[The Tyrant Lizard]

Chilling words if you ever hear them, I'm sure you agree. But what if you're guilty of the crime you've been accused of? Do you think that in this modern age we should be using this archaic form of punishment?

In the past, innocent people have been hung/electricuted/gassed and shot. Many say that can be ruled out now due to DNA and forensic science, but does that mean Man has the right to judge his fellow Man, and has the right to sentance him to die?

For my part, I believe there are some crimes that must be punished with death. Serial killers should hang, child molesters should hang, and serial rapists should hang. I think anyone whose crime has ruined beyond repair, the life of their victim and their victim's family, should loose his/her own life. Obviously there would have to be yards of mitigating circumstances where a murderer would escape the death sentance - such as a man killing someone in a brawl. To some this would not be a wanton act of premeditated, cold blooded murder.

I think people who set out to cause harm and suffering, with no regard whatsoever to how their victims feel, should be treated with the same disregard. It would act as a deterent, a closure for effected members of the victims family, and a fucking good biblical punishment.

This post has been edited by RodeoRanch: 27 February 2009 - 08:55 PM

[paladin]

I believe in capital punishment. Some things are unforgiveable in life(thus your pennance is death) and some people who commit heinous crimes are unable to be rehabilitated at all

[drinksinbars]

have to say i agree with capitol punishment as well in certain cases. there is a growing sense of unreality with the escalation in criminal behaviour in the uk and the death penalty would be more frightening to the youths perpetrating vicious and heinous crimes against normal society.

[paladin]

and that is the point for it in the US. the death penalty is supposed to be a deterrant to capital crime

[Zanth13]

I have abosolutely no problem with the concept of the death penalty...

I do have a problem that with the current system we have set up, innocent people have been executed (this is a fact) and innocent people are on death row..

I think if even one innocent person has a chance of being killed by a national or state institution then it should not be allowed to operate... this is not to benefit the criminals but rather the public (read:innocent people)..

[ch'arlz]

Zanth13;269713 said:

I have abosolutely no problem with the concept of the death penalty...

I do have a problem that with the current system we have set up, innocent people have been executed (this is a fact) and innocent people are on death row..

I think if even one innocent person has a chance of being killed by a national or state institution then it should not be allowed to operate... this is not to benefit the criminals but rather the public (read:innocent people)..

then i fail to see how you can say "I have abosolutely no problem with the concept of the death penalty..." the way our system operates there's never certainty that the person being executed is actually guilty and the procedures put in place for execution effectively diminish any deterrent effect. so we kill people because it makes us feel better?? we're still barbarions.

[Zanth13]

ch said:

then i fail to see how you can say "I have abosolutely no problem with the concept of the death penalty..." the way our system operates there's never certainty that the person being executed is actually guilty and the procedures put in place for execution effectively diminish any deterrent effect. so we kill people because it makes us feel better?? we're still barbarions.

I dont look at it as a detterent or how ever you spell it....

Its punishment.... cause and effect....

Barbarianism is all a matter of perspective... it is not an actual defined term..I am just saying putting some one to death for a crime is not something I am against... Its just in the current system its not full proof until it is (when and if that is ever possible) I dont think we should have it... if one innocent person killed wrongly, is one to many... the system is set to protect people and if its doing the opposite of that.. then why have it

[Optimus Prime]

You can't take back death. In my opinion, killing someone gives them no chance to ever repent or make amends. Also, what about the concept of the death penalty being the easy way out for some? In my opinion, making a serial killer or rapist sit in jail for the rest of their life makes more sense and is the actual "greater" punishment.

I just don't think the death penalty actually accomplishes anything.

[Zanth13]

Xander;269730 said:

You can't take back death. In my opinion, killing someone gives them no chance to ever repent or make amends. Also, what about the concept of the death penalty being the easy way out for some? In my opinion, making a serial killer or rapist sit in jail for the rest of their life makes more sense and is the actual "greater" punishment.

I just don't think the death penalty actually accomplishes anything.

sure that works, except that then you have to pay for the persons living expenses with tax money.... so they get free food, room and board... and cable tv all on your buck...not cool..

at best put them to work... but then you have to worry about safety... and gasp human rights...;

[Optimus Prime]

IMO, prison should be just as much about rehabilitation as punishment. Of course, this idea looks better on paper than actually working. We need motivated people to work in prisons and higher pay, etc etc.

I had read somewhere it is actually more expensive to execute someone than actually keep them imprisoned...

[Obdigore]

Xander;269730 said:

You can't take back death. In my opinion, killing someone gives them no chance to ever repent or make amends. Also, what about the concept of the death penalty being the easy way out for some? In my opinion, making a serial killer or rapist sit in jail for the rest of their life makes more sense and is the actual "greater" punishment.

I just don't think the death penalty actually accomplishes anything.

