Capital Punishment

I would now like to quote my opponent and make counterarguments. ========================================== "The death penalty is not cruel and unusual. It is clearly straightforward and not painful. The first step takes away any feeling you could possibly have. " How is it clearly straightforward and not painful? The first step does not take away the feeling of pain. The source my opponent provided states: "Execution by lethal injection may not be the painless procedure most Americans assume, say researchers from Florida and Virginia. They examined post-mortem blood levels of anaesthetic and believe that prisoners may have been capable of feeling pain in almost 90% of cases and may have actually been conscious when they were put to death in over 40% of cases. " The title of the article my opponent provided is "Execution by injection far from painless. " My opponent's source completely supports my side. The source provides evidence that contradicts my opponent's own point. Clearly, the death penalty is painful and does not take away possible feeling in all instances. ====================================== "My opponent is lead to believe that the death penalty is involved in racism. The fact that more blacks are executed than whites is due to the fact that there are more blacks than whites in NC. And that Cali study is incorrect, if they let a black run this country, they certainly wouldn't discriminate (racially) who gets executed. " I believe my opponent has misinterpreted my argument. I gave arguments as to why the death penalty is involved with discrimination in its cases and trials. It was more of an argument regarding discrimination. My source provided a study on race and validly concluded that there was discrimination and unfairness involved with trials that ended up with a sentence of capital punishment. This ultimately leads the death penalty to be unfair for all people and not acceptable in the United States, for discrimination is seemingly involved. My opponent's reference to Obama is irrelevant because this debate only refers to capital punishment. I incorporated African Americans into the discussion only to prove a point. ======================================== "Financial Factors: The d. p. does not cost more in necessarily all states, in TN it costs more to be thrown in jail for life rather than to be executed so therefore; your statement is exaggerated. " My opponent has created an innacurate argument. The source provided by my opponent reveals that in Tennessee, a study finds the death penalty both costly and ineffective. My opponent's source breaks the death penalty into some separate studies in states, and many of the studies say that the death penalty is much more costly than life in prison. One paragraph from my opponent's source states: "The average cost of defending a trial in a federal death case is $620,932, about 8 times that of a federal murder case in which the death penalty is not sought. A study found that those defendants whose representation was the least expensive, and thus who received the least amount of attorney and expert time, had an increased probability of receiving a death sentence. Defendants with less than $320,000 in terms of representation costs (the bottom 1/3 of federal capital trials) had a 44% chance of receiving a death sentence at trial. On the other hand, those defendants whose representation costs were higher than $320,000 (the remaining 2/3 of federal capital trials) had only a 19% chance of being sentenced to death. Thus, the study concluded that defendants with low representation costs were more than twice as likely to receive a death sentence. " My opponent's source once again heavily helps my side and is detrimental to his. Plus, a quote on my opponent's source stated that the death penalty in Maryland cost more than life term. ===================================== "Public Opinion: NOTE: This is in MAY of 2006! 80% down to 65%, this is still over half, not everyone voted. PLEASE NOTE THIS LINK AND LOOK AT PICTURES ON THE SITE. " My opponent's source states that the voting in the polls took place on November 16, 2004. This is much more outdated than my source and should take back seat to the one I provided. My source provided evidence that death penalty approval is slipping and becoming less acceptable in the America's eyes. ====================================== "Now to rebuttal his contentions. .. He says its cruel, again, it is not cruel and I stated how earlier in my argument. Second, Everyone does have a right to live but you are a religious person, correct? Methodist! " Earlier in my argument, I counterargued my opponet's source and showed it to prove that the death penalty is both cruel and unfair. My opponent concedes that everyone does have a right to live. Since the death penalty takes away the convicted's right to live, then my opponent contradicts his position for this debate and has once again given an argument to my side. I am a Christian, but that does not mean I believe everything in the Bible is true. So what if my opponent gave bible verses that support capital punishment? That does not necessarily make it acceptable. My opponent has not proven that the Bible is a valid source to use in the debate, so no rebuttal is necessary. So the Bible supports the death penalty? That does not make it right or acceptable. One of God's commandments is "thou shalt not kill. " The death penalty kills. I have just proven the Bible to prove my side as well, so it is not an accurate source for this discussion. ================================= "Innocence: 135 ppl since 1973, and some were found guilty later on and the majority of the ones found innocent were, black. Hmmmmm. " My opponent does not use these statistics to make a point or a contention, so no rebuttal is necessary. My opponent does not provide a source for these statistics, so they are not backed up. My opponent needed to clarify what he was arguing with this quote, and unfortunately, he did not. ================================== "Actual punishment: It is actual, it's real and it's death. Which scares others to commit murders and is also doing what God would want us to do. Just open the my links. " It does not necessarily scare others from commiting murders. The sources I provided showed that the death penalty does not act as a deterrent to murder. My opponent has not backed up his claim with evidence, so it holds no water. Is it really what God would want us to do? God does not want us to kill, and yet the death penalty involves killing. My opponent again fails to make a coherent argument about this. What are "the my links"? I proved most of my opponent's sources either having evidence to support my side or not even relevant to the debate. ============================================ My opponent has not addressed many of my contentions. I have also proved his contentions either useless or unwarranted. In addition, I provided arguments as to why his sources either support my position or are invalid. I heavily urge a Con vote. I thank my opponent for the debate and the readers for this opportunity. I heavily urge a Con vote.