The Death Penalty

Jesse Moody

This was in the news today and I wanted to see what others thoughts on the death penalty are and capital punishment.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071217/ap_on_re_us/death_penalty_new_jersey

Wells

wow. they're really jerking themselves off about this decision.

they're not even the first state to do this.

blankslatejoe

hm..first in 40 years? im suprised new mexico wasnt it. Theyve been on the verge of banning it forever now--I thinkt there's been an unofficial boycott for a few years now and their death row is down to 2 people or something.

I dunno how I feel about the death penalty. I do know that if I ever commit a capital crime, it sure as hell wont be in texas.

notman

I think the death penalty should always exist for extenuating circumstances... That being said, New Jersey can do whatever they want

I love the argument I've been hearing on the news. "The use of DNA has increasingly proven how many people were wrongly convicted." The use of DNA is exactly why it should be kept now... not why it should be eliminated. It was the lack of DNA that caused the improper convictions. Now that we have DNA, we can make more accurate convictions.

Ok, I'll now await the argument about the hypocracy of killing a killer, and the eventual thread lock

Jesse Moody

I look at it that if a man rapes and kills children he deserves to die. In my eyes there is no act that person could ever perform that could make up for a heinous crime like that.

Finding god in jail? Yeah no dice pal. Heres your last meal and the sleepy time shot.

Rhinokey

i like the death penalty, think it should be used more. prisons are over crowded and cost too much. people are animals and if you can not contribute, or at least not muck things up then let them get put down

Slum

Soylent Green.

ChaosEidolon

Good.

I think the problem is more about the having a punishment that is vindictive as opposed to preventative. It does send a wrong message. People who murder arent often the sanest of individuals, so no matter what you have as the penalty, its not likely it will deter them, so i dont think that the argument that the threat of death is preventative is very valid.
Its a practical consideration. Remove dangerous people from the populace to maintain order, dont encourage vindictiveness and cover your ass in case they are proven innocent do to some future evidence.

Rick Stirling

Utterly opposed to it, except for people under a certain IQ, or all children in Leith between the ages of 11 and 16 who hang around outside Tescos on Poundwise.

And people who walk too slowly.

And people who watch X Factor.

Jeremy Wright

I'm pro capital punishment. The cost of housing an inmate is pretty damn high, prisons are overcrowded all over the country, and (I believe) some crimes warrant death. Also, I think we need to do away with lethal injection, gas/electric chambers, etc and exclusively use firing squads. I'm sorry if it sounds cold, but that's just how I feel.

blankslatejoe

"--and the sleepy time shot."

See, part of me understands you, but I can see the cruel and unusual aspect of the death penalty as it stands now--lethal injection, which most states use (one or two still use the chair) most of the times is not a simple sleepytime shot--its pretty easy to botch up. Regardless of my opinion of the death penalty though, or hwat I think of the cons who are on death row or their crimes, I think its pretty important to the basic US right's integrity to make it quick and humane.

The most 'humane' method of death is probably beheading or hanging, both of which have fallen out of 'favor' for understandable reasons. I dunno. I can see why its a hotly debated topic.

AstroZombie

Yea, it doesn't deter anyone from killing, but it does ensure that they will never kill again.

I'm for it, I realize that it's not preventative but it is a way to permanently remove those people from society and our gene pool.

In before lock!

[ QUOTE ]
The cost of housing an inmate is pretty damn high

[/ QUOTE ]

It actually costs more to execute someone than imprison them for life by the time they make their way through the appeal system.

blankslatejoe

[ QUOTE ]
Utterly opposed to it, except for people under a certain IQ,

[/ QUOTE ]

actusally, I think theres now a federal law that states if youre too stupid you CANT be killed. There were a lot of mentally handicapped people on death row, I believe.

Gav

I kind of wish Canada would adopt the death penalty, or at least more severe punishment. A guy here (BC) gets second degree murder for 6 people and only gets 1 life sentence. Not like, 6 back to back ones. He's also going to be on trail for like...20 other ones. Even if he's guilty for all of those, it's still just the one life sentence. Possibly the worst serial killer in Canadian history and the dude just rots in jail and could probably even get out. Doesn't seem fair to me...he kills tons of hookers, it costs us money to put him on trial AND to keep the fucker alive. Basically what 8FTSpider said

danr

"i sentence you to death by firing squad"

"fuck me, that's a bit strong. What's that about?"

"well, y'see, it'd cost quite a lot of money to house you in prison, and besides, they're full enough as it is. It's a positive nightmare in there, all crowded and stuff. So we thought we'd shoot you dead, instead."

"blimey"

... does that not sound just a teensey bit mental to you?

gauss

haha seriously Jesse how was this a good idea