may kill someone in the heat of the moment, but isn't that true for everyone? In any case, the death penalty is essentially revenge. I don't know whether I agree with it or not. To receive the death penalty, the person should understand death first. If they know what it's like to lose someone and understand that death is final and terrible for loved ones, and then they commit premeditated murder, then I suppose they do truly deserve it.

[eiteljoh]

i think the death penalty should only apply to adults, i guess over 18 years old. there's a lot of study's done about age, and you can't make good judgement about anything when your brain is still maturing - basically you don't know what you are doing.

since the death penalty is really a "final judgement", i think it would be wrong to give this punishment to people who are really kids. kind of sad, actually.