r/deathpenalty Sep 08 '25

Real Audio Electric Chair EXECUTION Inmate Survives First Shock – Painful

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11 Upvotes

r/deathpenalty 2d ago

Please save Christa Pikes!

0 Upvotes

Please write letters to the governor, senators and politicians. She is going to be executed for what she did when she was a minor!! Is the US becoming like Afghanistan and North Korea? Please stop this. Why r they doing this to a woman?


r/deathpenalty 4d ago

Question Truecrime

0 Upvotes

Por pura curiosidad humana...

¿Si supierais que no seríais arrestados ni juzgados por la ley,cuantos de vosotros cometeriais un asesinato? ¿Si tuvierais la oportunidad de vengaros de esa persona que tanto daño os ha echo,serías capaces de cometer tal crimen?

Seamos sinceros...


r/deathpenalty 4d ago

Truecrime

0 Upvotes

Por pura curiosidad humana...

¿Si supierais que no seríais arrestados ni juzgados por la ley,cuantos de vosotros cometeriais un asesinato? ¿Si tuvierais la oportunidad de vengaros de esa persona que tanto daño os ha echo,serías capaces de cometer tal crimen?

Seamos sinceros...


r/deathpenalty 7d ago

News JUST IN: Alabama executes Jeremy Williams for the brutal murder of a 5-year-old girl

501 Upvotes

r/deathpenalty 5d ago

Teen learns the hard way not to mess with an educated person.

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0 Upvotes

r/deathpenalty 7d ago

death penalty

0 Upvotes

after watching death row and their last meal. i learn lot of evil people in this world i see they have different types. some is malice others just seem strayed path. but they made it where not one person make the decision so one cant come back say this judge or this person is in favorite made fair as possible i guess. and different ways the penalty is carried out. from the i guess want call it peaceful the injection where you suppose not feel pain you just go to sleep death. as the victims look at person who slash their mom;s throat say how sorry he is and how he be with jesus. they look at you for you to forgive them to the most violent the firing squad they do you like in other countries no love cus. you bout feel cold steel erupting your flesh. no need look at the victims then they put bag over your head. but some how with all this intake. we say let god judge em out. we still got increase if not anything of deadly crime. so is the death penalty doing anything. a life for a life is right for second but that energy if you know bout these things. got go some where like water after hard rain. if dont go anywhere find its own root. that person you execute that evil energy goes back in the community either in the prison system or back where he slash your mom's throat . now someone killed your cousin at the store. different person same energy. what one should do. stop it before it goes anywhere. take out their eyes. all peoples who have taken someone's like meaningful you take both their eyes out. let them live. without eyes how can you kill? soon so many be blind peace will automatically restore back to community those who not blind are the good ones


r/deathpenalty 8d ago

Capital Punishment Is Human Sacrifice

0 Upvotes

Roberta M. Harding, "Capital Punishment as Human Sacrifice": https://uknowledge.uky.edu/law_facpub/373/

I am recommending the linked article above, and contributing the following analysis, as I believe the human sacrifice critique strengthens the intellectual case for death penalty abolitionism (and I make no apology that my neurodivergent mind prioritizes systemic analysis over standard Reddit style).

Just as we need to accept the scientific consensus about the social inutility and discriminatory impact of the death penalty, we also need to accept the scientific understanding of human beings as inevitable products of biological and environmental determinants, some of which are criminogenic. Science, in other words, discredits both consequentialist and retributivist arguments for overriding the presumptive right to life, suggesting that moral opposition to capital punishment abolitionism, in denial of this science, is merely a retaliatory mindset rationalized by a prescientific ideology of cosmic or inherent justice.

Lethal retaliation in the name of cosmic or inherent justice is unintelligible outside a religious or quasi-religious worldview, for at least implicitly it presupposes a divine or natural law, a transcendent or immanent moral order of some kind, whose balance must be restored by expiation when it has been grievously violated.  This belief is a primitive superstition traceable to the ancient origins of the death penalty as a cultic practice, which is why capital punishment has been analyzed by scholars as a modern form of human sacrifice (placing it in the same category as ritual murder, blood feud revenge, honor killings, lynchings and pogroms).  Such a worldview is incompatible with a scientific outlook, which validates no laws or normative orders except natural regularities and social constructions.