And yet, why should that serial killer or rapist be able to sit in jail, for 40-60 years, on tax-payer coin, while doing no work.

Now, I am for bringing back work gangs. You work, digging ditches, crushing gravel, making license plates, whatever for the rest of your life. I am sick of this whole 'free ride in prison' thing, and yes, in some places it really is... trust me on this.

Edit for your edit: Xander, as to the rehab as much as punishment. Someone that went out and killed multiple people, or raped multiple people, should not be re-habbed. They should be taken out of society. Permenantally. Now as to the people who steal, or drug-related crimes, stuff like that, absolutely people should be rehabbed as much as possible, but remember that most work-places pull up your criminal record, and if you have been convicted of stealing 5 times, most places won't hire you, and so you will have to do SOMETHING to make money to live, right? There needs to be a change in thought of the entire society before true rehabilitation for something like theft can work. As to the drug thing, people either get clean or they don't, and I know Minnesota, at least, works to get people clean, with half-way houses and whatnot.

[Optimus Prime]

And in some prisons, it isn't a "free ride", it's torture. Trust me on this....

[Zanth13]

i have never been in prison but I know that normal county jails sucks the biggest donkey balls in the world....

[Obdigore]

Zanth13;269745 said:

i have never been in prison but I know that normal county jails sucks the biggest donkey balls in the world....

Jails are just boring. It is prison that bring variety to suckage/country clubbage. (It seems like there needs to be 2 b's in 'clubbage' to make it a correct word, it dosen't look right with 1. Am I right?)

[Raymond Luxury Yacht]

My take is that while some criminals deserve too be killed, it seems barbaric to kill them. Besides, life in prison seems worse than being executed.

[The Tyrant Lizard]

If these people have been proven murders/rapists/nonces or whatever, by video footage, or some other definate way, I think by killing them we take them away from society and prevent them from ever harming anyone again.

If this seems the be less of a punishment than prison, then I think prisons for the sickest of sickos should be twenty times worse than we have in this country at the moment. Why should they be allowed their human rights when they obviously dont care about other peoples? no teles, no lights at night, no yard walks, no cell mates and no visitors. a life time like that would be worse than death, and the government wouldnt have to pay Sky charges.

[Lost Marine]

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the death penalty cuts down on repeat offenses.

Ted Bundy killed at least thirty young women, but you know what? When they fried his ass at Stark down in Florida they made sure he'd never do it again.

As for the child molestation and rape, I think they also deserve a much worse punishment then are currently the case. I think that those crimes are worse then murder, at least in a murder the victim is dead and can't feel the pain anymore. In the other cases you're ending someone's life just as effectively, the difference is they're still around and have to live with the trauma everyday.

[Aptorian]

What I'd like, if I'd been really bad and faced 866 years in jail, was the option of the deathpenalty. Death has never scared me, a painless, easy death is nothing to worry about. That would save the system a lot of money and would save you from decades in a hostile environment without any hope of relief.

[Silencer]

I agree with Tyrant Lizard.

If you are properly convicted (with lots of evidence), or face more than one lifetimes' worth in jail, you get the death penalty.
It's simple, and (generally speaking) cheaper. Certainly, how do we condone that someone who disregards someone else's rights should have rights?
In NZ, we are seriously screwed up - for anyone who doubts that prison isn't a better life - Plasma TV's, UNDERFLOOR HEATING!!!, gyms, etc. OK, so that's just one country, but still, for the majority, this is better than what they have at home - why wouldn't they want a life sentence to that?
If you are going to punish somebody for killing someone, do you really want to make their life better?
True, for people who have problems such as drug abuse or other (less-than-murder) crimes, the main option should be rehab. But they would have to make sure that it worked.
Oh, and this definitely applies to NZ, not sure about other countries, how about actually making people serve their sentence? Like, murder here, is about 20 years. They are out in 13, sometimes as little as 7! What the hell? OK - so it contradicts my previous argument about prison being nicer than their homes, but still....

[Morgoth]

A legal system can never be perfect. There will always be people who are convicted for something they didn't do. Where the demand for evidence is at its strictest -as it would be with the death penalty- the chance of this happening is much less. However, there will always be error. The longer you practice capital punishment, the greater the chance of executing an innocent becomes. Eventually, it will happen, no matter what. It's pretty basic probability.

Secondly, in the US, it costs more to execute a criminal than it costs to imprisson them for life. Why? Because they work so hard to avoid killing someone innocent. The legal costs are massive.

Thirdly, there is no proven deterent effect of capital punishment. The kind of crime that is awarded with death tend to be the kind where no thought of consequences get even the tiniest say.

Fourthly, how is the death penalty anything but revenge? A system of justice that honours revenge for the sake of revenge is in my opinion barbaric.

And finally: I do not believe the state should have a legal right to sentence people to death. It opens for abuse, it opens for error, it opens for mistakes of the gravest kind.