The death penalty. I am uncertain on this issue.

I am uncomfortable with making the premeditated decision to kill anyone. Even sacks of shit that kill and murder. While at the same time my logical side knows that the cost of institutionalizing these people for life is overwhelming. I know these people cannot be released back into society and I feel it is inhumane to keep human beings locked up in cages. I am torn on this issue.

Anyone care to give me input?

I'm uncomfortable for the same reasons. And I don't think that it's much of a deterrent either. On the other hand, if they captured Osama I'd volunteer to kill him myself.

Out here in CA the DP is a joke that the lawyers keep going. They are the only one who benefit from it. A guy gets the DP, he gets a butt load of appeals and this and that, and no on ever gets actually executed. People sit on death row for over 20 years. it is a gigantic waste of money. The lawyers clean up and the tax pyers get screwed. I am pro death penalty, but the way it is run in CA makes me say just get rid of it.

in china, your found guilty, and killed in a half hour, just enough time to eat that last meal..........i bet the taxpayers complain that the meal cost too much ....lmao. im torn also, i really like what travh said in the other dp thread, let the families have them. i guess we give a lot of appeals because we just dont want to execute an innocent person......perhaps.....i mean, although this guys looks as guilty as OJ, we could be wrong, remote chance, but still a chance. thats enough to make a person say " lets just be sure ".

you know, i always thought i was in favor of the death penalty; i thought that was the ultimate justice.
but the truth is, there is no justice. nothing that is done to these people could ever truly compensate for the lives they've ended. maybe "caging" them for life is better. in scott peterson's case, he's stuck in a completely visible cell 23 hours a day; no human contact whatsoever. good. let the isolation eat at him. sometimes i think death is way too good for these monsters. all we can do is pray that they'll receive their "just desserts" when they meet their maker.

Love thine enemy.

If the murderers are wrong, then killing them is wrong. If killing them is okay then murder is okay in the first place. Simple logic.

If a dog shits in your bed, do you shit in his? If you did, would it stop him from shitting in yours?

(Yes, if it was my relative who was raped and beaten I would want to stab the person in the throat with an unsharpened pencil. No, I don't know what we should do instead of killing murderers.)

How about locking them all in a big room without enough food. They can kill each other and eat them. Last man standing gets executed. - sarcasm off.

From what I've heard ... overall it cost more to administer the DP than to pay for institutionalizing a person for life.

Dunno

Dop

Would rather not in any way be responsible for the death of another person, no matter what they did. I agree with Jenny - let them sit in a cage for the rest of their lives, and die of boredom, insanity, etc. You know, natural causes. They're going to hell anyway.

Note to Atheists: replace 'hell' with 'taco bell' ;)

I wrestle with this issue. I do not believe that humans have the right to determin another humans death. A more religious person might say that we should leave that determination to god. My biggest fear is that we may execute an innocent person. It has happened and is still happening, though not often. DNA evidence is makng that a slimmer and slimmer possibility.

On the other hand, I believe that allowing for 23 state appeals and 14 Federal ones is rediculous. I also believe that though we shouldn't torture prisoners, they shouldn't be given the extras that many Americans can't afford. Like pool tables and air conditioning and big screen TV's.

I like the idea of putting criminals to work. But I have to admit that if I was sentenced to life in prison there wouldn't be much incentive for me to do anything.

I don't know I would feel if it came right down to it, but to me, life in prison would be much worse than execution. I'd rather check out than live in a cage.

The death penalty is barbaric.

When DNA testing began, it was proven too many incarcerated persons were executed only to find out later they were innocent of any crime. DNA testing still needs to be more widely used. Florida, Texas and California lead the nation in death row population.

a free society should have alternative ways of dealing with capital crimes, especially here in America where the world looks to us as a nation of good leadership.

Originally posted by Rolader
a free society should have alternative ways of dealing with capital crimes, especially here in America where the world looks to us as a nation of good leadership.

Unfortunately I don't think this holds true anymore. Most of the world now looks upon us as a nation of bad leadership.

We could go to the extreme of barbarity and inhumanity by cancelling death panalty and instill forced labor camp instead. :D Or make inmates involuntary testing subjects for prototype medicine or hazardous gadget! This way you can feel the money used to house and feed them pays off fairly. I suppose a lot of inmates would commit suicide in this situation though. =p

*Reads the shirt he's wearing* "An Eye For an Eye Makes One Blind". KILL THEM!

I believe in the death penalty, strongly. If it were up to me, not only would the death penalty be implemented, it would be expanded. It would be done swiftly as well. It's about retribution, and intolerance. The retribution thing is about balancing the scales. Someone takes a life, they give their own for compensation, they can't give back what they took, so they give something of like value, which is their own life. It's closure. The person who did the crime will never do a thing like it again.

Intolerance. I don't know about you, but there are some things in this society that just shouldn't be tolerated. Murder is one of them. There is no excuse for it. The person doing should be done away with, not ifs ands or buts about it.

