The death penalty should be illegal in the united states.

Let the race continue. "I'll begin by pointing out that what the "Lord" said should be completely irrelevant to this debate. Since we do not live in a theocracy, the laws of the U.S. Constitution should prevail: there is a mandatory separation between Church and State." My opponent has avoided the question because she has no answer. There will be some instances where situations come up that are "irrelevant to this debate." "One argument in favor of the death penalty is that people who intentionally and maliciously deprive another of their right to life open themselves up in justice to any proportional punishment. In other words, the answer to your first point is that the death penalty "accomplishes" justice." Yes and yet another question avoided. What gives us the right to kill anyone? What/who does it benefit when we kill people because they break the law? "Since we now have advanced technology and DNA testing in addition to a whole bunch of other crime scene investigation resources, we can now effectively eliminate almost all uncertainty as to a person's guilt or innocence. In the cases where we can, the death penalty should be an option." This doesn't mean that over half or a "good" amount of people are not wrongly convicted. If our technology is so advanced, then why are these people still being told "they did it" when they didn't? I'm not asking for 100% of the people in jail to be guilty. I'm saying that when some of these people are getting the death penalty and they know they didn't do it.....its a problem. How would you feel if you were put in that Electric Chair? Your friend? I understand where you come from, justice needs to be delivered, but if even if that present you receive looks good on the outside, it really wont matter when that time bomb inside goes off. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ -First, utilizing the death penalty can provide a source of comfort or closure to a victim's family. You stated that eliminating the death penalty as an option is seemingly showing more sympathy for the killer than it is for the victim or their families. Death isn't like a concert (a good thing) Either way the "killer" is going to suffer, whether it be sentencing them to life in jail, or just 4 years. How is this not benefiting the family? The killer is getter punished and that all that should matter. What more Do you suggest? You also said the death penalty wasn't about revenge. (justice system) How do the families feel about this one? can you provide a source a story? Now I didn't say the justice system is about revenge, (kinda off subject don't you think? this is about the death penalty. told you it would come around. :) "bargaining chip in the plea bargain process" explain please. Many times the killers even confess (shortening the process and saving people a lot of work, time, grief and money) simply because they're scared of potentially receiving the death penalty. But what about the awsome justice system? (off subject.) If the system is so great, why do we even need this? "In other words, the answer to your first point is that the death penalty "accomplishes" justice." Explain how. Onward :] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For my (new) first contention, The prisoner's family must suffer from seeing their loved one put to death by the state, as well as going through the emotionally-draining appeals process. You mentioned that the parents of the one who was killed ("") would suffer. Now I point out that the victim that is receiving the death penalty has a family. His or her family still know that it may be so that they committed a crime. But does congress consider the other side? Second contention: 2 wrongs don't make a right, To kill because someone killed is not right. You may have attempted to address this, but failed to provide an accurate response. Answer this, how is killing someone because they killed justice? Third contention: Death is actually a better punishment than they deserve. Depending the way it is set up, death is/can be a painfulness punishment. If your just dying, you get away from the brutal punishment you really deserve. Isn't that what you want? You and your families? In conclusion, the death penalty isn't helping, its just showing what we as America have come down to. We haven't learned yet that "and eye for an eye" is wrong. Teachers always tell us if we are hit, don't hit them back? Same goes for the killing, just at a more extreme level. Hoping for a good debate, man this took me so long to write. :]