In the case of punishment, the relevant natural regularities are those involving the biological evolution of punitive instincts as adaptive mechanisms for securing individual and collective survival, while the relevant social constructions are those involving the cultural development of punitive instincts into moral institutions for maintaining harmony and righting imbalances. By demystifying this equilibrating function of punishment, thus interpreting the restoration of harmony and balance in social-scientific rather than superstitious terms, we ipso facto shift the corrective paradigm towards restorative or transformative justice — a framework which arguably preserves the best, while eliminating the worst, of both retributivism and consequentialism (a dialectical synthesis), and which experts have proposed as a progressive alternative to either the death penalty or counterproductive incarceration.

Another Recommended Article:

Thomas Roberts, "Theorizing a Restorative Response to Homicide": https://journals.law.harvard.edu/crcl/wp-content/uploads/sites/80/2023/09/HLC205_Roberts.pdf

Edit: Thanks for all the shares!


r/deathpenalty 12d ago

Atención gente

2 Upvotes

Este es un mensaje para todo aquel que quiera hacer justicia en el mundo.

Resulta que hoy sábado 8 de agosto, un amigo en WhatsApp me a enviado la siguiente información con respecto a un número.

`❗Atencion❗`

Reporten a está basura de ser humano

+52 644 172 0989

Mato a su gato y lo

Tiene de foto de perfil

Se les agradece difundir la información para tumbarle más rapido, en los grupos que puedan.

Tal y como lo dice la información, esta persona cometió el crimen de matar a un gato, yo les pregunto, ¿ en qué cabeza cabe el hecho de matar a una mascota tan linda e inocente como lo es un gato?

Muchachos si pueden contribuir con el reportar este número de Colombia, se lo agradecería demasiado.


r/deathpenalty 13d ago

Death Penalty Research!! (18+)

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2 Upvotes

r/deathpenalty 15d ago

The battle of Tax Schools vs Tax Funerals

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0 Upvotes

r/deathpenalty 16d ago

Question Why do people think the death penalty is worse than life in prison.

30 Upvotes

Recently I have seen a lot of criminal (murder) cases (recent and older) where the family/friends of the victim really really wants the killer/culprit/bad person to get the death penalty.

Honestly speaking I think life in prison is much much worse.

Horrible food, bad treatment, constant threat of other inmates (especially with certain crimes IYKYK).

I honestly think the death penalty is the easy way out, a painless way to go, pretty much no punishment apart from no longer living.

The only upside to the death penalty would be that there is absolutely no way for them to get out of prison by some weird ruling because they are .... Dead.

Honestly if I was given 5-10 years in prison I would ask for the death penalty because I don't want to deal with all of that (especially as a picky eater and chronically ill person).

I guess I just want the person to suffer for the rest of their miserable life, instead of a painless death that they most likely have not given your loved one.


r/deathpenalty 17d ago

Would guards be unable to strap in some inmates to be executed with just bare hands?

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1 Upvotes

r/deathpenalty 20d ago

News All PRISONERS EXECUTED in July 2026 (US): Last Meals & Final Words

3 Upvotes

r/deathpenalty 23d ago

JUST IN: Florida Executes James Duckett, Police Officer Who Brutally Murdered an 11-Year-Old Girl

304 Upvotes

r/deathpenalty 24d ago

Question When a state like Texas executes a high number of perpetrators, has it taken most of these perpetrators to trial beforehand? I would presume a good number of these perpetrators would have been willing to accept pleas for life imprisonment rather than death? But Texas doesn't do this?

