Your opinion on capital punishment

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Since we all here are deeply entangled with death, I was curious to know what people here think about capital punishment...are you in favor or against it?

My opinion: I am a huge lib when it comes to this kind of thing. In as much as I think there is something erotic about death, I do not think the state (or anyone else for that matter) has the right to take someone's life no matter what they did.
I am the first one to admit that there are people out there who have done terrible things and they should answer for their crimes, but I am not convinced that capital punishment deters people from commiting crimes.
I am in favor of rehabilitation like they do in Norway (google for prisons in Norway and you will be stunned). Their system is far more humane and efficent than the one used in most societies around the world.

Yout thoughts?
 
Our prisons are ghettos with bars. They cost a fortune to maintain and do little good. We should decriminalize drugs and free the drug offenders.

I'm OK with the death penalty if there is strong direct proof of guilt, like video surveillance or DNA. If we are going to murder in the name of societal good, it should not be behind closed doors. The job should be handed over to qualified necrophiles. The event should be broadcast on pay per view. That would jolt the citizens into thinking twice about doing a capital crime.
 
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I am in favour of capital punishment, there are some criminals whose crimes are so bad the decent citizens should not have to pay to feed them for decades while we wait for them to die naturally. For millenia death has been an appropriate punishment for such people. Execution is a punishment, lethal injection is too easy, like putting down an old dog, the worst criminals should be hung, or shot, I have no opinion as to whether it whould be in public or not. In the UK 70% of people want the death penalty to be available, the weasly parliament won't vote for it, it is still a possible punishment in the Armed Forces. I would serve on a firing squad, am not trained to do judicial hanging - I think those in favour of the death penalty should be willing to carry it out, although as a soldier my views on personally doing it might be different to a civilian. Those executed should be guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the worst crimes.
 
take america theya re a prime example... they say a murderer cannot be rehibilitated. why is this? because they know more than anyone that murder is the greatest experience you could ever imagine. the power over another man, the power to have his life in your hands, him at your mercy.. the american authourities and executioners love that power. they know murderers cannot be rehabilitated because they themselves are murderers who relish in killing another human being.. legal executions are the perfect way to experience killing another human. that and the military they also have the ability to murder and get away with it and the police.

the death penalty is odd for when i read a story of a young lad being executed fact or fiction it excites me. short breath, quickened heartbeat and hard on i dunno what it is its always when i read or hear executions. i only act the same way where hearts are concerned thats probably what excites me about executions the fact the aim in every execution is to destroy the mans heart. like i want to carry out such a thing or maybe that in a previous life (because i beleive in such things) that i was once executed. its really odd i find.

in my ideal world there would be none of this 20 year waiting. if the young male is proven guilty or admitted guilt he should be executed sooner. ideally id have a young man strapped to the gurney naked and with a scalpel i would slowly cut out his still beating heart and make him watch it pumping as he dies. i reakon thats what the chinese are doing, ripping their hearts out their chests instead
 
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I used to be strongly in favour of capital punishment but have veered towards wanting to see it abolished as mistakes can and have happened. Mind you, I think prisons ought to be for the severe crimes and there ought to be no way out for some of the worst criminals. Let them do good within the prison system if they rehabilitate.
 
I can't tell that I support capital punishment. As it has been said before, some criminals commit such horrible things that they just don't deserve to be killed in the end, that would be an easy way to punish them. In my opinion, making the worst criminals do some really dangerous jobs like working at nuclear plants or plants producing and testing biological weapons etc would be a better solution. I know that sounds rather fascict, but I can't really imagine any good reason for just keeping them in prison for years. Hope you undertsand what I mean.
 
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I also oppose capital punishment basically because I believe that any taking of a life by the state is morally wrong. And whilst your proposal to keep them alive to,do,dangerous work is superficially attractive I wonder how a criminal with no chance of parole might react in a situation where he has the opportunity of causing major chaos Ian's the death of others. Remember that dangerous work is dangerous for a reason and most employees take every precaution to avoid causing injury to themselves or others. Might that not be the case where a criminal with nothing to lose is involved.
 
I am totally in favor of Death Penalty.. It too me is not about detouring anymore, more or less to me its those who commit the crime like murder especially, also think anyone who maliciously rapes a woman should be put to death. Too me Death Penalty is too rid our world of those monsters who kill & vow to kill again if they could.. Also though anyone that kills outside of self defense & has proven & found guilty & has been id for sure by DNA.. Should be put to Death for their crime. They have no place in this world.. Anyone who kills another human being for no good reason & is found guilty should be put to Death.. I'd also like to see Rape, anyone who malest a child under age of 15 be put to Death too.. Those people are just plain sick n the mind..


