Open Discussion on Death Penalties

[NeoStarO1]

To be known upfront this is a discussion about the death penatlies.

Few Rules to keep in mind.

1. This is open discussion
2. Please do not condem someone else for thier thoughts and opionions stating they are wrong or immoral or whatever.
3. No hard feelings between any posters of this thread.

If i see this is happening I will request the thread to be closed.

**NOTE TO MODS** Feel free to squash this discussion if you feel this is inapporperate for this forum. I am only intersted in what other people have to say and think about this topic as I really don't have an opionion on this one way or another.


My thoughts and confusions of the dealth penalties.

I am neither for death punishment nor am I against them.

Sometimes I think the death penalties are too light of a sentence.

What I mean by this is that I often wonder if some of these people actually just commit crimes in odd hope of getting the death penaties because they do not have the guts to commit suicide or anything but have the guts to commit henious crimes. If this the case then the person who commited the crimes got thier wish. Then the death punishment has defeated the whole purpose.

My other thought is that if a person were to recieve the verdict of the dealth penaties it actually would end up saving us tax dollars in supporting these indivuals. It cost a lot of money to run these prisons and the more crimes commited and more people caught the more space they take up and thus more jails and prisons needed costing us tax dollars monies.

My other thoughts are that its inhuman to squash the life of another person regardless of thier henious crimes or not. Then again I bounce back and think well if this were my child or whatever then I am naturally going to feel much anger to the point where I would want to kill the person myself thus this thinking would be in support of the death punishment.

I also think the death punishment is too easy, what i mean by this is they strap them down and give them a leathal injection but before the lethal injection they put them to sleep first. So effectly they are nto going to feel a darn thing at all but the people that suffered at thier hands struggled to maintain and keep life only to have it squashed out by thier hands while figthing for life. There for my thoughts would be that if death punishment is to be metted out then why the "easy" way of painless put to sleep then killed way?

Im not trying to be morbid but I just can't help to feel for all these people that have been unjustifedly killed at the hands of the person doing the crime, they suffered so badly, how does the person who commit the crime suffer for thier mistakes other than being put to sleep then killed?

If we keep them in jails we the people the tax payers suffer for these people commiting crimes from grand theft to murder to support these criminals in our public jails.

I think you might be getting the idea why Im so confused on this subject. Its not one i discuss much because of the conflicting thoughts on this.

As for the case with insantiy pleas, without going into a certain case I think this is an indivual case by case situation.

Some people are clearly insane and show this but weather they get mental health treatment or jail time it still costes us money but then again if they are truely insane and get the death penalties what purpose would have been served other than justice for the families of the victims?

I have more thoughts but would like to save them and see what others have to say on the subject.

Please remember to post your thoughts or insights of how you see another persons post.

I dont' want a anti-death punishment or death punishment war in this thread. I just want your own personal opionions with no hard feelings with each other because I know this can be a sentitive subject for some people.

I am merely curious of how other people think and feel about this subject.

Thank you.

NeoStar

[NDC]

Personally? I say when there is sufficient evidience that this person comitted a crime that was enough for death penalty, yes, execute them... I don't think it's right to use tax money that was meant to benefit the lives of innocent people should be wasted on murders who bring the pain and suffering to others... And then again, no one has the right to execute a murderer and take away his/her life, but neither did the murderer... There's a lot more to why I've come to this conclussion, but I just don't want to write and essay on it..

[SpookyEddy]

I am against it because an apology after a wrong conviction isn't much good

However I do appreciate its a very complex argument with lots of pros & cons....

[osprey4]

I guess I'm a pragmatist. I believe the death penalty is justifiable socially. However, there's too much evidence to indicate that it is not used consistently and therefore no longer serves as either the tool of justice or the deterrent it should.

I don't think it's right to use tax money that was meant to benefit the lives of innocent people should be wasted on murders who bring the pain and suffering to others

No one wants tax money used to benefit murderers or other criminals, but our society guarantees everyone the right to a fair trial and the only way to do this in some cases is to pay a lawyer to represent the accused. So there's a balancing act. We want to make sure an innocent person is well represented so they're acquitted, but the guilty person convicted. All of this takes money.

It costs money to incarcerate a person for life. But it actually costs more money to execute a criminal because of the expense of all the appeals. If it was up to me, I'd bargain with the defense lawyer for a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

Interesting discussion,
John

Anyone that receives a "Life" sentence is a candidate for death row IMO. What's the sense of housing an inmate in a prison until they die of natural causes if a court has already determined that they will never again be permitted to return to the public sector?