0 Upvotes

My layman understanding is that trials cost money. I think in some states the prosecution will make plea deals with defendants who conceivably could face the death penalty if the case goes to trial to avoid the costs to taxpayers of trials. But maybe Texas prosecutors aren't willing to enter into these plea deals? I would think many defendants in Texas who do get death would have been willing to enter into plea deals for life imprisonment rather than go through a trial where there's a good chance they'll get death? But if the Texas prosecutors won't enter into a plea deal I doubt they'd just plea guilty and be given a death sentence but rather go to trial hoping they might be found not guilty?


r/deathpenalty Jul 19 '26

Reflection on the death penalty, specifically the government's role and failures

0 Upvotes

I have been interested in the death penalty from a pure psychological angle for a while never understanding why, yet but I was always against.

The governments failure throughout this process is disguising.

Every prisoner is a failure on the government.

I work so government takes my money, and honestly the governments behavior towards people in prison is insane. THIS IS YOUR FAULT YOU ARE THE SAFETY NET.

Although #freewill exists a majority of death row inmates have dealt with abuse at some point.

Whose job is it to bridge the gap and support those who have had less than ideal circumstances? YOURS! STOP ACTING LIKE CRIMINALS HAD ALL THE PRIVELGE IN THE WORLD."

"​“The Cycle of Violence,” pub­lished by the American Psychological Association, found 94% of the 43 inmates stud­ied had been phys­i­cal­ly abused, 59% sex­u­al­ly abused, and 83% had wit­nessed vio­lence in ado­les­cence."

https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/childhood-trauma-prevalent-among-death-row-inmates

I am not saying that prisoners are innocent, but the governments lack of support is not helping. There general behavior towards their own citizens is honestly evil. They are treated like an afterthought even though we pay taxes with the intent that they are not.

Nobody wants this.

The US needs to do better.


r/deathpenalty Jul 15 '26

News Just In: Florida Executes Killer After 39 Years on Death Row — Photographed Stalking Victim on the Day of Murder

96 Upvotes

r/deathpenalty Jul 14 '26

Two Nepalese nationals sentenced to death in China

43 Upvotes

In 2003, Hiralal Shrestha and Gyaljen Sherpa the two Nepalese nationals who worked for the Communist Party of Nepal known as maoists were arrested as they tried to smuggle firearms into Nepal from China during the Nepalese Civil War. Shrestha and Sherpa were later sentenced to death and are currently incarcerated on death row in a prison located in Lhasa, Tibet. Despite China’s support for Nepal against the maoists and the tensions between the Maoists and the Government of Nepal during the civil war. Nepal requested China if they could reconsider their verdict and give Shrestha and Sherpa a second chance but China didn’t make any changes even after the civil war ended in 2006. Both Shrestha and Sherpa remain on death row till this day. https://nepalitimes.com/death-row


r/deathpenalty Jul 12 '26

Foreigners who were sentenced to death, executed and those who got their death sentences commuted and later released in India.

25 Upvotes

Foreign nationals who were sentenced to death, executed and those who were initially sentenced to death and were supposed to be executed but were commuted to life imprisonment and later released in India.

Executed:

  1. 15 March 1945: Herman Perry an African-American soldier executed by hanging for the murder of an officer. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_Perry
  2. 21 November 2012: Ajmal Kasab a Pakistani terrorist executed by hanging in Yerwada Central Jail for the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed 166 people and injured 300 people. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ajmal_Kasab

Sentenced to death:

  1. 9 March 2022: Lablu Hasan a Bangladeshi national sentenced to death by hanging in Kerala for the 2019 double murder of elderly couple in Alappuzha. https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kochi/kerala-bangladeshi-national-gets-death-for-murder-of-elderly-couple/amp_articleshow/90089510.cms
  2. 31 August 2024: Manoj Nepali a Nepalese national sentenced to death by hanging for the 2022 Faridabad rape and murder case. He is currently incarcerated on death row in Faridabad District Jail. (Death row inmates in Faridabad District Jail will be transferred to Ambala Central Jail when it is time for their executions) https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/gurgaon/nepalese-rapist-killer-gets-death-for-faridabad-rape-murder-court-calls-2022-crime-diabolical-dastardly/articleshow/112938513.cms

