Death Penalty Vote

[The Grand Nudger]

Yup yup, some people, when faced with a murderer, are willing to become murderers themselves.  Not even gonna criticize them for it.  I will say that their willingness to become a murderer in response to a murder should not force or compel -all- of us to become murderers in the same situation.  There's really no way to get around that, particularly since a hell of alot of taxpayer money is spent murdering murderous inmates.

As to previous comments, by others, do we not consider hacking someone up with a machete -or- injecting them with poison to be equally murderous, or are those seperate crimes when John Q does it, rather than the state?

[abaris]

Yup yup, some people, when faced with a murderer, are willing to bcome murderers themselves.

Don't get me wrong. If I catch someone red handed hurting one of my family or friends, there's no guarantee what I would do. I'm not so sure if someone handed me a machete, gun or simply access to the death button months or years later.

One is a heat of the moment reaction, the other one a deliberate act.

[The Grand Nudger]

I know how you feel.

[Whateverist]

Yeah, I'd be for it if it saved money AND I had confidence in its being applied fairly and unerringly. But I don't so I'd vote no.

[Thumpalumpacus]

I don't even know why it matters -how- we kill a person if we're determined to kill them.   May as well sell tickets to the family of the victim for 5 minutes with a machete.  At last, then, it would be transparent...and we could recoup some of the cost.

No reason to be cruel and uncivilized, we've got this shit down to an industrial science.

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[img]http://67.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3d0g6FGGF1r5uj94o1_400.gif[imng]

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So you feel Justice should be served with a side of exploitation and mob rule for dessert?

I'm quite uncertain justice is served by capital punishment.

[Ravenshire]

My home state (Oregon) hasn't executed anyone in my lifetime, despite capital punishment being a thing.  People sentenced to die in Oregon currently appear to be sentenced for life, because we ain't killin' 'em.  

In my adopted state of Washington, capital punishment is technically legal but is under moratorium by executive order.

It seems to me in both states, the practice could be outlawed without any real effect, beyond making the prod-death penalty crowd apoplectic.

Actually:

Two people have been executed in Oregon since the reinstatement of capital punishment in 1978. Both waived their appeals and asked that the execution be carried out.

I clearly remember the candlelight vigils held for these executions and thinking (at the time) what a bunch of fools they were to hold a vigil for a killer. Needless to say, I've changed my stance since then. Like Washington, the death penalty in Oregon is currently under moratorium by executive order of (former) Governor John Kitzhaber and has been reaffirmed by Governor Kate Brown.

At best, capital punishment is vengeance carried out by the state in the name of the victim's survivors. At worst, it is the very crime that would carry the punishment in the state it's implemented in. It's expensive, ineffective in it's stated purpose (deterrent) and too many innocents have already swung.