Death Penalty

[FutureCEO]

OK. I have a 5 page paper on the death penalty, whether were for it or not. I was wondering what does everybody else think?

I'm for it. But it makes you wonder what Japan does seeing how their media is more violent than the ours and they have no murders a year.

 

[TravisMT81]

well from my criminal justice class, it is actually cheaper in the long run to keep them in jail for the long run. From the ongoing appeals and so on. Plus I also think it is more punishment to have to live in that small cell for the rest of your life. Though saying all that I am all for capital punishment, just wish they could do it a lot faster and not make a big deal out of it. Maybe more like a conveyer belt and just gas a couple dozen at a time . :animwink:

 

[Maria]

On the religious point of view, only God can end anyone´s life. Humans have no right to do it. God deals with the punishment for those who do it.

I also believe that having someone spend the rest of his/her life in prison or a very long time, is the best punishment given to anyone, so I´m for life sentences or long ones. Even if it was only a couple of years, imagine if it were you in prison without going out and probably not getting many visits. Awful, isn´t it?

So my vote is for NO.

 

[The Mom]

Originally posted by Maria


I also believe that having someone spend the rest of his/her life in prison or a very long time, is the best punishment given to anyone, so I´m for life sentences or long ones. Even if it was only a couple of years, imagine if it were you in prison without going out and probably not getting many visits. Awful, isn´t it?

Sounds a lot like a nursing home.

 

[Maria]

Originally posted by The Mom
Sounds a lot like a nursing home.

Ouch... I didn´t think of that...

Let´s make it more terrible then... spending a long time between walls, doing hard work and eating terrible.

I hope nursing homes at least treat patients better!

 

[CmdrTostada]

I agree with Maria, sort of. I agree totally with her last post, but then you would have human rights activist jumping on your back, they complain about the terrorist in Guantanamo Bay getting three square meals a day and having better living conditions than they had before they were sent there, so they would definetely complain for prisoners.

 

[Maria]

Well... it´s a very complex thing to punish someone for something while not degrading his/her human condition and rights.

While in prison, prisoners should be work hard to earn the bread, that´s true -it just doesn´t look right that they "live better" in prison than the way they would out of it in some cases- but in a way that it means "being productive" to the society, otherwise, when they finish with their time in there, instead of becoming better citizens, they got straight to do worse things to get revenge.

Prisons are called "reformatories" for some reasons, and that´s how I think they should be, but it´s a very hard thing to do...

 

[TravisMT81]

well I believe when yo ugo to jail you lose your rights!!! But they get almighty and expect everything. Also they live better than some Americans out there.

 

[Maria]

Originally posted by TravisM
well I believe when yo ugo to jail you lose your rights!!! But they get almighty and expect everything. Also they live better than some Americans out there.

True... I agree. I was referring to "human rights". (don´t ask me which ones please, I´m not in the mood to elaborate in English!)

 

[Dawn S]

This is one issue that I actually have very strong feelings about. I have done volunteer work for the CCADP (Canadian Coalition for the Death Penalty) in the past & learned so much through that affiliation. I used to be FOR the death penalty, but while doing research, I discovered so much that I had no clue about.

For starters, I have a list of 100+ people who have been released (not commuted sentence, but RELEASED) from death row for false conviction. If it weren't for financial help & the devotion of family members, friends & others, they WOULD have been killed. Imagine if that were your mother, father, son, daughter, sister, brother, etc. Even 1 person is too many & enough to make me feel differently. Death is the one thing that cannot be revoked, turned around or made up for & the justice system is NOT perfect & error proof.

I am currently working with a team in support of a man who is on death row in PA & after MUCH reading & conversing with him, I am convinced he will be added to that list of inmates released. He is there strictly because of poor legal representation. His lawyer actually fell asleep during the trial!! He is a poor man with no financial ability to obtain proper representation for his case. Funny thing is, it is FACT that he was nowhere near the scene of the crime at the time it was committed! We're currently in the process of getting much evidence produced in a new trial now. To read all about his case & the legal dopcumentations, go to my site (in profile) & click on the link to Jimmy Dennis's page. It WILL change your mind.

For those sickos who ARE guilty of heinous, atrocious acts of cowardice & murder, death is WAY too easy for them. What about Aileen Wuornos, the serial killer recently executed here in FL? She ASKED for the death penalty long before she was even caught. She had a miserable life & couldn't quite commit suicide, so she acted out aggressions & took lives simply to get someone else to do it for her. What did we do? We gave it to her! She won! CRAZY!

