Capital Punishment

[gupy77]

Should there be capital punishment? Personnally I have always been against it for sevaral reasons, mostly because I beleive that it is pretty stupid to kill some one when ypu can lock him up and try and reform them and if they cant be reformed, there in prison and cant do anything harm to their fellow man.

Some people say the if its their than less people will commit crimes but if you look at counties like america no that have capital punishment and see the crime their and then look at canada, which does not have it you see that it in no way repells crime.

 

[Flishiz]

If people are left in prisons for life sentences, especially when prisoners (Like Charles Manson) live quite long lives in prisons, it means that tax money is spent every day keeping them alive.

I'm no Texan, but I'm still and American for capital punishment.

 

[fix-the-spade]

I'm sure this thread's been done before (many, many times)

If people are left in prisons for life sentences, especially when prisoners (Like Charles Manson) live quite long lives in prisons, it means that tax money is spent every day keeping them alive.

With the appeals process, equipment maintanence, medical obligations etc executions tend to cost a great deal more than life prison sentences. I forget the source (sorry) but the figure is somewhere in the region of 5times the cost per execution than shoving them in a prison cell.

You cannot have the death penalty in a fair criminal justice system. It's essentially sayig you are ok with killing an innocent man.
Which will happen, no matter how careful investigations are occasionally the wrong person does get convicted. How do you take that back if they've been killed?


In case you hadn't guessed, I'm anti death penalty, no exceptions.

 

[Dancingman]

I think that we should be more like China in terms of the death penalty, does someone who robs another of their right to life, or forcibly rapes them, really deserve to be supported by our tax dollars?

 

[gupy77]

If people are left in prisons for life sentences, especially when prisoners (Like Charles Manson) live quite long lives in prisons, it means that tax money is spent every day keeping them alive.

I'm no Texan, but I'm still and American for capital punishment.

the thing is if you factor in the cost of the time they spend trying to get out of dying and all the courts dates and stuff the price diffrence wont be so high

 

[DoomDispenser]

Eye for an Eye, I'd say. I believe any one who intentionally takes another's life, deserves the same. Whoever has such a pitiful view on the value of someone's life does not deserve another second on our planet.

As for whether Capital Punishment should exist... Well a few people have already said it: There would be too many innocent lives destroyed in the process. In a perfect world with a perfect system, yes. In our world, sadly, it can not be done.

 

[fix-the-spade]

I think that we should be more like China in terms of the death penalty, does someone who robs another of their right to life, or forcibly rapes them, really deserve to be supported by our tax dollars?

The Chinese will kill you for Tax fraud. Do you really want to live in that kind of state?

You spend a lot more Tax dollars on death row than you do on the lifers.

Or let me explain it like this. Death Row costs $137million per year in Califormia. Whilst life imprisonment costs less than $11.5million per year. Which side is wasting the tax payer's money now?
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/costs-death-penalty

 

[gupy77]

Eye for an Eye, I'd say. I believe any one who intentionally takes another's life, deserves the same. Whoever has such a pitiful view on the value of someone's life does not deserve another second on our planet.

As for whether Capital Punishment should exist... Well a few people have already said it: There would be too many innocent lives destroyed in the process. In a perfect world with a perfect system, yes. In our world, sadly, it can not be done.

As Ghandi put it "an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind"

 

[DoomDispenser]

Eye for an Eye, I'd say. I believe any one who intentionally takes another's life, deserves the same. Whoever has such a pitiful view on the value of someone's life does not deserve another second on our planet.

As for whether Capital Punishment should exist... Well a few people have already said it: There would be too many innocent lives destroyed in the process. In a perfect world with a perfect system, yes. In our world, sadly, it can not be done.

As Ghandi put it "an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind"

Ha ha. Now, you were just waiting for someone to use that phrase, weren't you?

 

[jiamenguk]

I personally believe that only in a perfect society you wouldn't need capital punishment. And by perfect society I mean in a place where it is so perfect that it cannot be conveyed through by human language. Or maybe I just mean when everybody have the same and maximum amount of freedom without intruding other's freedom while being morally correct and obeying adequate and necessary laws. But then how am I going to justify what I mean by "morally correct" and "necessary laws"...

However, in all other instances, I think it is necessary to have such punishments. But hey, I'm Chinese, so you can just disregard all I've said and read the reply below, because to be honest, I don't think anyone CARES about China.

 

[gupy77]

Eye for an Eye, I'd say. I believe any one who intentionally takes another's life, deserves the same. Whoever has such a pitiful view on the value of someone's life does not deserve another second on our planet.

As for whether Capital Punishment should exist... Well a few people have already said it: There would be too many innocent lives destroyed in the process. In a perfect world with a perfect system, yes. In our world, sadly, it can not be done.

As Ghandi put it "an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind"

Ha ha. Now, you were just waiting for someone to use that phrase, weren't you?

Yes, people always use that phrase to argue for capital arguement and i alway get them like this

 

[Dancingman]

I think that we should be more like China in terms of the death penalty, does someone who robs another of their right to life, or forcibly rapes them, really deserve to be supported by our tax dollars?

The Chinese will kill you for Tax fraud. Do you really want to live in that kind of state?

You spend a lot more Tax dollars on death row than you do on the lifers.

Or let me explain it like this. Death Row costs $137million per year in Califormia. Whilst life imprisonment costs less than $11.5million per year. Which side is wasting the tax payer's money now?
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/costs-death-penalty

One, California won't carry out any damn executions, that's why they've screwed up. And two, for my China comment, I just meant that we should actually be carrying out more of our sentences, I still think that rape, murder, and treason, and maybe a few others with special circumstances are the only crimes that are worth an execution.

