The death penalty. Yes or no?

[haranguerer]

I dont believe its acceptable regardless of guilt.

Its wrong to kill, so if you kill anyone, we'll kill you. How does that work?

And the whole 'arguments' of 'What if it was your child?' etc are plain stupid. Whats the point of a societal justice system if its based on how'd you'd feel if you were personally involved? Thats not justice, its revenge.

[AZOffaly]

I presume it's not meant to be an eye for an eye, or any of that sort of stuff, in Western Society at least. I believe it is supposed to be a deterrent to others, but I'm not so sure that's been a roaring success either, given murder rates in the US. Actually I must look up the murder rate per capita in states where Capital Punishment is allowed, versus where it is banned.

I don't think it's trying to show the offender that killing is wrong by killing them. That would be sort of self defeating I think

[mylestheslasher]

Is it ok to put people in jail for the rest of their life, put them on 24/7 lockdown and possibly solitary, brand them a murderer and tell the victims family that the right man is in jail when we in fact it appears we cannot be 100% certain that he is guilty. Is that ok on the moral compass?? For me there is not a lot of difference between executing someone and doing the above to them. In fact the main difference is that I have to pay to keep child rapists and murderers in prison in this country at a cost of 10's of thousands a year. That money should be used to support victims and their families.

If the guy admits he has done the crime is it still immoral to execute him given that it rules out the chance he is innocent?

[93-DY-SAM]

What punishment fits the cases of these two particular individuals?

[AZOffaly]

Is it ok to put people in jail for the rest of their life, put them on 24/7 lockdown and possibly solitary, brand them a murderer and tell the victims family that the right man is in jail when we in fact it appears we cannot be 100% certain that he is guilty. Is that ok on the moral compass?? For me there is not a lot of difference between executing someone and doing the above to them. In fact the main difference is that I have to pay to keep child rapists and murderers in prison in this country at a cost of 10's of thousands a year. That money should be used to support victims and their families.

If the guy admits he has done the crime is it still immoral to execute him given that it rules out the chance he is innocent?

One main difference myles, is that if you find out a miscarriage of justice has occurred you can at least apologise, compensate and let the lad out. Hard to do that when you've fried him on chair or injected him with window cleaner.

[AZOffaly]

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/deterrence-states-without-death-penalty-have-had-consistently-lower-murder-rates

[Hardy]

Is it ok to put people in jail for the rest of their life, put them on 24/7 lockdown and possibly solitary, brand them a murderer and tell the victims family that the right man is in jail when we in fact it appears we cannot be 100% certain that he is guilty. Is that ok on the moral compass?? For me there is not a lot of difference between executing someone and doing the above to them. In fact the main difference is that I have to pay to keep child rapists and murderers in prison in this country at a cost of 10's of thousands a year. That money should be used to support victims and their families.

If the guy admits he has done the crime is it still immoral to execute him given that it rules out the chance he is innocent?

Are you serious?

[mylestheslasher]

Is it ok to put people in jail for the rest of their life, put them on 24/7 lockdown and possibly solitary, brand them a murderer and tell the victims family that the right man is in jail when we in fact it appears we cannot be 100% certain that he is guilty. Is that ok on the moral compass?? For me there is not a lot of difference between executing someone and doing the above to them. In fact the main difference is that I have to pay to keep child rapists and murderers in prison in this country at a cost of 10's of thousands a year. That money should be used to support victims and their families.

If the guy admits he has done the crime is it still immoral to execute him given that it rules out the chance he is innocent?

Are you serious?

Given a choice of being locked up for life in solitary or executed I think I'd opt for the later.

[mylestheslasher]

On the No camp there appears to be two arguments.

1- You can never be 100% sure you have the right person - miscarriage of justice etc.
2 - Its just wrong to take a life.

I'd have some sympathy on No 1 but there are cases where there is no doubt and there ought to be a stipulation in law that recognises that. For example those two loonies that chopped up that british soldier in broad daylight in England were caught on numerous videos and even went onto Youtube. There is no doubt they murdered that guy, reasonable doubt is not required.

No 2 is just waffle. Someone breaks into your house to kill your family is it wrong to kill them in self defense. Is it wrong to kill the aggressor  that invades your country. There are times that it is neccessary to take a life and I believe that any one of us would do it if put in particular circumstances.

[macdanger2]

No 2 is just waffle. Someone breaks into your house to kill your family is it wrong to kill them in self defense. Is it wrong to kill the aggressor  that invades your country. There are times that it is neccessary to take a life and I believe that any one of us would do it if put in particular circumstances.

State execution is neither of those things.

[orangeman]

I listened to the radio yesterday and heard how this man who was being executed but where it went wrong and died of a heart attack had committed aggravated murder which qualifies the perpetrator for the death penalty.

The commentators told how he had taken a young girl and buried her alive in a shallow grave where she then died a horrible death.

This man eventually died a horrible death.

I couldn't help but think that he got what he deserved but I was probably wrong in thinking that ?.

[Johnnybegood]

I listened to the radio yesterday and heard how this man who was being executed but where it went wrong and died of a heart attack had committed aggravated murder which qualifies the perpetrator for the death penalty.

The commentators told how he had taken a young girl and buried her alive in a shallow grave where she then died a horrible death.

This man eventually died a horrible death.

I couldn't help but think that he got what he deserved but I was probably wrong in thinking that ?.

it's very easy to think like that, the poor girl must have been in terrible suffering. Yet I feel it's wrong to take a life regardless of what they've done. Let them serve their punishment for the rest of their days in this world

[AZOffaly]

As I said, I have no sympathy for this fella if he committed the crime. But having no sympathy for him is not the same as advocating a penalty which may be inhumane, and is certainly responsible for innocent people being executed.

[mylestheslasher]

No 2 is just waffle. Someone breaks into your house to kill your family is it wrong to kill them in self defense. Is it wrong to kill the aggressor  that invades your country. There are times that it is neccessary to take a life and I believe that any one of us would do it if put in particular circumstances.

State execution is neither of those things.

I wasnt saying it was. I was making the case that people who say in a black and white way "its wrong to kill another person no matter what" are full of shit. In certain circumstances it is necessary and I just gave a couple of examples. If you can accept there are some times that it is necessary then perhaps you can begin to accept that a man who rapes and murders an 11 month old baby is a danger to society, a financial drain on society, will never be rehabilitated and will never contribute to society. Execution is perfectly reasonable in this case.

[mylestheslasher]

As I said, I have no sympathy for this fella if he committed the crime. But having no sympathy for him is not the same as advocating a penalty which may be inhumane, and is certainly responsible for innocent people being executed.

What about the guy in London with the cleaver hacking of a guys head on the street in the name of some God. There is no doubt in that case that he is guilty, would you be against the death penalty for him?