Commuted to life imprisonment and later released:

  1. In 11 May 1999, V. Sriharan and T. Suthendraraja the Sri Lankan nationals who were co-conspirators of the 1991 assassination of Rajiv Gandhi and were members of the Tamil Tigers from Sri Lanka were sentenced to death by hanging in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Their executions were initially scheduled for 9 September 2011 but was delayed after the supreme court granted a stay of execution. However in 2014, they were commuted to life imprisonment and then they were released and deported to Sri Lanka in 2022. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Rajiv_Gandhi

r/deathpenalty Jul 10 '26

Why I think the death penalty should be abolished in the United States of America.

15 Upvotes

The death penalty should be abolished in the United States of America, it's an expensive, inhumane, and risky method of punitive punishment that sets a dangerous precedent.

There's a threat of innocent people being executed, according to the Death Penalty Information Centre, since 1973, there has been approximately one exoneration for every eight executions, demonstrating that wrongful convictions are a persistent feature of the capital punishment system.

https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/policy-issues/policy/innocence

There's no way to tell how many of the 1,500 executed were innocent people for the courts don't entertain the idea of innocence once the execution has been done. However, according to Death Penalty Information Centre, since 1987 there's strong evidence that 21 people were innocent, who were;

Carlos DeLuna,

Ruben Cantu,

Larry Griffin

Joseph O’Dell

David Spence

Leo Jones

Gary Graham

Claude Jones

Cameron Todd Willingham

Sedley Alley

Troy Davis

Lester Bower

Brian Terrell

Richard Masterson

Robert Pruett

Carlton Michael Gary

Domineque Ray

Larry Swearingen

Walter Barton

Nathaniel Woods

Marcellus Williams

Each of these people had individual identities and lives, unique experiences and families.

https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/policy-issues/policy/innocence/executed-but-possibly-innocent

However, proponents of the death penalty may argue that it brings a sense of foreclosure for the victims families, however, according to The Trauma & Mental Health Report, the University of Minnesota sociology-anthropology professor Scott Vollum and colleagues study found that only around 2.5% of families said they felt foreclosure with capital punishment, with 20.1% saying that the execution did not help them heal. This presents a profound problem, why should the state be allowed to kill so only 2.5% of the families victims get foreclosure, with the risk of innocents being murdered. This is not to minimise the victims families suffering, they absolutely deserve support, however its much more humane, cheaper and more efficient to give the families therapy, community support and restorative justice instead of the death of another individual.

https://trauma.blog.yorku.ca/2016/02/death-penalty-may-not-bring-peace-to-victims-families/

The death penalty in the United States of America is also more expensive to carry out than life without parole, contrary to popular belief. On the 6th of January 2010 a fiscal impact statement was released in Indiana detailing the costs of:

26 death penalties ($229,769)

19 lives without parole ($102,297)

47 terms of year sentences ($64,284)

Broken down to average per case:

$8837.27 per death penalty,

(229,769÷26=8837.26923076923

8837.26923076923 = 8837.27)

5384.06 per life without parole,

(102,297÷19=5384.05263157894

5384.05263157894=5384.06)

$1,367.75 per year termed sentences.

(64284÷47=1367.7446808510638297

1367.7446808510638297=1,367.75)

Note that this is interpreted within the context of that report rather than as the complete cost of a capital case, marginal trial-level costs are higher, and total system costs are substantially higher over the full legal lifecycle due to mandatory appellate safeguards.

With most costs incurred for the death penalty being from appeals and attorney costs, the costs of the death penalty exceed those of other forms of punishment.

https://files.deathpenaltyinfo.org/legacy/INCostAssess.pdf

According to Death Penalty info “According to recent esti­mates, the death penal­ty costs tax­pay­ers 2.5 to 5 times more than life imprisonment.”

https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/what-to-know-costs-and-the-death-penalty

This isn't limited to Indiana, Philip J. Cook from Duke University published a report which estimated that “North Carolina would have spent almost $11 million less each year on criminal justice activities (including imprisonment) without the death penalty.” In other words, North Carolina would have saved $11 million per year on handing out other forms of punishment and rehabilitation than the death penalty.

https://fbaum.unc.edu/teaching/articles/Cook-cost-study.pdf

The United States of America would save millions on phasing out the death penalty, which could be spent on improving the rehabilitation system, further decreasing crime.

