I will be arguing that Capital Punishement is wrong.
Taken from the same website as Kryso it states:
QUOTE
The United States is one of the very few industrialized countries in the world which continues to execute criminals. Further, it is one of a handful of countries in the world which executes mentally ill persons, persons with very low IQ, and child murderers (i.e. persons who were under 18 at the time of their crime).
Statistics taken from
Schitzophrenia Fact and Statistics.
QUOTE
The Prevalance Rate for schizophrenia is approximately 1.1% of the population over the age of 18 (source: NIMH) or, in other words, at any one time as many as 51 million people worldwide suffer from schizophrenia, including;
* 12 million people in China
* 8.7 million people in India
* 2.2 million people in USA
* 285,000 people in Australia
* Over 280,000 people in Canada
* Over 250,000 diagnosed cases in Britain
Rates of schizophrenia are very similar from country to country—about 1 percent of the population.
Statistically the US has have one of the highest Schitzophrenia rates in the world. This making it significantly higher for positive schitzophrenics to commit crimes 'worthy' of the dealth penalty. However, I am only using schitzophrenia as an example. I am using Schitzophrenia as an example for the following reasons:
-There are negative and positive symptoms.
-The person is not always dangerous and can often have control of ones thoughts
I am sure you're generally informed about schitzophrenia but there are some facts which must be taken into account:
Schitzophrenia is a severly debilitating disorder charaterized by 'disturbances of thought, auditory hallucinations and multiple delusions'. At times, people with schitzophrenia have an accurate view of reality and function well in daily life, and at other times, they lose touch with reality, and are not able to care for themselves in even the most basic ways.
As quoted above
QUOTE
The United States is one of a handful of countries in the world which executes mentally ill persons, persons with very low IQ, and child murderers (i.e. persons who were under 18 at the time of their crime).
Surely if a person is mentally ill they are not in touch with reality..and any actions they take are not ones of their own accord...but out of illness. Is it justified to execute a person who has no control over their actions. Surely that's killing an innocent person....not a killer.
Futhermore is the idea that for a human to take a life, they should give their life in return. This is not solving the problem. This is only posponing it.
To take a human life is like ignoring a problem.
Capital Punishement is to stop the spread of killings of a person and to punish them for their deed.
But isnt the only way to reduce murder to understand the murderers. Not kill them?
If we pay more attention to understand the minds of murderers and help them then surely this is more humane than taking their life.
QUOTE
When asked whether they prefer to keep or abolish the death penalty, about 60 to 80% of American adults say that they want to retain capital punishment. Numbers vary depending upon the precise wording of the question asked by the pollsters. When asked whether they would like to see executions continue or have them replaced with a system that guaranteed:
- life imprisonment with no hope for parole, ever;
- that the inmate would work in the prison to earn money;
- that the money would be directed to helping the family of the person(s) that they killed,
60-80% of American Adults said that they would rather retain capital punishment.
This quote taken from
Christian Statistics clearly states that the USA has the highest Christianity rate.
QUOTE
Top 10 Largest National Christian Populations
Rank Nation Number Percent
1 USA 224,457,000 85%
2 Brazil 139,000,000 93%
3 Mexico 86,120,000 99%
4 Russia 80,000,000 60%
5 China 70,000,000 5.7%
6 Germany 67,000,000 83%
7 Philippines 63,470,000 93%
8 UK 51,060,000 88%
9 Italy 47,690,000 90%
10 France 44,150,000 98%
11 Nigeria 38,180,000 45%
The Bible clearly states that you should not kill another human fo rany reason. As 85% of the US is Christain and also 80% of Americans voted to keep Capital Punishment...does this not only go against Christian religion which is an insult and dissrespect to a religion which the US takes pride in...but it's also a contradiction in terms.
My argument is yes, you are correct in that modern DNA and tests will mean that the likelyhood of an innocent person being executed is next to nil however, how can you justify killing a human life without understanding the true nature of the crime and the killer. Not only this, but I feel that taking a life for a life does not bring justice.
Whether a person is guilty or innocent plays no part...the fact is the number of factors related are ignored.
I'm arguing that not only does the dealth penalty not bring justice but it's an insult to each and every religion. No matter what the DNA results you are still taking a human life.
Sorry if this introduction was too long or if it's a big scetchy. This is my first debate and it's 4am in the morning. I'm great with speach debates....but when it comes to the computer I realise how different it is not saying it.