The Death Penalty

[Son-of-Rage-and-Love]

now here in america specifacally in california, not sure about other states or countries, the death penalty is a definate question. Many people think that it is cruel and unusual punishment which is unconstitutional, but I personally believe in the Death penalty, because i dont think people like that deserve the blessing of life, but whats your opinion.

[Epic-Bovine]

If what they did was severe enough to warrant a death penalty. Kill the s.o.b.

[Draconias]

Look, let's put it this way, very simply:

Every soldier is our army is potentially facing a "death penalty."
Every male adult can be drafted into the military.
Some criminals can do horrible, completely horrid things.

If we're willing to throw innocent, honest young men into bullets and grenades, we sure as hell should be willing to execute the sickest bastards in the scum of the bucket at home.

For example, take the BTK killing: the man raped a mother and daughter, over and over again, for hours, during prolonged strangulation, loosening the ropes every so often so that they didn't die, just so he could rape them longer.

Execute the sick fuck. People like that can not live, period.

As another example, people are still dangerous behind bars. A man was recently executed because he murdered one man. Then, behind bars, he ordered the murder of three more people. You can't lock up these people as if they're no longer a danger. If Prison will ever rehabilitate people, you need to, put simply, execute the true scum of the scummiest scum. They're dangerous anywhere.

You can say, "Oh, the death penalty is terrible!" But you aren't looking at some of the sick, terrible, horribly disgusting actions some of these prisoners commit.

[Cold]

At 1/17/06 08:29 PM, DEAFcon1 wrote: but whats your opinion.

I can see either side of this debate and can defend either on "moral" grounds.

For the death penalty:
First off, there is the matter of deterrence. There are (obviously) no repeat offenders when the death penalty is emplaced, whereas with life in prison, there are instances (although rare) of a repeat offence after conviction. Additionally, government has a higher obligation to protect society from those deemed as "dangerous" than to protect those considered dangerous themselves.
Secondly, and more notably, the amount that we are spending in upkeep for retaining prisoners is higher than what they deserve. Does the government have a higher obligation in feeding a prisoner or feeding a poor person? Some governments (currently) choose the prisoner, overstepping the social contract and implicitly showing that prisoners are valued MORE by society (being the government) than the poor.

Unfortunately, the only arguments that seem to present themselves on this side and constantly resurface are "revenge" (labelled as "justice" usually) and "closure for relatives" which I find both points for justifying the death penalty, extremely deplorable.

Against the death penalty:
Murder is immoral; therefore, murdering murderers is no more moral than the original murder.
blah blah blah... equal human rights... blah blah blah... basic necessities... blah blah blah... basic dignity. I'm pretty sure we're all familiar with the arguments on this side by this point, and it's really what people only focus on.

However, the main focus (for me at least) is at what point do we prioritize our prisoners above any other member of society who has not been labelled "dangerous" or "harmful" or to what extent do these prisoners deserve these so-called basic human rights.

[Son-of-Rage-and-Love]

dude overall i believe in revenge, IN FACT, i think the murderd persons family should be left alone with the guy and given lots of weapons, all security gaurds would "god get donuts" and then come back, and if the guy HAPPENED to be dead o well, that should be the death penalty in reality

[ThisAndThat]

America should set up "The American Coloseum" in Washington D.C. and have the most distasteful prisoners battle it out just like they did in the olden days.

[Nevyn]

I'm not supporting the Death penalty. First of all, what if the person is innocent? And I'm sure that the American goverment has killed many innocent people over the past few years. Secondary, it is a barbaric form of "justice". The people who do this can just as well be thrown into prison for the rest of their lives. They would get what they deserve (I think that getting locked in a little cell for 30 years is far worse then death.), without something awfull like that. And, more importantly, how can those people learn to respect life if Death is considered to be "fun" (Oh boy! Some bastard got cooked on the chair! Now I can talk and complain about something against me buddies! Woo-pee-doo!) and "justice" (Death never is justified. Things like these lead to crusades, justified wars, holocausts, etc...).