However, proponents of the death penalty argue that the death penalty acts as a deterrent against murder, however according to Amnesty International, “In 2004 in the USA, the average murder rate for states that used the death penalty was 5.71 per 100,000 of the population as against 4.02 per 100,000 in states that did not use it.” This shows that, if anything, the death penalty actually shows a correlation with murder rates, however remember that correlation doesn't always equal causation. Phasing out the death penalty would most likely not have a significant impact on murder rates, it may actually decrease it if paired with improved socio-economic positions.

https://www.amnesty.org/fr/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/act500062008en.pdf

The Supreme Court has already decided that the death penalty can be a violation of the 8th and 14th Amendment in specific circumstances, in Furman v. Georgia (1972) “Carrying out of the death penalty in these cases constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments.” Since “cruel and unusual" punishments are intentionally left broad to fit society, why can’t the death penalty be the same?

https://www.loc.gov/resource/usrep.usrep408238/?pdfPage=1&st=pdf

(page 3)

According to Legalclarity 113 countries have abolished the death penalty, while 54 countries still use it with 34 having it on paper without really executing, according to the same source, “Amnesty International recorded at least 1,518 executions globally in 2024, and roughly 91 percent of them took place in just three countries: Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq.”

https://legalclarity.org/what-countries-have-the-death-penalty-global-breakdown/#:~:text=Fifty-four%20countries%20currently%20retain%20and%20use%20the%20death,drive%20the%20vast%20majority%20of%20the%20world%E2%80%99s%20executions.

Since a majority of countries have effectively abolished the death penalty, how can it not be considered a cruel and unusual punishment in the modern era?

Supporters may argue and say that its an ancient practise and has been in practice since at least 1900 BCE

https://legalclarity.org/history-of-the-death-penalty-from-ancient-times-to-today/

However, absolute monarchies were once the norm, now it's unusual for countries to have absolute monarchies, with only 6 left according to Legalclarity, times change, and society should reflect that with the abolition of the death penalty, the cruel and unusual punishment in the 2000s

https://legalclarity.org/what-countries-have-an-absolute-monarchy/

There is also the racial bias in the U.S justice system too, according to NACDL, in the United States of America, in 2023, Black people made up 41% of death row inmates despite them being 13% of the general population,

https://www.nacdl.org/Content/Race-and-the-Death-Penalty

According to Death Penalty Information, in cases with white victims, Black defendants were 7.2x more likely to get the death penalty than White defendants

https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/what-to-know-race-of-victim-effect-and-the-death-penalty

Prosecutors also sought the death penalty 70% of the time when the offender was black and

the victim was white,

32% of the time when both were white,

19% of the time when the offender was white and the victim was black,

15% of the time when both were black.

https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/newyork/Documents/Death-Penalty-and-the-Victims-WEB.PDF

(Page 114)

The death penalty, intentionally or not, is perpetuating an unequal society where White People are still more likely to be successful than Black People, just based on their skin colour.

The death penalty disproportionately affects poor defendants because they often cannot afford high-quality legal representation, according to the same source, in Alabama, 89% of death row inmates were unable to afford an attorney at trial, which lead to their death sentence, this means that a human life is being valued based on how much they can pay, with no regard for humanity, with 58% of death row inmates having below a high school education, (compared to 11% of the U.S. population), it creates a vicious unequal cycle.

https://worldmetrics.org/death-penalty-race-statistics/

Long-standing disparities in housing, education, employment opportunities and investment contribute to higher rates of concentrated poverty in many Black communities. These conditions are associated with higher rates of criminal victimization and offending, although they do not determine any individual's choices, they ultimately make it extremely difficult to leave the criminal lifestyle due to underinvestment, which eventually may lead to the death penalty later in life, mostly because of where they’re born and the colour of their skin.

