Poll: An Argument for Capital Punishment

[cuddly_tomato]

EDIT:
Cuddly- Dare I step on that slope? They are a waste, the bring nothing positive to society, they only hurt it, keeping them alive, just for the sake of it... lets them further damage the whole.

I'm afriad, the need to FEEL moral about it doesn't out wieght the needs of the many.
Concetrating on keeping people alive who have no intention but to live off the misery of others, seem quiet myopic, just so we feel good about it.

The exact same argument could be applied to paraplegics. Or the blind. Or cancer victims who are too old or sick to return to work. Or even people who are too old to work without much in the way of savings.

Sounds suspiciously like "Tutto nello Stato, niente al di fuori dello Stato, nulla contro lo Stato" if you ask me.

When you start killing for money you are as bad as any murderer you are condemning to death, it is as simple as that.

Incidentally it isn't "just so we feel good about it". It is because it is the right thing to do. The state has to do right and play fair by all it's citizens equally, or else it isn't a state, it's just a few people with more power and a paid militia guarding them.

 

[Danzaivar]

Well I'm in England so its very unlikely we'll ever have capital punishment, we choose to give people the freedom to live with there mistakes for the rest of their life while encased in a concrete prison

Actually we put them in a well furnished cell, with TV's and PS2's. They get daily access to gyms and they get more money spent on their food budget than patients in our NHS hospitals. Also they can do vocational courses and the like to help re-habilitate them.

Even murderers can get out in 12 years on good behaviour (unless the judge is VERY strict).

-

My opinion, if you can prove they are guilty of the crime, without a shadow of a doubt, cook em. If the evidence is circumstantial or inconclusive, lock em up for life. Or give them the choice to take their own life quickly or just wait in a cell to die of old age.

 

[cuddly_tomato]

How is it right? To keep alive men and women who do not see the value of life? And further more, how is right to make the innocent people pay to keep them alive?

Money has nothing to do with human life. And it never should be this way. It can lead to all kinds of horrific practices [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4921116.stm] when you open the lid on that particular pandoras box.

Killing some one for the sake of killing them, is murder. Killing some one because of an act they commited... thats called justice.

No. Killing someone because they killed someone isn't justice, that's revenge. Justice isn't revenge. Your problem here is "an act they committed". Aren't you committing the exact same act when you take their life?

And no, Paraplegic's can go on to live, and be productive in life. The blind as well, and even the old and sick, didn't they work at one time? They did nothing to be undeserving of the life they have.

A paraplegic will always cost the state more money than they give back. If the motive for executing a criminal is they are going to be unproductive to society, well that applies to the paraplegic too.

The murderer who sits in solitary, or on death row for decades at a time. They see no value in the lives around them, and in a sense because they choose murder, see no value in their own lives. I fail to see what makes it so god damn right, to keep these people not only alive, but healthy, while we have people who DESERVE a chance at a full productive life get left in the gutter.

Because the state is supposed to be better than they are. They might not see the value of life, but the state is supposed too. Anyones life. As soon as the state starts to become sociopathic towards anyone at all it becomes a time for everyone to worry.

I believe a goverment should be more concerned with the condition of its citizens, then the condition of its inmates. And in this day and age, in america, simply isn't true.

It's inmates are it's citizens.

 

[Danzaivar]

How is it right? To keep alive men and women who do not see the value of life? And further more, how is right to make the innocent people pay to keep them alive?

Money has nothing to do with human life. And it never should be this way. It can lead to all kinds of horrific practices [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4921116.stm] when you open the lid on that particular pandoras box.

Killing some one for the sake of killing them, is murder. Killing some one because of an act they commited... thats called justice.

No. Killing someone because they killed someone isn't justice, that's revenge. Justice isn't revenge. Your problem here is "an act they committed". Aren't you committing the exact same act when you take their life?

And no, Paraplegic's can go on to live, and be productive in life. The blind as well, and even the old and sick, didn't they work at one time? They did nothing to be undeserving of the life they have.

A paraplegic will always cost the state more money than they give back. If the motive for executing a criminal is they are going to be unproductive to society, well that applies to the paraplegic too.

The murderer who sits in solitary, or on death row for decades at a time. They see no value in the lives around them, and in a sense because they choose murder, see no value in their own lives. I fail to see what makes it so god damn right, to keep these people not only alive, but healthy, while we have people who DESERVE a chance at a full productive life get left in the gutter.

Because the state is supposed to be better than they are. They might not see the value of life, but the state is supposed too. Anyones life. As soon as the state starts to become sociopathic towards anyone at all it becomes a time for everyone to worry.

I believe a goverment should be more concerned with the condition of its citizens, then the condition of its inmates. And in this day and age, in america, simply isn't true.

It's inmates are it's citizens.

You can't see the difference between a Paraplegic and a Criminal who's commited a crime some would deem warranting execution? That seems to be what you are basing your whole argument on.