 

[gupy77]

The thing about a perfect society is that due to human nature is that it is something that can never be acheived. The perfect example for this would be The Giver where a seemingly utopian society was actual a horendous Dystopian society under the surface

 

[gupy77]

I think that we should be more like China in terms of the death penalty, does someone who robs another of their right to life, or forcibly rapes them, really deserve to be supported by our tax dollars?

The Chinese will kill you for Tax fraud. Do you really want to live in that kind of state?

You spend a lot more Tax dollars on death row than you do on the lifers.

Or let me explain it like this. Death Row costs $137million per year in Califormia. Whilst life imprisonment costs less than $11.5million per year. Which side is wasting the tax payer's money now?
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/costs-death-penalty

One, California won't carry out any damn executions, that's why they've screwed up. And two, for my China comment, I just meant that we should actually be carrying out more of our sentences, I still think that rape, murder, and treason, and maybe a few others with special circumstances are the only crimes that are worth an execution.

The reason California cant execute them right then is because to justify killing someone they have to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the person is guilty.

 

[Jumplion]

I'm not for it but I'm not against it.

From the ever wise words of my Rabbi;

"If we enforce Capital Punishment, either way the murderer will usually die a much more merciful death than what they did to the victim."

All of these new execution devices are always trying to come up with new ways to be "painless" and "humane" when really all they do is make it more elaborate and/or expensive and in some cases more painful for the victim, which most people would want on a murderer. A fireing squad could miss or make the person in more pain, the Electric chair fries a person's brain, hanging could choke someone to death or decapitate them, lethal injection doesn't even meet the standards of putting down animals, and all of those include a lot of pain.

Ironically though, the (and this is from my Rabbi again, he's pretty reformed I think is the word) The Guilotine [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillotine] is probably the most "human"/"painless" form of execution. I'm not saying it should be implemented as an execution device again, but it is quick, effective, efficient, probably cheap to make, and the person doesn't feel a thing. Just a quick slice of the head and the person's dead. That's "humane", right? Letting the person die with as little pain as possible?

But all of it is for naught, as either way "the murderer will usually die a much more merciful death than what they did to the victim."

And if an innocent is killed, sue. It's amazing how one's life is retributive(?) to a few hundred thousand dollars.

But like I said, I'm not for or against it. I can see the reason to have it and to not have it, so I'm on the fence.


EDIT: And then we get to the whole "head is alive a few seconds after decapitation". The person could be put to sleep when it happens? That's even more humane, isn't it?

 

[gupy77]

I'm not for it but I'm not against it.

From the ever wise words of my Rabbi;

"If we enforce Capital Punishment, either way the murderer will usually die a much more merciful death than what they did to the victim."

All of these new execution devices are always trying to come up with new ways to be "painless" and "humane" when really all they do is make it more elaborate and/or expensive and in some cases more painful for the victim, which most people would want on a murderer.

Ironically though, the (and this is from my Rabbi again, he's pretty reformed I think is the word) The Guilotine [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillotine] is probably the most "human"/"painless" form of execution. I'm not saying it should be implemented as an execution device again, but it is quick, effective, efficient, probably cheap to make, and the person doesn't feel a thing. Just a quick slice of the head and the person's dead. That's "humane", right? Letting the person die with as little pain as possible?

But all of it is for naught, as either way "the murderer will usually die a much more merciful death than what they did to the victim."

And if an innocent is killed, sue. It's amazing how one's life is retributive(?) to a few hundred thousand dollars.

But like I said, I'm not for or against it. I can see the reason to have it and to not have it, so I'm on the fence.

The thing about the guilotine is that the head of the person is still alive for a few seconds and in extreme pain after being beheaded.

 

[cuddly_tomato]

If people are left in prisons for life sentences, especially when prisoners (Like Charles Manson) live quite long lives in prisons, it means that tax money is spent every day keeping them alive.

I'm no Texan, but I'm still and American for capital punishment.

Of all the arguments used for capital punishment, the argument that "it costs money to keep people alive" has to be the worst of them all.

Putting a monetary value on any human life is abhorrent to me.

 

[Jumplion]

The thing about the guilotine is that the head of the person is still alive for a few seconds and in extreme pain after being beheaded.

I'd suppose so, but I thought that was only in rare cases? And a few seconds is better than a few minutes in cardiac arrest while getting lethal injection, or having a metal head pushed through your throat/mouth in that one Spanish execution device who's name escapes me.

 

[gupy77]

The thing about the guilotine is that the head of the person is still alive for a few seconds and in extreme pain after being beheaded.

I'd suppose so, but I thought that was only in rare cases? And a few seconds is better than a few minutes in cardiac arrest while getting lethal injection, or having a metal head pushed through your throat/mouth in that one Spanish execution device who's name escapes me.

Lethal injections are usually the most humane due to it not being a one step procedure. First the inject you with sedative that renders you unconscience than they induce the cardiac arrest by something else. The only time when this is not humane is when on rare occurances the person can feel whats going on, the name of this escapes me.

Also i apoligize for not knowing specific name because i did a project on capital punishment a few months ago, but i cant recall the names of the injections or the condition where you can feel the cardiac arrest while unconscience

 

[implodingMan]

I'm against capital punishment because of the minute possibly of the person actually being innocent.

For example, in Canada back in the 60's a guy (I forget his name) was convicted of raping and killing a young girl. Just a year or two earlier he would have gotten the death sentence, but since it had been recently abolished he got life in prison instead. After 20 years the real rapist was caught and they let the guy go (with a bigass sack of money from the government to say sorry). The Tragically Hip wrote a song about him called "Wheat Kings", which is also quite good.