Do You Support the Death Penalty?

[Sunni Man]

The convicted murderers should be tied up in a sound proof room.

Then the victims family members each be given a knife and let into the room.

The family members are then given 2 hours to do what hey want to the criminal.

That would be true Justice in action!!!

 

[sky dancer]

The convicted murderers should be tied up in a sound proof room.

Then the victims family members each be given a knife and let into the room.

The family members are then given 2 hours to do what hey want to the criminal.

That would be true Justice in action!!!

I just pmed you.

 

[catzmeow]

Read back your post. Read mine. Note which one sounds hostile.

Wind: You're an idiotic twit. You don't know dick about murderers, and you're the sound of one hand clapping. You don't have sympathy for the victims of murderers, you just talk because you like the sound of your own voice.

I've worked with murderers for almost 20 years now. I was deeply and emotionally engaged with some of these young people who have taken other people's lives, but that doesn't mean I'm not pragmatic about the harm they have caused.

I'm sure in "wind world," your hippydippy buddhist mantras sound incredibly righteous and holy, but I think you're a complete cluster fuck. You don't help people, you don't heal people, and you aren't even capable of healing yourself. You talk about these subjects as if you have some connection to them, but you don't.

Sod off.

Am I hostile? You bet. I hate people like you who talk without having the faintest clue what the fuck they're saying. People like you fuck up the systems I've worked in for years, and people like me go around and work with the victims and damage you leave behind.

 

[sky dancer]

Wind: You're an idiotic twit. You don't know dick about murderers, and you're the sound of one hand clapping. You don't have sympathy for the victims of murderers, you just talk because you like the sound of your own voice.

I've worked with murderers for almost 20 years now. I was deeply and emotionally engaged with some of these young people who have taken other people's lives, but that doesn't mean I'm not pragmatic about the harm they have caused.

I'm sure in "wind world," your hippydippy buddhist mantras sound incredibly righteous and holy, but I think you're a complete cluster fuck. You don't help people, you don't heal people, and you aren't even capable of healing yourself. You talk about these subjects as if you have some connection to them, but you don't.

Sod off.

Am I hostile? You bet. I hate people like you who talk without having the faintest clue what the fuck they're saying. People like you fuck up the systems I've worked in for years, and people like me go around and work with the victims and damage you leave behind.

Poor dear. You'll feel better after a good nights sleep and a few advil.

 

[catzmeow]

Poor dear. You'll feel better after a good nights sleep and a few advil.

As stated, you're still a passive aggressive gash with her head up her ass. I haven't been drinking, but you are stupid. I wonder if I'd think you were smarter if I were drunk...

Something to think about. Maybe the next time we discuss murderers, I'll make sure and have a drink first. It might make you less annoying. At a minimum, it might raise my tolerance level for passive aggressive gashes who don't know their ass from ice cream.

 

[sky dancer]

As stated, you're still a passive aggressive gash with her head up her ass. I haven't been drinking, but you are stupid. I wonder if I'd think you were smarter if I were drunk...

Something to think about. Maybe the next time we discuss murderers, I'll make sure and have a drink first. It might make you less annoying. At a minimum, it might raise my tolerance level for passive aggressive gashes who don't know their ass from ice cream.

Rest up.

 

[catzmeow]

Rest up.

Smarten up.

 

[sky dancer]

Quite right - I'm not arguing against retribution, it's necessary for the criminal justice system to function, I'm just arguing that a particular form of retribution is not a good idea.

Exactly. It's the permanent form of retribution that is not a good idea. LWOP is fine.

 

[Ravi]

I used to be in favor of the death penalty. After all, if a murderer takes a life, why should he or she not pay with a life?

There are problems with that philosophy, and serious problems with the death penalty.

For one thing, there are too many documented cases of innocent people having been convicted of serious crimes.

There is the Grisham novel, The Innocent Man, which is based on a true story of an innocent on death row and the effects on him and his family. Chilling.

Giving the government power of life or death over anyone, even a convicted criminal, is placing too much power in their hands.

There is the damage to our national prestige from nations that have already abolished the death penalty.

Finally, there is the question of which is really the most severe punishment: Spending a lifetime in prison, or a quick, relatively painless death? I would think that the former is more severe.

I say, abolish the death penalty. Let the real bad guys rot in prison, where they can't do any more harm to the rest of us, but don't kill them. If they're exonerated, then they can be let out, but they can't be brought back from the dead, at least not yet.

 

[Outlaw50]

Yes, I support the death penalty........it says we respect and value life.

 

[Gunny]

Either tone down the personal attacks and address the topic, or this thread's gone.

 

[Bass v 2.0]

No, Mr Bass does not. Minorities and those who can't afford good lawyers should *NOT* disproportionately be sentenced to death.

 

[PoliticalChic]

Yes, I support the death penalty........it says we respect and value life.

 

[PoliticalChic]

No, Mr Bass does not. Minorities and those who can't afford good lawyers should *NOT* disproportionately be sentenced to death.

Do you have evidence of this? Perhaps the people that you have indicated commit more crimes?

 

[Bass v 2.0]

Do you have evidence of this? Perhaps the people that you have indicated commit more crimes?