Paraplegic's don't choose to be a burden. Criminals consciously become burdens and try make other people burdens too.

edit: Ooo I thought of a good medical analogy for this. They're all cancers on society (I mean in the sense that they're a drain of resources and while we would technically be better of without them we can afford a little baggage, that's the fundamentals of a society) but while disabled people are benign, criminals are malignant.

If you're willing to spend £15k a year to keep a prisoner alive for commiting a crime, why not just give innocent people £15k a year too? Or are criminals more deserving of the money?

 

[ieatlions]

it cost more to kill someone on death row than to keep that person alive for the rest of their natural lives

 

[Some_Jackass]

Capital Punishment needs some reform. People need to realize its a deterrent 1st and a punishment 2nd...Abolishing it isnt the solution.

 

[pigmonkey]

wow reading that made me really pissed, "who cares if we killed 25 innocent people! we got to kill 6000 criminals! YE-HA!! *does a jig while shooting a gun in the air." you sir are a heartless basterd.

As you may have guessed i'm agenced the death penalty. Prisons in general are pretty dumb too, we should be spending more time tackling the social problems at there roots or rehabilitating prisoners instead of just punishing them.

 

[Scarecrow38]

The 2 major issues with the death penalty are that:

1. Innocent people have been killed before due to Capital Punishment.

2. Capital Punishment is a masssive hypocrisy. The message it sends is that no one is allowed to murder a fellow human being.... except the government.

 

[GothmogII]

Don't suppose convicted felons get put to work any more do they? I mean...I'll have to look it up, but, if a person who has no chance of getting out, and are looking at the death sentence instead, would they not be better off being put to work rather than sitting in a cell all the time? Granted...it's technically slavery, however, a sight better than death at any rate yes? And it should go towards somewhat to mitigating the feelings that a criminal is a 'waste' of money. Could also be a way to pay their way as it were.

This way, an innocent person spends maybe a time in prison, and has the chance of being let out should evidence arise relating to such innocence with no risk of the death penalty. And guilty parties are forced to work to mitigate costs associated with their imprisonment for the rest of their natural lives.

 

[hypothetical fact]

As it is the prisoner gets out after being rehabilitated, tries to find a job, can't get a job hat can pay the bills because they have a ciminal record, steals and gets sent back to prison.
OR
The prisoner gets out commits a crime and is sent back to prison.
OR
The prisoner doesn't get out and spends the rest of their life in prison until they die where you pay for their life.
OR
The prisoner joins a prison gang and when they get out they are worse than when they came in.
OR
The prisoner is executed which achieves the same result as a life in prison but doesn't charge you for it.

Now for the what if's.
The prisoner gets out, gets a job and lives happily ever after becaus they don't have a ciminal record.
OR
All criminals work as slaves, they aren't happy but they wouldn't be anyway and he world gets alot of cheap labour.
OR
Whenever criminals get executed they get turned into Soylentgreen to feed the poor, two birds with one stone.

I vote for slavery and hose that refuse to obey are fed to the poor. Sure it violaes human rights but it would save America from going down the toilet in comparison to China which is occuring now.

 

[Snow Fire]

I support capital punishment, it's a effective, and decisive tool that eliminates crime. New research, called "powerful" and "impressive", shows that capital punishment does deter possible murderers from killing greatly, even including murders of passion.

Also, in polls, it shows that a majority of people across the globe approve of Capital Punishment.

 

[captain awesome 12]

Just a curveball to throw in. If one of your family members was brutally murdered, what would you want to happen to the murderer?

 

[Rolling Thunder]

A psychological analysis:

1. There seems to be something of an 'us and them' mentality going on around here, inasmuch as people seem to regard themselves as seperate from criminals. This smacks of dehumanisation, of making said criminals into beings less than human, and worries me. T

Look, the fact of the matter is that most of your prison population is not going to reoffend. Most prisoners are either petty criminals or people who just lost control. A man who murders his wife may sound like a inhuman monster, but in reality you have to realise that there is very little seperating you from him- a touch of rage, a smattering of alcohol, a few extra worries- These people are not deficent in the traditional sense, but rather simply (incoming cliche) victims of society and themselves. While I'm not excusing their crimes, I'm also saying that one must realise that these people most likely did not intend to act the way they did.

Secondly, the value of the death penalty actually seems to be more of an emotional, psychological one than a detterent. Put simply, to a lot of people it feels right. It feels as if an injustice has been righted, that an offender has been punisher- It, in essence, fuflills our need to kill for vengeance. It comes from the deep, dark pit of the human soul, where our basest lusts, fears and ambitions truly lie. It's not about justice, or detterance, or even punishment. It's pure, unadorned vengeance, and if you're supporting it, at least have the decency to say so.

Thirdly, I hereby support the death penalty for the following: Child molesters, child murderers, sexual murderers, and Maragret Thatcher.