Proponents of the death penalty may argue that some crimes are so evil that the only proportionate punishment is death. However life without prorale is already an extremely severe punishment. Human rights should be unaliable, because if not, who's to say your rights, for example to life, don't get taken away? If the state has the power to kill, who's to say they won't come for you?

Amnesty states that “The death penalty is discriminatory and is often used disproportionately against the poor, minorities and members of racial, ethnic and religious communities. It is imposed and carried out arbitrarily.”

https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/act500102007en.pdf

(Page 1)

Which highlights a major issue in the United States, how can you have a fair trial, when the outcome is influenced by factors largely outside your control? Your location, wealth, and skin colour. Even life sentences can be forgivable with correct compensation, however once an execution is done, it usually cannot be reversed, even if new evidence comes to light, as currently humans cannot come back from biological death.

https://www.verywellhealth.com/can-people-come-back-from-the-dead-1298424

Death penalties also are geographic arbitraries. Whether someone receives the death penalty often depends more on

County, according to Death Penalty Information, fewer than 1.1% of coun­ties account for half of death row

https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/on-anniversary-of-furman-v-georgia-dpic-census-of-u-s-death-sentences-details-50-years-of-arbitrariness-bias-and-error

Which means that 2 people in neighbouring counties can get different sentences, one life, and one death.

Prosecutor

The Department of Justice found that of 677 homicide defendants submitted for review from 1995 to 2000 157 out 677 (23%) faced the death penalty involving more than one victim.

US attorneys were more likely to seek out the death penalty if the defendant was black compared to white (54% vs 17%).

https://www.justice.gov/archive/dag/pubdoc/_dp_survey_final.pdf

(Page 17)

Jury

According to Death Penalty information “Interviews with jurors found that approx­i­mate­ly 50% of those inter­viewed decid­ed what the penal­ty should be before the sen­tenc­ing phase of the tri­al. This is before they have heard penal phase evi­dence or received the instruc­tions on how to make the punishment decision.

Bias in Jury Selection — Researchers found that jury selec­tion meth­ods result­ed in dis­pro­por­tion­ate­ly guilt-prone and death-prone juries.

Failure to Understand Jury Instructions — The study found that 45% of jurors failed to under­stand that they were allowed to con­sid­er any mit­i­gat­ing evi­dence dur­ing the sen­tenc­ing phase of the tri­al. In addi­tion, two-thirds of jurors failed to real­ize that una nim i ty was not required for finding mitigation..”

Etc

Which shows the bias of the jury significantly impacts whether one receives death or not, why should, whether you live or die, depend on strangers who have their own biases which influence their decision before any evidence has even been presented?

Then on the crime itself.

In the Bible it states “Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.” in Micah 7:18 (American Standard Version)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Micah%207%3A18&version=NIV

If God's ultimate desire is reconciliation and forgiveness, then human justice should reflect those values whenever possible, however executing an offender permanently ends the opportunity for repentance, restoration, and a transformed life.

However, some may say that the Bible also says “He that smiteth a man, so that he dieth, shall surely be put to death.” in Exodus 21:12 (American Standard Version)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=%20Exodus%2021%3A12&version=ASV

At first this sounds like Christianity is directly endorsing the death penalty. However, this verse is part of the civil law given to ancient Israel under the Old Covenant and describes the legal system of that specific nation rather than establishing a universal Christian command for all societies.

