DEATH PENALTY- For or Against?

[Journeyman]

We are having a controversy in our state at the moment over a man who has been on death row for 17 years..

His lawyers are complaining that death by lethal injection is cruel and possibly keeps the inmate alive and suffering for too long...

I wonder if when he raped and killed his victim, he did this in a timely and painless fashion...

 

[xpanda]

Against.

 

[Oceans11]

Not that bothered.

Those that don't get executed are left in a 15 x 15 concrete box until they go by natural causes.

Pretty crappy choice, whichever way you look at it.

Good fun for the legal dudes though.

 

[Meanstreak]

If I don't have the right to kill then the government should not have the right either.

Peace.

 

[jaypaw]

said like a true canadian

 

[Phaedrus]

Against, believe it or not. Revenge and justice are not the same thing, and added to the gross incompetence across the nation which has put dozens if not hundreds of innocent men and women on death row, there is simply no way that I could support it.


Phaedrus

 

[Massmilwaukee]

Cost.
It costs more to put one inmate on deathrow than to keep them in the general population for the rest of their life.

 

[UncleMoneybags]

massmilwaukee,

Do you happen to have some supporting #'s?

I wholeheartedly support the quick execution of people deserving of such a fate. All these years and years of appeals is BS. If you can be reformed, do it before you murder someone else or you can say your prayers to the deity of your choice.

 

[barman]

I think it should only be carried out on those convicted for ANY crime, who ask to be executed.

 

[jaypaw]

massm

can you measure the cost of someone set free who will be a repeat offender?

surely to let everyone free who has committed a capital offense would result in a far larger cost to society than to keep them incarcerated.

 

[PatPatriot]

I don't believe in the electric chair...try electric bleachers.

 

[Degenerate]

Against for EXACTLY the reasons Phaedrus mentioned.

 

[Railbird]

For

 

[Journeyman]

One I have considered too, but what about the cases where there is NO DOUBT that the muderer is guilty?

I wonder just how many innocent men have indeed been executed...the thing is though, if we`re going to have the death penalty either have it and get it over with or do away with it...these 20 year, in and out of court appeals BS does nothing but dredge up the pain for the victims families...not too mention the absurd costs.

 

[Marco]

For the death penalty but the evidence has to be solid......

....someone pointing a finger and saying "he did it" doesn't count....

....as far as saying that lethal injection is cruel or unusual.....give them the choice between that or sitting in the electric chair and getting jolted to death....I think that going to sleep would be picked in a damn hurry.....

 

[lander]

If one innocent man is executed then the entire idea of "execution" has faltered.

Assuming that our incompetent judicial fuks will almost certainly make several of those mistakes I must side against the death penalty.

 

[DarrylParsons]

I'm for it in principle but I share Phaedrus' concerns. If the judicial system were strict enough so that the probability of being wrongly sentenced to death would be the same as dying from general anesthetic, say, (about 1 in 10,000), then I'd be in favor of it in practice as well.

 

[cussin'it]

The mere fact that more than one person has been exhonorated from death row, due to human error, dna, false witness proves that the death penalty has been state-sanctioned murder.
I detest that the state has this power. Human beings make mistakes and the odds have it that at least one innocent has been wrongly put to death.

All states should take a lesson from the Gov of Illinois and follow suit.

Vehemently AGAINST

 

[Marco]

The advances in the technologies behind DNA and forensic sciences, when properly applied, leaves little doubt about the guilt of certain subjects.....

Sad part is when these killers are brought to justice through the use of these established practices, that when a death penalty is handed out by a jury, it takes 10 or 15 years and endless appeals to see justice meted out....

People don't realize that a life sentence doesn't always end with some withering old man dying of old age in a federal prison.....other offenders are sentenced and due to demands that overcrowding creates......life sentences turn into sentences that free murderers long before thier life is over.

Life sentence? Tell that to the family of the next victim of the murderer serving a life term that got paroled....

Maybe when guys just as bad as Bundy, Gacy, and Dahmer get let out of a life sentence and move in next to some of you guys against the death penalty......then you will realize that it might have been safer living had they been put to death and justice had been given....

 

[barman]

marco, you and I see a lot from similar eyes, but I'll tussle with you on the notion that 'life sentences' are being paroled except in remote cases.

The sentencing laws nationwide over the past 20 years have been fairly consistent about keeping murderers with lengthy or life sentences intact.

Yes, I would be alarmed if Bundy/Dahmer/ types who avoid execution were being paroled, but they're not.

And except in clearly heinous cases and/or measurable mental defect, parole should always be a viable option even for those convicted of murder.