As the saying goes, "an eye for an eye makes the world go blind"...

It is always an antagonism, to kill someone for killing. But I must admit, the older I get the more often I could accept the death penalty in cases, which are clearly proven and without any doubt - as it is the case with the killer in Norway, who took a lot of lifes and still thinks, he was right.

1. The problem with death penalty only is, that it also is used in cases, where the guilt is not that clear. Imagine the horrors to be caught in such a nightmare, if you are innocent and everybody wants to see you dead. The moral of a society that accepts such cases as kind of "collateral damage" is not better than a killer's moral.

2. What even makes it worse is, that the death penalty frequently is used to get rid of people with different political opinions.

3. There is no doubt, that the worst regimes kill the most people. I just took a look at the numbers of 2009:
China disclosed about 1700, it was estimated, that the real number was about 5000.
Iran: about 388
Iraq: about 120
Saudi Arabia: 69
USA: 52
Yemen: about 30

Looking at these "charts" is like looking at a list of underdeveloped countries - refering to their judicial systems.

Try empathizing with victims. Put yourself in their shoes. Imagine someone has killed a number of your family members. Would that change your opinion?

I feel that there are crimes that must be attoned for.

Instead of killing them, form a penal legion and send it to the front, or start making Soilent Green. Let them serve a purpose greater than themselves.

I do not think that the death penalty acts as a deterrent at all. If murderers were considering the consequences of their actions, they would not have murdered in the first place.

I believe it is more of a punishment and a reprieve for the victims families.

The most civilised nations do not adhere to the death penalty and they have some of the lowest murder rates in the world. Hopefully some of these murderers who would otherwise be murdered themselves (as capital punishment) over a life of incarceration, should seek repentance before their last days to maybe save their soul. Even though they denied that to their victims, maybe if they themselves are truely sorry and make up for it some way, they will be doing a service to the souls that they had so callously taken.

have any of you ever been to jail or prison? talked to someone doing life? Well I have and I think prison and the death penalty are useless. When we look back on the state of affairs 100 years from now we will be ashamed. Prison keeps me from committing crimes. What it doesn't keep me from doing is defending myself in a life threatening situation, which for me resulted in jail time. Innocent people hang all the time, death penalty or not. The best solution I can come up with is a prison state of territory set aside for outcasts/murderers, which still would lead to innocent men being forced to someone else's will. When I think of a family member being killed I am in favor of the death penalty. When I think of doing life in prison myself, I am in favor of the death penalty. But when a man who claims innocence is killed by the death penalty it angers me. The death penalty should have to be acceptable to the person who is being killed. If someone offered me life in prison or death, I would choose death. If someone offered me life in prison, death, or outcast into prisoner territory, I would become an outcast.