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'let the female dog die' sums up my views on the death penalty. The first mistake you all make is being PC on the subject.
Okay, and here is where I defend. Those of you who say that life in prison is better...how is that even living? Where in that is life? I'm dead serious! Its like being held as a vegetable on life support until you die, and its the reason my grandma stopped dialysus and died in her sleep. There is no life once you throw it away like that, and I sure as hell don't want the mother freakers back on the street.

Exactly. This is why I feel life in prison isn't any better than the death penalty.

In fact it costs us more money to uphold.

The only one being satisfied is symbolism.

What about rehabilitation? What's the point of stuffing people in prison without rehabilitating them? It doesn't make people any better. What's the point of execution? Congratulations, you made a man completely defenseless and then murdered him in cold, cold blood.

Those who can't be rehabilitated can be stuffed in a prison, sure, but do we have the right to end the lives of sane men, or to put them in prisons where they'll go insane? If we rehabilitate the criminals so they can properly function in society, we will not have overcrowded prisons and we'll have more workers.

For the moment, yes. And until the cost can be brought down to the cost of life imprisonment, I am against the death penalty in practice. However I am for it in principle and when the cost does get there I would advocate using it.

You know as well as any of the rest of us does that many criminals are simply not worth trying to rehabilitate. Some of the problems that turn people to crime simply can't be solved in any economically worthwhile way.

I'm all for the death penalty...
And not the weak, painless kind. I think levels of torture should be dished out. And make it more public. Why make it as painless as possible? They won't feel as much pain as the families who lost someone.

There are some people who are completely useless to society... practically monsters. Even in prison, they are still dangerous to society.
There's the fact it costs a crap load of money to keep them in prison for life.
It can deter other criminals (although you'll always have the crazy insane who won't think twice anyways).
You can't change a person... especially in a prison.

I want harsher punishments all-around for serious crimes. Slap on the wrist for rape? Please, come on. The last I heard was 25% of all women get raped. Maybe if there was actual justice, things will change.

I agree with those who say that it's better to die than to live a life in prision. But my opinion is the opposite - I think the worst criminals should rot in prision for the rest of his/her life. The prision should be hell on Earth, so that every potential criminal thinks twice.

Keeping the society in fear to a certain extent helps to controll it, doesen't it?

If the criminal(s) have clearly been proven that they are guilty,If the criminal(s) have done a major felony, then they deserve the death penalty, in my opinion.

I'm against the death penalty but, I guess I could change my mind. I mean I've never had someone close to me be killed, thankfully. Hopefully it never does but if it did I'm not so sure I could keep the same views. The reason I'm against it is because it's just not ok to kill someone no matter the circumstances.

You don't believe it's worth it to help someone? I completely disagree. I think killing people and throwing others in jail without giving a decent attempt to rehabilitate them is immoral and wrong. It is economically worthwhile. When they're released back into society as corrected, sane individuals, they'll contribute to the economy. They'll pay taxes--and they'll sure as hell do a lot more work than prisoners do, not to mention we won't have to pay to take care of them anymore.

And JaFF, a society controlled by fear is a weak society and an oppressed society. Controlling a society by fear isn't right. It's wrong. Besides, people who decide to become murderers expect to get away with it. They don't fear the death penalty because they think they won't get caught.

Any society (exept the one Jesus tried to create) is controlled by fear to some extent. (i used that word in my previous post, but I guess you didn't notice it) If criminals were not punished at all, the crime level would be much higher. So people are indeed afraid.

People are oppressed just because they can't controll themselves. So something else is needed to control them atleast a bit.

Ahem. There's a difference between helping someone and trying to help someone. We can never guarantee that rehabilitation will work, and in fact in many cases (and probably almost all cases in which the death penalty would be used) it does not.

Controlling a society through fear is wrong. However controlling would-be criminals with fear is not always wrong and is probably necessary. There is no reason to be afraid if you do not intend to commit any crimes.

JaFF: So? Even if most every nation in the world uses fear to control their people, that doesn't mean its moral. If everyone else jumps off a cliff, do you also jump off a cliff? Using fear to control people "to an extent" is using fear to control people. It doesn't matter to what extent it happens--no matter what extent to which it happens to, it happens. However, I admit defeat--fear is required to prevent crime, but that doesn't mean it's right. Call me an idealist.

