The Death Penalty - are you for or against it and why?

[mariuss]

the death penalty is often sentenced to innocent people, the judiciary system is not perfect, for this reason alone it shouldn't be allowed
in fact no one has the right to decide who dies, not even god, santa or the unicorn

[The Grand Nudger]

especially not those damned zionists, eh Mariuss...eh?

[Violet]

the death penalty is often sentenced to innocent people, the judiciary system is not perfect, for this reason alone it shouldn't be allowed

Because only perfection is allowed. Your flesh is imperfect: remove it or turn it into something perfectly presentable.

in fact no one has the right to decide who dies, not even god, santa or the unicorn

This no one guy is pretty damn amazing.



And thus puppies were born. Mmmm

[Oldandeasilyconfused]

Well,somebody rapes or murders one of mine,or steals my bicycle,I'm 100% in favour of the death penalty. However, if I should rape or murder somebody, or steal their bike I'm 100% opposed*.

A moral relativist, I'm in favour of consistency,but not of moral or legal absolutes. I reject the notion of mandatory sentencing as innately unjust.--Of course that's assuming one subscribes to the naive idea that the law is about justice.

Thought for the day

A Liberal is a Conservative who has just been arrested. A Conservative is a Liberal who has just been mugged. (anon)

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*tangent: I use the bicycle example,as when I was in China.a man was executed for running a gang of bicycle thieves.

[reverendjeremiah]

**update**

I have changed my position on the Death Penalty.

I have changed my vote to "oppose it" as I no longer see a reason for allowing a government agency, or any agency for that matter, the right to execute people for any reason.

[Napoléon]

I have changed my vote to "oppose it" as I no longer see a reason for allowing a government agency, or any agency for that matter, the right to execute people for any reason.

What reason did you have in the first place?

[kılıç_mehmet]

Indeed, in cases of treason, and during war for cowardice and desertion, the death penalty should be enforced.
And any captured enemy spies(during war or peace time) should be interrogated first and then hanged in public, so everyone can see what a dead spy looks like.
For other crimes, well, I don't know. Like killing a man for killing another man, well it won't bring him back, although this is like a deep moral quesiton, I think that it does not really serve to deter people from (willfully)killing others, but I'm sure that it will deter cowards and deserters who run away to escape death, and spies, who try their best not to be captured.

[reverendjeremiah]

I have changed my vote to "oppose it" as I no longer see a reason for allowing a government agency, or any agency for that matter, the right to execute people for any reason.

What reason did you have in the first place?

My reason to support it was I didnt like the idea of murderers in jail with non-murderers. If they kill someone in jail, what do they get? Another life sentence?

Abolish the death penalty and ensure that murderers stay away from general population for the duration of their sentence.

[kılıç_mehmet]

I have changed my vote to "oppose it" as I no longer see a reason for allowing a government agency, or any agency for that matter, the right to execute people for any reason.

What reason did you have in the first place?

My reason to support it was I didnt like the idea of murderers in jail with non-murderers. If they kill someone in jail, what do they get? Another life sentence?

Abolish the death penalty and ensure that murderers stay away from general population for the duration of their sentence.

Well, one could say the same if a murderer murders another murderer in jail just for murderers. Now what do we call that? A Gladiator pit?
Or prison?
It does not matter with whom the murderers stay. It's generally better if the prison system would try to rehabilitate them, rather than to simply isolate them from society, because this is where you actually allow them to become desperate and hopeless, and maybe commit more crimes in prison. But if you give them hope, that they might one day get out of prison, and lead a normal life like anyone else, I'm sure that even murderers will behave, reconsider their misdeeds, and eventually lead a normal life once they get out. As for people who get a life sentence, I think that the life sentence was thought as a method of penance, rather than rehabilitation. If so, people with life sentences should be given a chance to prove themselves within prison walls. They could be trained to act as guides for newcomers, as counsellors for group therapies, and even could work as overseers in prison factories.
Even in a situation like a life sentence, you can give these men a purpose.
But the prison system was not built to actually do this. It exists to simply keep them locked up.

[Anomalocaris]

Well, one could say the same if a murderer murders another murderer in jail just for murderers. Now what do we call that? A Gladiator pit?
Or prison?
It does not matter with whom the murderers stay. It's generally better if the prison system would try to rehabilitate them, rather than to simply isolate them from society, because this is where you actually allow them to become desperate and hopeless, and maybe commit more crimes in prison. But if you give them hope, that they might one day get out of prison, and lead a normal life like anyone else, I'm sure that even murderers will behave, reconsider their misdeeds, and eventually lead a normal life once they get out. As for people who get a life sentence, I think that the life sentence was thought as a method of penance, rather than rehabilitation. If so, people with life sentences should be given a chance to prove themselves within prison walls. They could be trained to act as guides for newcomers, as counsellors for group therapies, and even could work as overseers in prison factories.
Even in a situation like a life sentence, you can give these men a purpose.
But the prison system was not built to actually do this. It exists to simply keep them locked up.

You haven't had much experience with the Calvinist roots underneath much of the vindictive American conservative mentality that revels in the self-righteousness that can only come with writing people off, have you?