Do You Believe In The Death Penalty?
 

Somebody kills someone - should they pay the same price?

sitting in jail for the rest of their lives thinking about what they did is good payment.

I agree! Giving someone the death penalty seems like the easy way out. A few years on death row and it's all over with. A life time behind bars seems like better punishment IMO.

I believe that life in prison is the ultimate punishment, especially for child killers. Why give them the easy way out? Make them pay every single day of the rest of their lives.

Why? Waste of tax money.

yes, no questions about it. But there has to absolute no question about the crime. Not just confessed but actual proof.

I am all for the death penalty, i just wish they had it here in Australia.

Yes!!

123

I think it's a hoax.

no, they should rot in jail forever

yes with absolute proof. Off they go.

Fuck yea I do. !!

I am all for it

I don't think I'd say that's a easy way out but rotting in jail for the rest of their life is a good punishment. Although if you keep every murderer alive people have to pay for them to live...

i don't want to be on the same level with them - so my answer is no

but lifetime jail with work in some uranium mines or something like that sounds appropriate

Actually it costs more to execute someone than to keep them in prison for life. The reason is that when you put someone to death there is a lot of red tape and legal steps that need to be taken and most of the people that commit these crimes have public defenders and tax dollars go to paying for all of thier legal services. Here is a blurb from a news sites about the cost difference. "Taxpayers in Texas are spending an average of $2.3 million on each execution - while lifetime incarceration costs from $800,000 to $1 million."

That's only because the law is ran by idiots, if they weren't so stupid it wouldn't cost anything.

I do, but thre are "buts". If you killed because of the self-defense.... The theorema doesn't work.

yes and no. There is some stupid things that take place. Like guys saying they want to be put to death and the judge saying that he won't accept the plea and forcing him to go through all the processes.

But there have been some people found innocent that are on death row because when they were convicted there was no DNA testing. Now they go back and DNA test the evidence and find them innocent. If we are going to kill people we have to be 100% sure that we have the right person.

This is so bad if now they know that they killed an innocent.:( But i think that even now with DNA test and other stuff you will not be sure 100%.

I used to think "kill someone, and you will be killed back" and had NO PROBLEMS with this

Until late one night when I had a moment of "clarity". Isn't killing them letting them off a bit easy? Instead, let's throw them in prison, alone in a cold dark damp cell, and feed them nothing but bread and water for the rest of their lives. No phone calls, letters, books, tv, or even light. No human contact other than a guard sliding a tray of food under their door twice a day.

Now that's punishment.

I don't approve of it... Its too much of a light punishment, easy way out.
A loooooong Haaaaaard Life is way worse!

I'm not comfortable with the idea.

For starters, as others have mentioned, the possibility of executing an innocent person is very real.

Added to that is that I just can't wrap my mind around that killing is the punishment for killing.

In alot of cases I'd *like* to be able to wrap my mind around it...but I can't.

I really don't think I could sit on a jury where a death sentence was a possibility.

Ironically enough, the boys and I were out to eat one night last week, and we were just talking about off the wall stuff, and we were discussing if we could be the person that flipped the switch for an electric chair execution. I am nearly sure that I could not.

The state of Illinois brought back the death penalty in 1976. In that time 12 were executed. In 2003 they suspended the sentences of 156 people on death row because 13 men awaiting death were found to be not guilty. All of them exonerated by the hard work of private groups, not the government.

I think we can assume that the judicial system in Illinois isn't much different than that of the rest of the country. The system is flawed, and people are being put to death for crimes they did not commit.

This is why I believe there needs to be a higher standard of evidence in death row sentances. Damning evidence. A kind of evidence that 110% nails the criminal.

No way do I want to give the government and their assorted actors the power to decide whether someone dies. No Way.

i don't believe in the death penalty , been to many cases over the years where ppl have been convicted , locked away for decades then new evidence is found showing that the person was in the clear all along

Absolutely not. Death penalty is not the answer.

I would be for the Death Penalty if our justice system was equal to everyone.

The way it is now, if you are rich you can afford lawyers that can order all of the different tests and will spend the time and effort to dig up evidence that will get their client off the hook.

Poor people (ie. the ones on death row) are the ones that had to use public defenders, and sadly most public defenders either don't care about the client because they get the same pay if they work hard or not, or they are completely overloaded with clients and don't have time. Above that, poor clients can't afford to have hair/dna and other tests done which may exonerate them.

Have them work their asses off with long hard physical work and get only bread and water. One can take a look at concentration camps for further inspiration.
Oh, and if one guy doesn't do his job right, all the others get punished and the wards leave them all alone at night.
And what happened to the good old pillory? Perfect for child molesters. Everyone can throw dirt and feces at these guys. That's a good thing.

Death penalty leaves too many problems, is unimaginative and of no help to anyone. Maybe something like in Hostel or Saw would be a better idea, but that would still leave the problem of killing the wrong guy and make that even worse.

Same is true for other good old fashioned capital punishments like boiling people in oil or cruxifictions.

So I'll stick to my concentration camp idea.

death penalty isn't a deterrent to crime
some killers even push to get it and refuse any of the so called red tape bureaucracy just to get it over with fast

and lets not forget some out there want the death penalty for pornographers

I think death penaly is bullshit beacuse we are act as we are God when we decide to execute someone.Who are we to judge?