I really can't believe the sop stories and sissy excuses I have read arguing against the death penalty.

Echo, if someone showed you the hole in the ground and coffin you'd be occupying and a prison cell, you'd take the prison cell. I guarantee it. If you are ALIVE, you always have a chance of getting out. If not, there is always the oppurtunity to do something with your life. Which is more than can be said of the victim.

Dop. The thing about it costing more to execute a criminal than it is to keep him alive and in prison. Last I heard, you can get a decent length of rope from the Home Depot for under fifty bucks, and tree limbs are even cheaper.

Epanding the death penalty. I'm for it. Let me give you an example. There was a gas station/convienince store robbery. Five people were involved. During the robbery, one of the perpetrators pointed his shotgun at the back of the clerk's head, and fired. The defense was that the gun went off accidently. To me it's irrelevent. I believe in the honor system. If you are involved in something that gets someone hurt, even if you didn't do the actual hurting, you are equally guilty. Your involvement makes you guilty. In the case of the gas station robbery, five people went to rob that station, because of their actions, the clerk got killed. That clerk is not coming home. He left behind a wife and child, and family. For what? A few hundred dollars and several cartons of smokes. To me, their actions make them all guilty of murder, and they all should be executed. And swiftly, none of this appeals crap. They'd get killed two or three days after the sentence. NO excuses. If such justice got meted out, and criminals KNEW what the consequences of being involved in crime that ends in someone being killed, accidently or not, I don't think they'd be so willing to commit crimes.

Either way, it's going to cost taxpayers, whether we execute them or jail them for life. Actual studies indicate death sentences end up costing more, but only because it's 10 appeals and 20 years later before the criminal is executed.

no matter which way, it's not enough. a friend of my family (he lived next door for many years), my age, was murdered three years ago. he was a bouncer at one of the bars down here. he told these guys to leave; they were making a big ruckus. they didn't like the idea of being told to go, so they started a fight. one of the guys went out to the car while his friends were swinging, grabbed a gun, ran back in and shot craig. people started running, screaming, towards the door. the guy walked back over to craig (lying on the floor, dying) and shot him 2 more times.
fast forward to 4 or 5 months ago. the guys were found guilty (one of 1st degree murder, the others 2nd degree, accessory to murder, attempted murder, etc.). craig's family was there for the sentencing; they were the ones that asked the judge and jury to spare the guy's life. when i asked her why, craig's mother told me this:
it serves no purpose to take another life. it doesn't bring closure, doesn't make her pain any easier. nothing that the system could do could validate her hurt. if he dies, his family suffers (she said she didn't want his mother to feel what she'd been forced to endure), not him. let him stay in prison, he gets to spend the rest of his life thinking about what he did; but he still gets to wake up everyday.

I believe life in prison could be enough.
Say we make the conditions of these "special life prisons" extremely hard. No contact with outside world of any kind. Extremely hard labor seven days a week. No books, no t.v.
No preachers, no social workers. Just living hell.

A fast trial and an even faster death, none of this waiting around for 10 years. You take an innocent life then you loose yours, that simple. Wether it brings closure, revenge, hate etc... does not matter, what it does do is serve a punishment that is equal to the crime. Or in all of the cases it's a nicer sentence then what crime was commited. If folks don't want to function in society then they need not be here at all.

Originally posted by Travh20
Out here in CA the DP is a joke that the lawyers keep going. They are the only one who benefit from it. A guy gets the DP, he gets a butt load of appeals and this and that, and no on ever gets actually executed. People sit on death row for over 20 years. it is a gigantic waste of money.
......Except for the people who don't BELONG there!!!!!! (http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=6&did=110) :rolleyes:

Off hand, I can think of 4 things wrong with the DP

Texas, Florida, Alabama and Georgia

Dop

Not Texas...

I applaud their resolve. Three credible witnesses with DNA evidence, and the jury is allowed to buy the murderer a one way ticket to the chair with an express pass, first class. No lengthy appeals process and no extended jail time, just good, old fashioned, retribution without overwhelming expenses. To me, that IS justice. If there are those among you who feel that it's ultimately god’s decision, then how are we interfering? God still gets the final say-so, but as I see it, either way, it's society’s job to blowtorch evildoers.

Originally posted by Mr. Shaman
......Except for the people who don't BELONG there!!!!!! (http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=6&did=110) :rolleyes:

Number 115 on your list, Dan L. Bright: His conviction was overturned because a prosecution witness had a criminal history and the defense wasn't told. Not because the witness lied, not because the suspect didn't do it. Just a technicality.

I'm sure there are similar stories on that list. Much of the dramatic long list is irrelevant to the discussion.

Originally posted by Brooks
Number 115 on your list, Dan L. Bright: His conviction was overturned because a prosecution witness had a criminal history and the defense wasn't told.

There are other situations, as well............what some prosecutors would call a fast-track to the Senate! (http://www.law.northwestern.edu/depts/clinic/wrongful/documents/Snitch.htm) :mad: