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Death penalty: “Aren’t we murderers too …?”

An execution room for the firing squad in Utah

In the state of Missouri (USA), a 52-year-old man was executed by lethal injection for double murder, although numerous prison officials would have been in favor of life imprisonment. A contract killer was also executed in Alabama in January by injecting him with nitrogen through a face mask. Serbia's President Vucik has now called for the reintroduction of this punishment in light of the death of a two-year-old. Read here what "Krone" readers think about the death penalty and its possible reintroduction!

110 percent certainty necessary
Dotterblume88 generally considers execution to be a perfectly justifiable punishment. However, with this form of punishment, one must be more than just certain that the person charged is actually responsible for the crime. In her opinion, extreme caution must therefore be exercised when making this final decision. 

On a par with murderers
Gerky emphasizes that she is glad that the death penalty is a thing of the past in Europe: "Paying back like for like does not bring back the people killed by murder!". By carrying out this punishment, we put ourselves on the same level as murderers. Iri-Hor also finds no justification for killing another person - even if they have committed murder. Moreover, it obviously does not act as a deterrent to committing crimes, as can be seen from the crime rate in the USA. 

"Remorse does not bring the dead back to life"
 Ginamayla is one of the proponents of the death penalty. Remorse felt afterwards, as in the case of the man killed by lethal injection, does not bring the victims back to life. Moreover, he knew what awaited him in his home country if he committed such a crime. derdiktator50 also notes that an execution would be cheaper overall for a state than feeding prisoners for years. And Dotterblume88 again intervenes with the objection that caution is better than leniency in some cases. 

Inhumane for whom? 
 Particularly in view of the objections from human rights organizations that such a punishment is inhumane, there are again clear positions among our readers.ibindermeinung argues that the perpetrators would actually receive a painless punishment, while their victims are often not given such "kindness". GegenEUdikt concludes that it is not actually the killing itself that is inhumane, but rather the fact that convicts often have to wait years for the execution and thus for their own death. 

What do you think about the death penalty?Doyou see its execution as retribution in the sense of "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth" or as justice? Does this put those responsible on the same level as an imprisoned murderer? Share your opinion with us in the comments!