OK, that's my 200 cents. I'm shutting up now. :zipit:

 

[Maria]

Originally posted by Dawn S
Death is the one thing that cannot be revoked, turned around or made up for & the justice system is NOT perfect & error proof.

I agree 100%.

 

[pheneix]

>>>Death is the one thing that cannot be revoked, turned around or made up for & the justice system is NOT perfect & error proof.<<<

That's kind of what it all boils down too. Too many innocent people are put to death because of an innefficient justice system. But, there are the ones that are guilty...

 

[Tramp]

I'm for the death penalty in any murder case with "depraved indifference" to the victim and only if guilt can be PROVEN beyond a reasonable doubt. I don't know if the death penalty is a deterrent or not cuz u can't calculate that which is not quantifiable. In my eyes, the death penalty need not serve any purpose other than to bring justice and closure to the family of the victim in their lifetimes. Ted Bundy, Jeffery Dalmer, Aileen Wornous and Colin Ferguson are examples of scum found guilty of murder with depraved indifference. The killers involved in the spate of recent child murders should be executed. Crimes against the most innocent of our society deserve NO mercy whatsoever and simply forfeit their right to live among us.

However, many people, including myself, can easily be persuaded to be in favor of life imprisonment without the possibility of parole as long as there's truth in sentencing, ie., a life term is REALLY a life term and NO bleeding heart liberal judge or governor will EVER, EVER, EVER commute the sentence, ....AND, that the life sentence is HARD time, ie., no cable TV, no weight rooms, no computers, etc. etc. It's not a friggin country club and murderers forfeit their right to the comforts of society when they decide to cheat another person out of the remaining portion of their life. Make prisons a little more like that in Steve McQueen's "PAPILLON" and I could easily change my mind.

As a side note....I don't know all the details but have you seen that VH1 is gonna televise some sort of concert from a Pennsylvania prison and two of the band members are prisoners serving life sentences for killing several teenage girls. How would YOU feel watching the murderer of YOUR teenage girl performing gyrations on a stage in front of hundreds of screaming people getting all this attention and possibly making a ton of money from it. Would it make you feel good? I don't think so! Damn VH1 to hell.

....Just my OPINION based on how I'd feel if someone killed one of MY loved ones.

This is an interesting topic and I hope discussions can stay civil about it. CEO, good luck on the paper. Let us know how you do.

 

[GRUD]

WELL SAID TRAMP!! VERY Well Said! :sohappy:

I agree with EVERYTHING you said, but didn't feel like "Quoting" your whole message. Sorry. :lol:

I ALSO agree with your opinion of VH1, even though I DO like their video selection MUCH more than MTV’s. I do NOT care to see some GARBAGE about some "poor prisoners" and their rock group!! I think whoever came up with the idea, AND whoever APPROVED the idea, should be flogged, or at least be forced to read over the court proceedings on some of the Scum they will be putting on TV. Maybe see any video recordings of the trials, and see what the families of the victims went through already. Maybe even contact the families of the victims of the scum that will be putting on the "Performance", and talk to them about it? I'm SURE they'll hear from SOME of the families!

It's DISGUSTING!! They should NOT be trying to "Humanize" the "Poor Inmates", OR try to make us "Empathize" with them in ANY way!! They are were they are FOR A REASON, and I RESENT VH1's attempt to make me feel sorry for them!!
:fork:

I also partly agree with DawnS, in that I'm sure there ARE a FEW people on Death Row that ARE actually Innocent, but I believe they are VERY few, and far between. We're all human, and mistakes DO happen, yet I STILL say "YES!! " on the Death Penalty.

I think what they REALLY ought to do is somehow determine which prison is the MOST escape-proof, and shift as many Death Row inmates there as it will Uncomfortably, Inhumanely hold. Put the Absolutely WORST scum we have behind bars there, AND take out ALL the nice little "luxury" items they have in all the prisons, like all the color TVs, with cable. They can have radios, but NO TVs. Then find the 2nd-most escape-proof prison, and fill it the same way. And so on, until the hardest prisons have the hardest cases in them, then TREAT THEM THAT WAY!!!

Or (MY Favorite idea!!), collect all the prisoners on Death Row from ALL the prisons in the US. Weed out the FEW that are "Questionable" (as I agree with DawnS that there are probably a few), and take the remainder out to Bikini Atoll, in the South Pacific, for One Last above-ground nuclear bomb test!

