I had this conversation with my fiance a couple days ago. He asked me, "What do you think about the death penalty? Are you for it or against it?" I had to think for a little while.

The PROs: I think people would be less likely to commit a certain crime if they knew that the result would be horrific, or even deadly. In the Middle East, if you are caught thieving, they will chop your hands off. I know this because I saw Aladdin. If I knew that taking an apple would get my hands chopped off, I wouldn't even CONSIDER doing it. Not even if I was starving. Losing a hand > eating an apple. If it were true- an eye for an eye - then NO ONE would commit crimes. If the punishment for rape someone was you getting raped in return, no one would do it (unless you like that kinda stuff :-P)

The CONs: Unless a crowd of people stood there and watched you commit the crime, you really can't be 100% sure. Yeah, all the evidence could point to them and they could find their semen on the body but really, HOW SURE are we? How sure is anyone? I don't think I could live with myself knowing that I sent an innocent man to his death. We HAVE been wrong before. There are innocent people rotting in jail right now. Lethal injection seems like the kindest death possible. We should ALL be so lucky. These death row people MURDERED someone and we're just sticking a needle in their arm and letting them pray to whatever god they found in jail. Sounds like bullshit to me.

That being said, I must say that I am against the death penalty. How about you?

EDIT: Note the sarcasm in the blog. 50% is just for fun. 50% is how I truely feel.