The death penalty, like abortion, presents us with some tough issues. This article is to present these issues for discussion in the forum; I'm not offering solutions, that's up to you.

Why did I bring up abortion in an article about the death penalty? I'm glad you asked. I do this in order to compare the ideas of Conservatives and liberals on these issues. Let's make note up front that all Conservatives may not agree 100% with the general Conservative views and not all liberals may agree 100% with the general liberal views.

Sure, I'm going to offer some opinion (though no conclusions) on this; this is after all, commentary.

Let's start with the general liberal views. They believe that it is wrong to put a convicted criminal to death. In contrast, they also believe that it is okay to take the life of an unborn child. I don't get it.

Next, let's look at the general Conservative views. Conservatives believe that it is okay to take the life of a convicted criminal. Conservatives also believe that it is wrong to take the life of an unborn child. This makes more sense to me. At least the person being put to death here has been convicted of doing something very wrong. But . . .

Is it still right to take another person's life?

Is it an eye for an eye or thou shall not kill?

With the growing uncertainty in the legal system can we be sure we won't be putting an innocent person to death? The number of people that are convicted only to be found innocent (sometimes after years in prison) seems to be on the rise.

On the other hand, if we repeal the death penalty, will we make would be murderers less fearful of committing such crimes?

Just so that we don't start the discussion with some of the same old questions:

If someone killed a member of your family, wouldn't you want them to be killed? -- Sure, I would, as would most anyone faced with the same situation.

If someone in your family was convicted of murder, wouldn't you want their life spared? -- Sure I would, as would most anyone faced with the same situation.

Okay, with that said, hash it out in the Rant Forum!

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