Problem Solved!! NO MORE appeals, and NO MORE charging the tax-payers (Um, that's you and me!!) for their keeping!! Plus, it would CERTAINLY help on the problem of "Overcrowding" in our prisons, correct? I know it will NEVER happen, but it's a Nice Thought, isn't it?

 

[Debbie]

This topic is so interesting! Like Tramp said, I hope it stays civil.
In being in favor of, or not in favor of the death penalty, I have many mixed emotions. When someone is convicted of murder, killing in cold blood, does the defendent retain his right to live? What about the victim's rights? Does the defendent have the right to three SQUARE meals a day as designed by a dietician? To be able to work out and exercise? To get visitors? To get television?
If prison were made to be something noone would dare do anything to get there; made to be the equivalent of hell, we might would not be having this 'conversation'. These prisoners, they want their rights. They complain about the food, want to riot over the TV.
What about the victim's right? As some of you know, my girlfriend's sister was shot at point blank by her ex-husband, as she pleaded with him 'Pollis NO!' He shot her from three feet away with a shotgun. She was buried the day of their son's first birthday. Does this guy deserve three meals a day? Clean clothes? etc? What about Jai? He doesn't have a mother and his father was stripped of all of his parental rights?
So now, we the taxpayers, have to feed and clothe this idiot for the rest of his life as opposed to doing him what he did the mother of his child, as well as what he did to his child.

 

[Ellen Ripley]

i agree with dawn s. my answer is no because often people with little money can not afford a good lawyer, and public defenders are terribly overworked. also i've read research that suggests african american people and minorities get the death penalty a much higher percentage of the time than do white americans, because juries perceive them as being guilty.

 

[tenchu]

I've stayed out of this so far because I am undecided as to my views on this.

I can understand both sides of the argument, and really dont know where to side.

 

[Tramp]

Originally posted by mansionmaiden
i've read research that suggests african american people and minorities get the death penalty a much higher percentage of the time than do white americans, because juries perceive them as being guilty.

Yours is a very popular opinion and hope you will consider this:

Often, death penalty discussion begins with the obvious: the race of the defendant. The Death Penalty Information Center reports that black murderers represent 35% of those executed, white murderers 56%. As the argument goes, this must be evidence of systemic racism, as blacks represent 12% of the population, whites 74%.

As blacks represent 47% of murderers and whites 37%, we see that whites are twice as likely to be executed for committing murder as are their black counterparts. Furthermore, the Bureau of Justice Statistics says that whites sentenced to death are executed 17 months more quickly than blacks.

There is no doubt in my mind that "poor" people (black or white) do not receive the same defense as rich people. It is why I support the death penalty only for those crimes which have been proven to 100% certitude.

 

[The Mom]

Tramp,

The only caveat I might add to those statistics is that they only represent CONVICTED murderers. I wonder if the proportions would be different if they also included all CHARGED murderers. (I'm concerned that a greater proportion of minorities charged are found guilty.) I would also be interested in seeing the statistics when broken down into incomes, and types of murder. (I think that almost all,with very few exceptions, serial/mass murderers in the US have been white males)

I guess I'm most concerned about the differences from state to state. In one state, a Jeffrey Dahmer will only get life (although his cellmates meted out their own sentence) but in another the driver in a robbery where a policeman is killed might get the death sentence.

Again, I think that money might be more of a factor than race, but minorities, as a group, tend to be poorer than whites. (and are starting, as a group, to become a majority )

 

[Nut4Disney]

I'm wholeheartedly for the Death Penalty. My only complaint is that it doesn't happen as frequently as it should. I'm so sick of seeing murderers who are on death row, living there at the taxpayers expense (30 to 50k a year) while they go through 10 yrs of appeals. If prisons were a little more harsh and not like resorts, then I wouldn't care if they were given life sentences instead. However, when they are given 3 squares, TV, pool tables, weights, college education if they want it (at the taxpayers expense of course) etc., it's ridiculous. They should have to get up and work all day for the state which they are housed. And given a wage, which should go to their victims. I love seeing the chain gangs on the side of the road clearing brush or picking up trash. That's what we need more of. Not a bunch of liberals looking for reasons for the person not to be executed. (They weren't loved enough as a child/ they were poor, they came from a broken home) Boo freakin' hoo! You know the difference between right and wrong. When you choose to commit a crime, you should be held responsible for your actions.