Meklar: Trying to help criminals is still worth it. Even if we only rehabilitate one in a hundred prisoners, thousands of prisoners will be able to function successfully in society.

Snake)Ling, you are an idealist, and you are correct - it's not right to controll someone through fear. But what choice do we have? None at the moment.

I'm for it. Period. It's not used enough in this country. I also think that it should be used only in very certain cases, as most murder convictions are.

That is correct. However, as we've been saying, if it is necessary to scare would-be criminals in order to keep them from committing crimes, well, it's necessary and we've got to do it. The last thing we can do is let the criminals commit crimes unhindered.

What you don't seem to realize is that it's the ratio that makes it worth it or not. If you scale the operation up, the cost and the successes both go up, but the success rate stays approximately the same. And at a rate of 1 in 100 it is almost certainly not worth it, no matter whether you make 100 attempts or 10000000.

What's the point of stuffing people in rehabilitation when they've already killed someone? That doesn't bring anyone back to life, and chances are very low it will stop anyone else from dieing. It's too late for rehabilitation and it is impossible to work out anyways. "Oh if I pretend to be rehabilitated I can get away with killing". Do you know how many killers would be able to get away with that? The problem is solved if they don't kill in the first place, and that can be achieved with negative consequences.

It is perfectly ok to use fear to control people in certain circumstances. Fear is not that big of a deal, fear is essentially anything that you don't like. I fear homework, and it is forced on me. That doesn't mean it's evil, it's for my better interest. You are attempting to impose your lifestyle universally but not everyone is like you. The only universal morals are: Don't hurt others, don't hurt yourself. You have absolutely nothing to fear unless you want to hurt another person.

I think the death penalty is still around becuase many people don't want their tax dollars keeping supposide prisoners alive. They would rather have their tax dollars used to kill the criminal instead of keeping he/she alive.

In my community, the majority of people don't want the death penalty. I'd prefer my tax dollars be used to keep people alive, rather than kill them, or fund police so that the murder doesn't happen in the first place. What if they got the wrong person and executed someone innocent?

That's why the process takes so long. Also, you can only get accidently convicted if by some amazing miracle you happen to fit every description of the killer. If you somehow do, then too bad for you for being so suspicious/notorious/evil. There is never 100% evidence of anything anyways and if you have substantial evidence against you then it was probably your fault to begin with.

Police can't actually stop a murder. It's not like they can detect murderous intentions from miles away, appear at the scene without the victim contacting them, and then stop the killer from murdering. The only true way to stop a murder is to scare killers into submission, and the death penalty is a great way to do that. "Kills two birds with one stone."

Publicly viewed deaths are illegal... to some way... in that it's against human rights... I forget how... for example is the video of Sadam Hussain being executed... wait that was public... I don't understand!!!


True that it may have been due to their lack of education, and I agree, but letting them go is also bad, that would then cause anarchy right?



Torture is against human rights... or something like that.
Changing a person is possible, as through experiences we chance, and maybe prison will change them...? I'm not making any sense am I...?
Harsher punishments for serious crimes? I agree!

I can never be in favour of the death penalty. I just don't think that anyone deserves to die. Sure, there are some people that are true monsters, but I think that they should be locked away to suffer for their entire lives, rather than enjoy the escape which death would afford them. Besides, if someone is dead then they can't prove their innocence if new evidence comes to light.

The prison system would need a rehaul if the death penalty was done away with, though.

I envision a future where prisons will be massive (either subterranean or high-rise), modular (so they can be expanded) and almost fully automated. There will be only a few overseers for every thousand prisoners. The locks on doors and floors will be controlled by a central system which locks everything down if trouble starts. There will also be vents for sedative gases to calm down unruly prisoners. I can think of a lot of things which would make for more efficient (yet still humane) prisons. One problem would be making the prisoners productive so that, if they are in huge numbers, they don't waste resources. They would work on site, in hydroponic farms maybe, so they produce food for themselves. Or they would do other tasks in exchange for 'credits' which they would then be able to redeem at dispensers for food and other items.

Well, that turned into a 'prison of the future' ramble.

I don't consider death to be an 'escape'. I would much rather be in prison and have the hope of getting out than be dead. Not saying the criminals necessarily think the same thing, of course.

I agree with this concept. We have the appeals process's that make sure that people do not get wrongfully executed. And there is no proof that someone has ever been executed . or at least there are maybe one or two that may have been according to some people you listen two.