Views on the Death Penalty? (a poll)

[Thumpalumpacus]

Then society went all PC.  We got rid of the death penalty.  Crime went through the roof and penalties appeared to do the reverse.

http://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/fi...trends.jpg

You were saying?

Those goddamned facts!

I also think we should put them on an island with some building materials and some seed.  Let them support themselves in a place they cannot inflict their evils onto society at large.

Yeah, we brits tried that and ended up with Australia  

See what I'm sayin'? Bloody brilliant!

[KUSA]

I am for the death penalty for heinous crimes if the evidence is clear.

I am also for removing someone's hand for repeat theft offenders.

Violent and repeat rapists should have their genitals removed.

[Aristocatt]

Vehemently against.
More expensive than life in prison.
Doesn't deter crime.
Risk of executing the wrong person.
Retribution seems like a bad thing to have in your moral framework.

[Justtristo]

Vehemently against.
More expensive than life in prison.
Doesn't deter crime.
Risk of executing the wrong person.
Retribution seems like a bad thing to have in your moral framework.

I would agree with you that the death penalty is not a deterrent. However if you are a loved one of victim of a murderer, having that perpetrator die often brings closure. That in my opinion is a valid for reason for Capitial Punishment for offenses such as murder.

[Longhorn]

I would agree with you that the death penalty is not a deterrent. However if you are a loved one of victim of a murderer, having that perpetrator die often brings closure. That in my opinion is a valid for reason for Capitial Punishment for offenses such as murder.

What about being a loved one of wrongly convicted and seeing them be executed?

Are you really in favor of killing people so other people can feel better? Why can't the offender serving life in prison bring closure to the victim's loved ones?

I mean, come on. Penalty or punishment in the name doesn't change the fact that it's still fucking killing people.

[bennyboy]

I think the grief of families of victims is too often cited. In my opinion, one of the benefits of rule of law is that we establish rules of justice without regard to the emotional passions which may carry us to a call for blood.

But this doesn't just protect the killers. It protects those who would call for blood from sharing the guilt of the one being punished.

[Joko]

I am opposed to the death penalty under all circumstances. It seems wrong to take a life for taking a life. Indeed, it's a bit hypocritical, no?

We need to be focused on redemption, not cold revenge.

[Ravenshire]

Yeah, mistakes cut both ways, so kill em just to be sure!

Have you hit your head on something hard?

No and no.

If society, as a whole, believes in capital punishment, then society has to accept the guilt that goes with getting it wrong.  Society may or may not care.  I do.

On the other hand, if society, as a whole, doesn't believe in capital punishment, then society likewise has to accept the guilt when it gets it wrong and a murderer escapes to kill again.  Society may or may not care.  I do.

In the society in which I live, there seems to be a bias.  That bias results in the guilt felt by executing an innocent exceeding that felt in the case of a murderer escaping and repeating his crime.  So be it.  I accept the majority view.  Personally, I feel the opposite.

I don't know the numbers off-hand, but I'd be willing to bet the number of death penalty convictions where either the conviction was overturned or the executed was exonerated (post-mortem) outnumbers the cases of escaped murderers killing again.

[Ravenshire]

Oh you're full of it. Quite a feat, happily offering to pull the trigger and at the same time professing how reluctantly you accept the alleged majority view that one should err on the side of killing to many people. Haha.

I lived in an Arab country for a few years.  If you murdered out there, you were executed.  If you stole, your hand was chopped off.  Brutal?  Yes it was.  What kind of society did you get in return?  One where one could go out at any time day or night and feel completely safe.  I rarely locked my flat or my car.  The chances of losing my keys exceeded the chances of being robbed.  I didn't have an issue with my daughters or my wife being out late at night.  They, in all probability, would be safe.

In this country, I once had my car broken into so often, the local garage ran out of locks.  Most people lock their doors because they have to.  I don't even go out after dark, let alone my wife and daughters.  This is the kind of 'life' we have created because we have gone soft on criminals.

OK, I could leave this country, but is that the answer?

You don't need to leave the country. Just move out of the shit neighborhood you live in. For fucks sake, I don't fear going out at night, even in downtown Denver.

[Ravenshire]

If we do not execute murderers, we then have to put them in jail and consider the possibility of parole.

There is this little thing called "life in prison without possibility of parole."

The rest of your argument is just emotionally charged twaddle.