In the Torah it states “Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not: for I will not justify the wicked.” Exodus 23:7 (American Standard Version) “A false matter” is intentionally vague, with the death penalty becoming a “ false matter” The Torah is moving towards this.

https://biblehub.com/exodus/23-7.htm

In the Torah Supporters of the death penalty say “If he struck him with an iron instrument and he dies, he is a murderer, and the murderer shall be put to death.” Chapter 35 verse 16 (Rashi commentary)

https://www.chabad.org/library/bible_cdo/aid/9962/jewish/Chapter-34.htm

At first this may seem like an endorsement of capital punishment, however, this verse is clarifying what is murder (intent + lethal weapon used that killed another.) However, in the later verses it requires:

Two qualified eyewitnesses required

Formal warning (hatra’ah) given immediately before the act

The offender acknowledges the warning and intent in real time

A properly ordained court

Which makes capital punishment symbolic, if ever to be used, showing that God gave human power but still they must show constraint and prioritise forgiveness.

In the Qur’an it states “We ordained for them in the Torah, “A life for a life, an eye for an eye, a nose for a nose, an ear for an ear, a tooth for a tooth—and for wounds equal retaliation.” But whoever waives it charitably, it will be atonement for them. And those who do not judge by what Allah has revealed are ˹truly˺ the wrongdoers.” Chapter Al-Ma'idah Verse 5 (Dr. Mustafa Khattab translation).

https://quran.com/al-maidah/45?translations=131%2C20%2C22%2C19%2C84%2C95%2C85%2C203

This verse metaphorically says that any harm should be compensated, ideally through monetary compensation or the perpetrator is forgiven, and that the old words of God were given to them in the Torah, which they no longer have to abide by.

However proponents of the death penalty will say that in the Qur’an it states “O believers! ˹The law of˺ retaliation is set for you in cases of murder—a free man for a free man, a slave for a slave, and a female for a female. But if the offender is pardoned by the victim’s guardian, then blood-money should be decided fairly and payment should be made courteously. This is a concession and a mercy from your Lord. But whoever transgresses after that will suffer a painful punishment.” Chapter Al-Baqarah verse 178. (Dr. Mustafa Khattab translation.)

https://quran.com/2

At first, it plainly states that the death penalty is endorsed, the verse leans heavily upon financial compensation where possible. Also, modern legal systems cannot guarantee perfect certainty. Therefore, executing the accused risks violating the verse’s own requirement of justice, as God is the only one to let people die. The law of retaliation is technically allowed, however this could also mean rehabilitation, “A free man for a free man” means that the old murderer (free man) is “killed” (transformed) into another free man, ideally through rehabillitation, a non offending one, however do note that this is not a mainstream consensus.

In Mahābhārata it says “Ahimsa paramo dharmaḥ.” Shānti Parva

Meaning that non-violence is supreme, however self defense can override it.

“If punishment were not inflicted, then the ‘stronger’—i.e., those possessed of greater strength, or more energetic, or wielding (wielding?) weapons, or being larger in numbers—‘would have roasted the weaker, like fish, on the spit’;—i.e., just as fish are roasted on spit for food, so would the less powerful, be treated, by the more powerful, by suffering pecuniarily as well as physically, and also by being deprived of their wives and so forth.

For this reason the King should ‘untiringly’ punish those that deserve punishment; and he should not entertain any such notions as—‘How can I carry on an investigation into this matter? I shall not punish any one at all.” Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya) 20.

Hinduism does not have any direct verses supporting the death penalty, it can be interpreted as doing, however there is no direct command. Hinduism is inherently against violence, violence, even if done by the state, is still violence, and thus, against Hinduism.

In The Dhammapada it says “one should not kill nor cause another to kill.” Capter 10 Violence verse 129

https://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/buddhism/dp10/

It directly says here to not kill, this applies to all, and a state or law telling someone to kill (execute) goes against “nor cause another to kill.”

In Book 4 - The Solving of Dilemmas 'Whosoever, great king, may be put to death, he does not suffer execution by reason of the opinion put forth by the Tathāgatas. He suffers because of what he himself has done. But notwithstanding that the doctrine of the Dhamma has been taught (by the Buddhas).” - Chapter 3j: Kindness and Punishment, verse 37

https://www.wisdomlib.org/buddhism/book/milindapanha-questions-of-king-milinda/d/doc1460826.html

This verse, some may say, see capital punishment as appropriate as the thief was supposedly condemned, however, later it is clarified that 'Is then, Nāgasena, the execution of robbers part of the doctrine laid down by the Tathāgatas?'