As stated above, I'm not sure that the "humane" way we execute criminals in this Country really provides much of a deterrent by itself, but I think if we started executing more "lifers", it would. Even if it didn't provide any additional deterrent, I'd still be much happier to rid the world of these people rather than incarcerate them at my expense for the rest of their lives.

They say it actually costs more to execute someone than it does to keep them behind bars for life, but it's ridiculous to think it should take more than a couple hundred dollars to terminate and dispose of the remains of these people. Time to change the process!

[NeoStarO1]

It costs money to incarcerate a person for life. But it actually costs more money to execute a criminal because of the expense of all the appeals. If it was up to me, I'd bargain with the defense lawyer for a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

Good point here, i think that you are right that it actually cost more to execute a criminal because of appeals. But im wondering if the same cost wouldn't also apply to other types of criminal cases?

I don't think it's right to use tax money that was meant to benefit the lives of innocent people should be wasted on murders who bring the pain and suffering to others... And then again, no one has the right to execute a murderer and take away his/her life, but neither did the murderer...

this is also a good point that its not right to use tax money that was meant to benfit lives of the inocent people. I think this would be appllied to all crimanls in our prison systems. They take up quite a chunk of funds and here our schools and other programs are suffering cause tax dollars are going elsewhere. that is another subject but anyways.

On the latter half yes I agree with that so I guess that is where I am trying to understnad where is the right and where is it wrong to execute. Where is the real meaning of Justice has been served? Its not with proven the crimianl is guilty. but where does justice really begin to be served?

NDC, I hope I can talk you into sharing more of your insites of how you came to your conclusions, Its okay if its an essay.

[NeoStarO1]

They say it actually costs more to execute someone than it does to keep them behind bars for life, but it's ridiculous to think it should take more than a couple hundred dollars to terminate and dispose of the remains of these people. Time to change the process!

The way I understood that it cost more money to execute a criminal is the fact that they do not get thier punishment right away and most of these guys/gals are on death row for several years before actually being executed. I could be wrong on this. Thus the increase expense of additional appeals and court filings, attorney fees, and housing ect....Whearas if they were executed within a month without the right to appeal the court decision then cost would go down with fast executions.

I guess this might fall into that crimianals have a right to a fair trail but my opionion is that the first time they go to trial and decision is made that it should be it. Unless truely not guilty and thier is reasonable doubt. I think that most of these people on death row don't ahve the reasonable doubt because of the first verdict.

Still intersted in more thoughts.

[Knothead]

Death penalty for murderers is the rule. I support it, but very un-easily. This is a subject that has so many pros and cons, I'm sure we'll be at this thread forever.

Like Spooky Eddy, my largest consideration is the possibility of error...the wrong guy being put to death has happened, and many times, too! One major problem with the death penalty is its finality.

Also, I happen to be a supporter of the insanity defense, and I don't feel right about putting someone to death for doing something when they were incapable of comprehending the reality of it, or the consequences, etc. If insanity (even temporary) were like a virus that made you do stuff that was wrong, nobody would go to jail. We just wouldn't blame, because it would be very clear that the person was blameless; he caught a bug and so did what he did. And I posit that insanity can be likened to this analogy.

Then the redneck in me jumps up and says that all murderers by definition are insane, that's why they murder, so HANG 'EM!

Just my .02....I imagine there'll be a quarter's worth by the time THIS debate gets exhausted...

I'm not going to guess where all the expense is incurred, and truthfully it doesn't really matter to me because even if it does cost more, the death penalty is the right way to deal with people that commit heinous crimes.

Having said that, limiting the number of appeals and limiting the time frame for appeals would certainly also limit the expenses involved in an execution. I prefer the "Old West"style executions... after judgement, either take them directly to their death place, or execute the sentence at sunrise the following day.

It's not like capitol cases are rushed to trial, the time for fact finding is before and during the trial, not after the fact. Judges and jurys know what's involved when they pass judgement, so let the time for caution be exercised before the judgement is rendered, and let that judgement be Final

[TonTo]

i think a giant wall arounda closed off area of 500 to 800 square miles or so would be good. Throw all the bad people in there... and let them sort it out.............


unless it's completely totaly and beyond any doubt what so ever that they did it. Then, public execution after prolonged torture.