Theoretical Alternative to Capital Punishment

[AFTT47]

I say, 'theoretical' in the title because I don't believe this is a practical idea. I put it out there for discussion to see what others may think of the idea in theory and if anyone thinks it could actually work in practice.

Here's the idea:

Rather than sentencing anyone to death for a capital crime, sentence them to life imprisonment with the option of easy suicide. All they need to do is set a timer to release nitrogen gas to displace the oxygen in their cell. They will simply go to sleep and never wake up. To make the option even more enticing, they could be offered some type of narcotic so that they definitely never know what is happening if they select this option. Push a button and you get unlimited shots of Bacardi 151 before the sealing of your cell at 4:00 AM and the introduction of nitrogen to displace the oxygen. Easy exit.

I don't see this idea as practical for a number of reasons:

How do you stop prison employees from actively making inmate's lives miserable so as to encourage them to take the suicide option?

How do you avoid excessive heavy-handed sentencing by juries or judges who reason that it's okay because the supposed scumbag has the option of taking himself/herself out?

I am intrigued by this option of easy suicide in prison but my gut tells me it would most often be immoral in practice.

What do you all think?

[Minimalist]

How many innocent people are sitting in jail because of incompetent or grossly overworked public defenders, or, cops plant evidence, or eye witnesses are fucking useless or, well you get the point.? The system sucks but an innocent man might still avail himself of the easy way out.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

I support another alternative to capital punishment:  banning capital punishment.

I'm not sure that your theoretical alternative is an alternative at all - people who want to suicide will do so, regardless of circumstances or state sanctioning.

Boru

[The Industrial Atheist]

Simply shooting someone in the head would likely be more "merciful" than lethal injection. We're just antsy about seeing blood and brains.

[Brian37]

I say, 'theoretical' in the title because I don't believe this is a practical idea. I put it out there for discussion to see what others may think of the idea in theory and if anyone thinks it could actually work in practice.

Here's the idea:

Rather than sentencing anyone to death for a capital crime, sentence them to life imprisonment with the option of easy suicide. All they need to do is set a timer to release nitrogen gas to displace the oxygen in their cell. They will simply go to sleep and never wake up. To make the option even more enticing, they could be offered some type of narcotic so that they definitely never know what is happening if they select this option. Push a button and you get unlimited shots of Bacardi 151 before the sealing of your cell at 4:00 AM and the introduction of nitrogen to displace the oxygen. Easy exit.

I don't see this idea as practical for a number of reasons:

How do you stop prison employees from actively making inmate's lives miserable so as to encourage them to take the suicide option?

How do you avoid excessive heavy-handed sentencing by juries or judges who reason that it's okay because the supposed scumbag has the option of taking himself/herself out?

I am intrigued by this option of easy suicide in prison but my gut tells me it would most often be immoral in practice.

What do you all think?

Fuck the death penalty. It costs tax payers far more to prosecute with the appeals process alone. Secondly and with any crime, petty or violent, our system is stacked against the poor and minorities. If you don't have money to defend yourself our system will force you to plead, and or if you go to trial your defense lawyer if state appointed DOES NOT have the time needed to put up a proper defense.

Far too much of our society today is stuck on the emotional nature of a charge. It is easy to judge someone if you are not the one falsely accused. You cannot take back a life once you kill that person.

[Catholic_Lady]

I'd just replace it with life in prison. I don't support any kind of unnecessary killing.

[brewer]

lower case punishment?

Evacuate the city of New York then put a giant wall around it. Stick all of the guilty there.

[Brian37]

I'd just replace it with life in prison. I don't support any kind of unnecessary killing.

This is one thing we can agree on. It is bad enough that our justice system isn't funded enough to defend the poor. But the death penalty isn't a deterrent either. It really is nothing more than a state sanctioned act of revenge. I don't want to live in a society where law enforcement or courts or juries are out to get revenge. Law enforcement needs to be about investigating only, going where the evidence leads, not based on emotion. Once the accused is detained, the court puts the case in front of a jury, and even then, the jury should not be swayed by anything but evidence, not the emotional nature of a charge. 

The convicted are already contained and if they have life in prison, they are not going anywhere. It isn't for me about having sympathy for the truly guilty in one particular case, but more to the point being long term in what kind of society we want to live in. It is a bad idea to foster revenge in lawmaking or juries and can lead to a mob rule mentality.

[Ravenshire]

lower case punishment?

Evacuate the city of New York then put a giant wall around it. Stick all of the guilty there.

I'll bet that idea could be the premise of a really cool movie.

---

I'm not a fan of state sanctioned murder and providing an easy means of suicide would jus be pushing the responsibility back one step. Innocent people would likely still die under that system.

[Brian37]

lower case punishment?

Evacuate the city of New York then put a giant wall around it. Stick all of the guilty there.

I'll bet that idea could be the premise of a really cool movie.

---

I'm not a fan of state sanctioned murder and providing an easy means of suicide would jus be pushing the responsibility back one step. Innocent people would likely still die under that system.

Especially cases where someone is convicted on circumstantial evidence and or a "confession". When I was in collage I had met one man who had his conviction overturned and was set free. I talked on the phone, with another man, in prison that was convicted solely based on the testimony of another prisoner. It both cases the convictions were weak.

It is a myth as well that people do not confess to crimes they didn't commit. False confessions happen all the time, mainly due to sloppy and over aggressive investigations. And even entire private contracted labs have been busted for bad protocol and or fudging the numbers to gain convictions. 

Like I said in my prior post, I have no sympathy for the rightfully convicted. My concern is for the larger long term mentality in insuring quality of investigation and convictions so that the innocent are not railroaded by an over zealous society.