Death penalty doesn´t prevent crimes. So I can´t see a real reaon for it unless you want to be on the same level with the criminal, or unless you will be popular. The latter reason seems to drive some politicians in the direction to support death penalty.

There's no point in doing this. The correctional facility's function is to teach these guys that what they did was wrong. Having them rotting in jail is useless since they might have learned the lesson, but will never get to prove how much they regret it or do anything about it because they're locked up in a cell.

This said, I say release them when they're ready or kill them. No grayscales.

ONLY IF IT IS 110 PERCENT PROVEN :pimp

In this day and age I can not agree with it as it stands.
The courts are to twisted, and until there is a way for an equal trial of all citizens no matter of race, background, and financial means I am against it.

The human factor of juries also again make me not desire to support it. People are fallible and they are very emotional.

Assuming both of the above could be fixed, and even giving a little latitude on the jury issue. I still would not support it unless it can be proven with 100% scientific evidence that the person in question actually committed the crime they were accused of. There would have to be a 0% chance of a bad conviction.

From there I would support it with the following if. All people convicted of the death penalty would not be executed by any traditional means. Many of which I find in humane. I would want all those that are to be executed to be placed under anesthesia and then medically disassembled. Every usable part would then be re-circulated, and in the event of no usable matter the body would be put to scientific and or medical study usage. The death then would serve a purpose.

Fuck them - violent criminals, child molesters, gang rapists - kill the fucking cockroaches!!! If you don't believe in the death penalty come and live in South Africa for a month, just by reading the newspapers you're going to have nightmares for the rest of your lives.

Don't look at the death penalty as any sort of punishment, it's a simple way of getting rid of the coackroaches and scaring the other cockroaches no to do the same.

And it works, trust me - we have the same primitive people living in South Africa and Botswana, the only difference is that in SA they kill, torture, burn alive, and rape - can you guess in which country there is death penalty?

You should adopt more business-like approach, it's a very simple trade-off - according to a study in the US one person sentenced to death and executed will "save" 8 lives.

So lets say that one out of 1000 people sentenced to death is innocent (probably the worst that can happen to a human being - no doubt about it) that mens that you have saved 8000 innocent people and killed 1 - as I said it is a very good trade off.

Reminds me of the moral dilema MI5 agent faced once (watched a movie) - a terrorist was on his way to blow up a mall and by doing so with 99.99% certainty killing 1000s of people, the only way for the MI5 agent to stop him was to blow up his car with his wife and his 2 kids inside. I know what I woud've done - I would've blown up the car in a split second!

its hard to say... really depends on the situation

Not only do I believe in it, I believe it's not used nearly enough. There shouldn't be "life in prison". If you're deviant enough that we have to lock you away for the rest of your life because you can't live among us, then you should be done away with. Take the money we waste on housing that population and put it towards rehabbing the people who are capable and deserving of receiving it.

yeah except I'm paying the bills :( would you lock a mad dog up in the animal shelter til it dies of old age?

This is one of only a couple debates that I believe I've ever lost. I was a huge proponent of the death penalty and my wife was totally against it. Then we went through a rash of innocent people who'd spent upwards of 20 years in prison in Canada who were proved innocent. The thought of putting an innocent person to death (imagine it being your son, father or husband) just didn't justify it for me.

HOWEVER, on the flip side, when you DO go to jail for one of the more heineous crimes, like Rochard, I'm a firm believer in serving hard time. That being, sitting in your cell for the remainder of your life with NO entertainment, no NOTHING. Sit and rot, and eat your three squares a day.

My father-in-law who had pretty conservative views throughout his life called this cruel and unusual punishment. You're still alive and eating, so too fucking bad. What's cruel and unusual punishment to me is having to bury a loved one who died brutally at the hands of another, and picturing that in your head for the rest of your life.

An eye for an eye. If its accidentatl thats different. But pre meditated or during a robbery , person shouldnt have the right to breathe again

I don't believe in the death sentence. It is too costly, doesn't deter crime and is the easy way out. Rot in prison I say!

those that think its a good idea should be the ones paying 50-100K a year to support them while they "think about it"

Yes. And the state I live in concurs.

CARLIN: "You dip a guy in brown gravy, and you lock him in a small room with a wolverine who?s high on angel dust! Or you could just shoot a guy. You could get a high-speed catapult, and you just shoot him into a brick wall! Perhaps you line ?em up and you do fifteen of ?em; when one of them is fired off, then the next one ? rapid fire capital punishment. If we?re going to kill people, let?s be imaginative; raise a little money to pay down Social Security, sell these spots to Budweiser, someone like that. Something you could gamble on."

a note for all those who think that being put to death is "getting off easy" and that a lifetime in prison "thinking about what they have done" is a more suitable punishment you are forgetting one critical fact....

a psychopath doesn't have remorse for his victems. they have a great rationalization for why they did it... and would happily do it again. jeffrey dahmer didnt sit in prison thinking "hmmm... it was really morally wrong that i raped, killed and ate 16 people... i wish i could go back and undo what i did because i now understant it was wrong and i regret it". the BTK killer was recently caught... zero remorse. in fact, he wanted even more attention for what he did and was quite proud of it. the list can go on forever of the people who kill and lack any potentail whatsoever to even come to grips with the fact that what they did was wrong.

No I don't, in some cases though exceptions should be made