I say don't kill the Death Penalty infact bring it back.. Lets wipe out the lethal injection & bring back Hangings & Guillotine & Electric Chair

If I ever was to commit a crime like that, I'd expect to be put to Death !! Bottom line..
 
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Capital Punishment doesn't work. But outside the moral issues involved, I think the true reason it doesn't work is the fact that they're not public. These days, in the US, an execution is sent to a back page of the newspaper, a footnote in a daily news, maybe a small mention in broadcasts. The people who commit capital crimes don't have a reason to think executions are real. Even with the commission of a capital crime, there's still the hope of a life sentence rather than execution. Its my personal belief that if executions were made public (and I don't mean with the commercialism of typical american television) that the reality of being put to death for those crimes that warrant it would be more in the criminal mind when they're committed.

Oh, I neglected to mention, Executions are also treated Humanely, and they shouldn't be. Capital crimes are often associated to horrific deaths of the victims. Callous disregard for the victim(s) is one of the reasons for the death penalty. There's no reason to be humane to those who treat their victims like that anyway.
 
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While I have always supported the idea of Capital Punishment, my issue with it particularly here in America is that it is not fairly applied. If you are able to provide a good attorney or team of attorneys for yourself, you can almost literally get away with murder or at the very least make sure you avoid the death penalty, while another person who only can afford the public defender provided for them winds up sentenced to death. When I taught Ethics before I pointed this flaw out in our system that we simply apply it randomly almost and for that reason along with the several mistakes that have been made where innocent people have been put to death, I have trouble supporting it as currently handled in the United States.
 
all for it.......................
 
How many innocent people have been executed for crimes they did not commit. Okay, forensic science has improved over the years but it cannot be infallible
And equally horribly how many people have died in prison whilst under sentence of death whilst waiting for the labarythian appeals process to drag to an end?
At least in the u.k the appeals process was fairly swift and death followed swiftly on sentence.
No, whilst I can understand why so many people approve of th death penalty but as for me its abolition was most welcome.
And as an experienced advocate, albeit not in the field of criminal law, I know how easy it is to lose a case because of an error on the advocates part, a judgement call as to what witness to call or question to ask etc. And guess how you would feel if it was your error of judgement which led to that client facing the rope or the blade.
 
lindier said:
How many innocent people have been executed for crimes they did not commit. Okay, forensic science has improved over the years but it cannot be infallible
And equally horribly how many people have died in prison whilst under sentence of death whilst waiting for the labarythian appeals process to drag to an end?
At least in the u.k the appeals process was fairly swift and death followed swiftly on sentence.
No, whilst I can understand why so many people approve of th death penalty but as for me its abolition was most welcome.
And as an experienced advocate, albeit not in the field of criminal law, I know how easy it is to lose a case because of an error on the advocates part, a judgement call as to what witness to call or question to ask etc. And guess how you would feel if it was your error of judgement which led to that client facing the rope or the blade.
Click to expand...

As my father was a barrister, soliciter and advocate, I remember him telling me "there is no witness who remembers exactly or tells exactly the same story each time asked. That in itself makes getting the court system to bring in only correct convictions difficult.

On your point about fast appeals - typically the appeals and death happened within three weeks of the original sentence and that was often within two months of the crime. The US system has become a horrible mismash of delays, both to original sentence and then to appeals. There is a book on Sing Sing of death penalty cases 1900 to the early 1960s and there the sentence was usually about 6 to 9 months from the crime and the electrocution was normally within nine to twelve months of the sentence so often criminals had only one birthday between crime and being electrocuted. Even that is long.
 
Interesting, I note my prior post to this thread. I swing back and forth. There are times when execution is the only appropriate punishment - rehab does happen but so rarely it seems not to be an option. I also believe the punishment should be within months of the crime and verdict. A crime in January, trial in July, execution by September (allows time for appeal). That way the prisoner knows what he is being punished for and has had long enough to conemplate his punishment without it dragging for years and having no relation to the crime. I also believe in it being public or at least televised.
 
I think no one can kill an other individual. I think capital punishment is barbarous and puts the State at the same level of the killer and mistake may happen! who does want to be the next victim of errors?
 
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