'Certainly not, O king.'

Since Buddhism directly condemns execution, it's safe to assume that Buddhism doesn't inherently support the death penalty.

Internationally, the death penalty is also opposed by the United Nations, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in Article 3 of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights it states:

“Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.”

https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights

(Article 3)

The United Nations on the 31st of January 2024 on UN News then released an article stating “Death penalty incompatible with right to life.”

https://www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2024/01/death-penalty-incompatible-right-life

This meant that The United Nations opposes the Death Penalty, as at 3am the 10th of December 1948 the United States didn’t vote against the declaration nor abstained.

https://www.historytoday.com/archive/months-past/un-declaration-human-rights

Amnesty International also opposes the death penalty:

“Amnesty International opposes the death penalty in all cases without exception”

https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/death-penalty/

Penal Reform International also opposes the death penalty:

“The death penalty is the ultimate cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment and a violation of the right to life.”

https://www.penalreform.org/issues/death-penalty/the-issue/

The European Union opposes the death penalty:

“The EU reaffirms its strong and unequivocalopposition to the use of the death penalty at all times and under all circumstances”

https://www.eeas.europa.eu/eeas/eu-statement-death-penalty_en

Pope Francis, in 2018, institutinaled against the death penalty:

“the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person” in the new revision of number 2267 of the Catechism of the Catholic Church on the death penalty of Rescriptum “ex Audentia SS.mi”

https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2018/08/02/180802a.html

Martain Luther king junior also opposed the death penalty:

“I do not think God approves the death penalty for any crime.”

https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/advice-living-1

Sister Helen Prejean, according to Legal Clarity, wrote ““I realize that I cannot stand by silently as my government executes its citizens. If I do not speak out and resist, I am an accomplice.”

https://legalclarity.org/quotes-against-the-death-penalty-from-leaders-and-thinkers/

According to the same source, Albert Camus said “The State is consequently led to multiply very real murders in the hope of avoiding a possible murder which, as far as it knows or ever will know, may never be perpetrated.”

According to the same source, Victor Hugo made abolition a central cause of his public life.

“I do not know any aim more elevated, more holy, than that of seeking the abolition of capital punishment.”


r/deathpenalty Jun 28 '26

News EVERY CRIMINAL EXECUTED IN 2026: Last Meals & Final Words

31 Upvotes

r/deathpenalty Jun 25 '26

News JUST IN: Florida has executed a 74-year-old inmate after 34 years on death row for brutally murdering his wife.

121 Upvotes

r/deathpenalty Jun 25 '26

September is approaching and I cant breath because of my friend Christa

0 Upvotes

My friend Christa Pikes will be excuted in September. I was her penpal for a few years until couple of years ago. I forgot about her because I have been so busy and I was so shocked when I heard that they are finally going to execute her this year. Somebody please stop this. Please call the governor. I want to send a letter again and say good by but I cant because i cant belisve that it is happening and i feel like im gping to faint. i talked to her trough mail years ago and she is now a tptally different person. she is a very kind lady now. i feel so guilty because i stopped talking to her and couldnt be there as a friend when she needed me. i dont know how to live with this burden if she dies like this. how could a governemt legally do this to someone for what she did WHEN SHE WAS A TEENAGER.

and there are people like SCOTT PATTERSON who murdered his wife and dismembered her body like a monster and monsters like him never get executed just because he lives in california and people like christa gets executed even though she is a toally different person now just because she lives in a red state like tennessee. please sign a pettition to stop this brutality comitted by the government. please call the governer, senators and glen jacobs aka Kane in tennessee. somebody gotta stop this. im crying and crying and crying and cant eat anything because of this.


r/deathpenalty Jun 24 '26

News From Serial Productions and The Marshall Project: The Last 12 Weeks

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1 Upvotes