 Welcome to Teens on Topic, I'm Issa Shaikh. I'm here with Blaine Clegg and Andy Knox The death penalty is one of America's most polarizing issues Gallup puts it at 56% in favor and 41% in opposition Let's roll the tape So our question this week is does the death penalty work? Wow, you caught me off guard with that one, didn't you? I don't believe that the death penalty does work because I Think that a lot of people who get it probably weren't thinking rationally about all the consequences when they committed their crime It's not the first thought that probably goes through your mind when you're planning a murder usually I also think that it's a little bit hypocritical Because usually the death penalty is the government telling people that you're not allowed to kill somebody and Then the government is ending up the death penalty So a lot of red tape and morality issues now I don't know if it works. I think that it's just to make a point I'm in between on that I Can see both sides I would hope that There's a way that maybe some people could be restored back to society and So that would be my hope I think that just killing another person doesn't really resolve anything so That's that's my take on it. Okay, so in your opinion, it does the death penalty work That that's a hell of a question does the death penalty work in terms of its functionality. Yeah, they kill people and they die Does it work in terms of keeping people from doing crimes? I think the fear Of one losing their life can definitely be a motivator to not do terrible things having family members that were victims of People who did really really bad things to them and then the death penalty is what they were charged with the person and I Think it was fair But what they did to that photo our family I'm not just the person they did it to who will never have again Affected all of us and that was Yeah, um a lot of people Giving their opinions. What do you guys think about what they said? the question that was asked by the interviewer was a little bit odd and I think that one of the Respondents actually recognized that too because the question was does the death penalty work and then the respondent was like In terms of functionality like yeah, the people who have the death penalty used against them die and it's functional, but There that was confusing for me was the way that the question was asked Well, I mean, it's probably not exactly the intention of the question But I mean there there is kind of a question of functionality like with the current methods that are used You know, for example lethal injection is basically like a cocktail mix of three different drugs One of which paralyzes the person who's who's being killed So that like if the drug that kills them doesn't successfully work You can't see them like writhing in pain So I mean I think that shows that the death penalty is kind of cruel in that that they have systems in place for if it doesn't work Like if it doesn't properly perform its function and they have like the fact that they have a safeguard for it I think shows that at least in some circumstances like no it doesn't Yeah, the the question of lethal injection is a is an interesting one because there is in fact a mixture of drugs that do Different things, but I think that most people when they object to the death penalty are not objecting on the specific grounds of The you know cocktail of drugs that they use to execute someone is not right or could be better But they're really objection objecting to it on the moral grounds of like it's not appropriate Or is that one lady said which I disagree with is that it's hypocritical to use the death penalty For someone who killed someone, but the I think that most people like even the people in the video aren't really concerned about How the death penalty is administered, but whether or not it's administered at all Sure I just mean in terms of like the direct wording of the question, but I agree. I like it is a confusing question Yeah, I think I myself do support the death penalty But I do think we should try to look at more humane ways to do it So that people aren't left in pain for longer than necessary because I don't think that it should be based on the idea of like a Punishment some kind of retribution. I think it should be the reason we should execute people should be to take them out of society Yeah, I definitely don't agree that it should be seen well It should be seen as punishment in the sense of you are like this is what society has agreed is the proper Response to the action that you've committed is that you're no longer here a member of our society But I don't think it should be punishment in the sense that we should just hurt someone because they inflicted hurt on you So I think in that instance we agree and I definitely disagree with the lady who said that it was Hypocritical I think that is like one of the bigger more popular objections to the death penalty is that this idea of We how can we kill people for killing people like if killing is wrong then we shouldn't be killing people at all But I don't think that makes a whole lot of sense. What do you think? Sure, I mean, I think the idea that it's hypocritical is is kind of ridiculous I mean the idea is that you're The idea that it's hypocritical is based on like you believe that killing is wrong And so you're killing people who are killing, you know I think that we shouldn't look at it like you're just making one gigantic blatant rule For all of society it should be more look like, you know, these are the Consequences for your action your action was harmful, and I think we should look at more the individual Consequences of an action then just like you violated this rule and now we're going to violate the same rule Yeah, definitely because one thing that people who think that it's hypocritical I think fail to consider is the fact that if you if you have a murderer or let's say you have someone who isn't a murderer But then goes out and murders several people in a crime that would qualify for the death penalty that person without any Or maybe even with thinking that person Took the lives of people just out of malice or whatever their reason is, you know They just wanted to kill people whatever but when they get you know apprehended by the police and they aren't hurt And they're put in a lengthy trial process and the jury convicts them in due process That's entirely different from someone just killing people out of the blue Like there's a process that we go through that takes years and years and years on death row and in the courthouse to make sure that You actually did it and that the death penalty is the proper response But there are people who have been killed by death by the death penalty either unfairly through Racist processes in the historical south or People who are just found guilty wrongly Do you guys not think that life sentences in prisons is enough of pulling people out of society because you guys keep talking about We're gonna get rid of this person from society because they've done these things Is the death penalty the only way to remove people like that from our society? I Think there is a very strong case for rehabilitation that I strongly agree with and I think that Putting someone in life in prison putting someone in prison for life rather Is something that could possibly serve a function if there is some chance of them being Rehabilitated and eventually being let out back into society I think if it's just clear number one that there's overwhelming evidence that they did it and number two that the person has No chance of rehabilitation Or ever becoming someone who's not you know for example like a psychopath or just you know a normal functioning member of society I think they no longer have any Utility that they provide to society and I don't think those people I Don't think we should be concerned with keeping those people alive So for example Daniel Marsh who here in Davis Snuck into the homes of two elderly people and tortured them to death with a knife and They looked at his search history the police looked at his search history and released some of the results You know he was on sites like I think like best gore calm Why he was constantly like looking up gore He was obsessed with murder and I think someone like that isn't someone who deserves to be released Back into society and it's someone who clearly has something more fundamentally wrong with them that I don't think can be Cured through rehabilitation. Yeah, there's and there's definitely like a punishment aspect to it, right? Like if you've if and I like to think of it from a social contract point of view Like if if you are a member of this society and you've agreed to her social contract And you're functioning under it and you break that a little bit like say like you know you Rob a bank or something like you shouldn't be killed for that You violated the social contract and you should be punished for that But I think some people like Daniel Marsh take that social contract and just rip it to shreds and have no Didn't have no regard for you know what makes a stable country a stable country They have no regard for humanity or sympathy or rule of law And there is a punishment aspect of the death penalty that you don't get With life in prison like with life in prison someone's behind bars and they're removed from society But ultimately they're really not punished especially not in the way that they punished other people Well, I think being put to death is a quick easy pollution It's it's a quick easy way to just deal with your problems rather than having to be In jail your entire life. I think that's actually does worse things to a lot of people But you mentioned a big philosophical thing, which is the social contract Let's go like into that. Does the government have the right to killed citizens? Well, I think that if that's if that's part of the social contract that you've established I mean if we want to get really deep into philosophy a social contract can really be whatever you know its citizens agree to and as it stands now the United States has for a very long portion of its history agreed Overwhelmingly in favor of the death penalty, although now that's changing as you talked about earlier But it is part of our it is part of our social contract And if you want to disregard that in such a flagrant way and not have any concern for the rule of law and and not only have no concern for the rule of law, but also have no interest in Remedying that then there's not really a strong case I think to be made that you should be let to live especially after you've harmed so many other people I mean, I don't really agree with you on the reason behind the death penalty I don't think it should really be a punishment for an action I don't really agree with the idea of the social contract of what does and doesn't the government have the right to do At least in terms of killing people Absolutely like that. I think that the the function of the criminal justice system as Most functions of the government should just be to try to maximize societal welfare and as I said earlier I think you know, there are a lot of people who are on death row or not who have committed these crimes who do not show any chance of being able to return to society, but I think even I Think even someone who you know made the calculated decision to kill someone I think that if they can show that they really can become a better a more whole person You know admit and agree that what they did was wrong and truly feel that kind of remorse and want to be a productive members of society I don't think we should say no. This is the social contract. You killed these people and Now you have to get the death penalty. I disagree with that. Well, Andy You're talking about people who can be rehabilitated, right? Yes So where does the issue of mentally ill people come in? There was a man in Georgia who killed police officers And for 40 years now or something like that the state of Georgia has been trying to put him Tech execution, but the man now he doesn't even remember the crime that he did He's severely mentally ill that he's never gonna be rehabilitated Rehabilitated he's never gonna become a functioning member of society. What do we do in cases like that? What do you guys think? That's a tough one. I I think that I Don't really buy the argument that people with mental illness shouldn't be held responsible for things that they've done but I do think that the you know the kind of the opposite of that is that you have to be of A state and capacity, you know mentally and physically to be aware of what you're charged with You know before we can pursue any kind of action against you if you were to execute someone and they had no idea why they were being Executed, I think that that would be a gross injustice And so I think that in certain instances like that with you know people who suffer unfortunately from you know Very devastating mental illnesses that we do need to have a lot of investigation and interrogation into what exactly the right You know action would be in that case because it's not always a clear answer in that instance But I think if it's clear that they have no idea that they committed the crime and that they don't understand it I do I do think that it would be very cool just to kill them But I think that is clearly someone who can't just be Released back into society. So I think we probably should have some government programs taking care of them I do believe we should have more care for the mentally ill But if someone if someone killed all these people and doesn't doesn't even remember it was in a Totally whacked out mental state while they were doing that. I definitely don't think they should be released into society So that's a question. I'm I haven't thought enough about to form a really strong opinion on yeah And it's I think for me It's not even entirely clear that they should be in prison at all especially if they're mentally ill prison is probably not the best place You know prison guards, you know do excellent things and for the most part keep order inside of our prisons But are probably just not Due to specialization equipped to handle a lot of those mental illnesses I think you know mental institutions with trained professionals who understand Mental health better than prison guards would probably a way better solution than the death penalty or prison So really quickly the death penalty takes forever to get somebody to actually get to the point where they're ready to be executed And it costs a lot of money throughout that entire process super quickly What do you guys think about the fiscal issues relate to the penalty? I think it should be expedited I think you know as I said before I think the two things need to be proven that the person can't be Rehabilitated and that the person cannot and that and that the I'm sorry and that it definitely happened The person definitely like committed the crime and if you can prove that the person committed the crime beyond a shadow of doubt I think that's the most important criterion and that There shouldn't be just basically infinity appeals that you get yeah I definitely agree there shouldn't be a lengthy appeals process that just bogs down the justice system Makes it so that other court other appeals that actually might have more merit can't be heard But I am also not particularly concerned about the fiscal aspect when we're dealing with Questions of morality. I think that if the government Which there is already a bunch of debt in a bunch of debt and spends a bunch of money on other things if the government needs To dole out a little bit more money to make sure that people are you know Actually see justice and that victims of you know, tragic crimes actually see justice then I'm okay with that All right, that's all the time we have for this week for teens on topic. We'll see you next time. Thank you