Of course there's evidence for this.

 

[Missourian]

This is such a difficult subject.

There are so many variables to consider to simply blanket the whole issue under the title "death penalty".

I voted no, I am opposed to the death penalty, but it is a qualified no.

And that is where it all falls down.

The conundrum of capital punishment:

1) The current system for capital punishment is much more subjective than objective. How can a society set a concrete standard for what constitutes a crime deserving of the death penalty?

2) Without 100% proof positive, don't we run a serious risk of state sanctioned murder of wrongly convicted innocent men and women.

3) If you execute a person 5 to 10 years after they committed a crime, are they the same person they were when they were convicted? I am certainly not the same person I was 5 years ago. Five years ago I was a solid supporter of the death penalty.

4) Is the judicial system fair and unbiased? A rich man can buy the best defense possible while the poor often suffer from defense attorneys who are overworked and underpaid, so swamped by caseloads that they cannot possibly provide the accused a top notch legal defense.

5) Is it likely that the bias of the jury will cloud their judgement when a person like Jesse Jackson is quoted as saying "“There is nothing more painful for me at this stage in my life, than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery—and then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved.”

6) What about the family of the convicted? Imagine in your minds eye what it would be like to watch my son or daughter be put to death. I know that the family of the victim was forced to endure the same terrible sorrow, but that was inflicted by a criminal, not by the state.

7) Is the death penalty a deterent or is it a retribution (or both)? If it is not a deterent, is that important?

8) Is the threat of execuction a valuable tool for law enforcement interrogators, or is it more likely to coerce a confession from the innocent?

9) Is the life of a prostitute have the same value as a housewife? A drug addicts life worth the same as a senators? All human life should be equal, but the reality is that few actually see it that way. Rationalizations invariably creep in.

 

[Gunny]

This is such a difficult subject.

There are so many variables to consider to simply blanket the whole issue under the title "death penalty".

I voted no, I am opposed to the death penalty, but it is a qualified no.

And that is where it all falls down.

The conundrum of capital punishment:

1) The current system for capital punishment is much more subjective than objective. How can a society set a concrete standard for what constitutes a crime deserving of the death penalty?

2) Without 100% proof positive, don't we run a serious risk of state sanctioned murder of wrongly convicted innocent men and women.

3) If you execute a person 5 to 10 years after they committed a crime, are they the same person they were when they were convicted? I am certainly not the same person I was 5 years ago. Five years ago I was a solid supporter of the death penalty.

4) Is the judicial system fair and unbiased? A rich man can buy the best defense possible while the poor often suffer from defense attorneys who are overworked and underpaid, so swamped by caseloads that they cannot possibly provide the accused a top notch legal defense.

5) Is it likely that the bias of the jury will cloud their judgement when a person like Jesse Jackson is quoted as saying "“There is nothing more painful for me at this stage in my life, than to walk down the street and hear footsteps and start thinking about robbery—and then look around and see somebody white and feel relieved.”

6) What about the family of the convicted? Imagine in your minds eye what it would be like to watch my son or daughter be put to death. I know that the family of the victim was forced to endure the same terrible sorrow, but that was inflicted by a criminal, not by the state.

7) Is the death penalty a deterent or is it a retribution (or both)? If it is not a deterent, is that important?

8) Is the threat of execuction a valuable tool for law enforcement interrogators, or is it more likely to coerce a confession from the innocent?

9) Is the life of a prostitute have the same value as a housewife? A drug addicts life worth the same as a senators? All human life should be equal, but the reality is that few actually see it that way. Rationalizations invariably creep in.

Sounds more like relativism than rationalizations.

Whether or not the person is the same person down the road they were when they committed the crime, and how that person's family feels about it are irrelevant, IMO.

I'm more willing to agree with your comments regarding the law, and how the death penalty is handed out. It's never going to be a level playing field since it is one of the states' rights the US govt has yet to steal.

IMO, the death penalty should be on the table only when there is 99.9% proof of guilt. But then, that is never the case at any level. Expecting better from the same pool of jurors is rather unreasonable.

I don't have a problem with the death penalty. There ARE crimes for which the punishment should be forfeiture of life, IMO.

I do oppose the way arbitrary way in which it is applied, and I oppose sentencing someone to death without absolute conclusive proof of guilt.

 

[Luissa]

IMO, the death penalty should be on the table only when there is 99.9% proof of guilt. But then, that is never the case at any level. Expecting better from the same pool of jurors is rather unreasonable.

.

NO one should be convicted of murder unless it is 99.9% proven! Isn't that why they say beyond reasonable doubt! And the problem is there is people convicted of murder without there being 99.9% proof and put on death row. Just the other day a guy got out of prison having been there for murder when they proved he didn't commit the crime something like twenty years later.

 

[Diuretic]

8) Is the threat of execuction a valuable tool for law enforcement interrogators, or is it more likely to coerce a confession from the innocent?

That's a really good point. In my jurisdiction the last man to be put to death was hanged in 1964. So generations of detectives have never had to think about the death penalty for a suspect for murder. Many years ago I had a talk with an old homicide detective who was an investigator during the years when someone could be executed for murder here. He told me that the very prospect of someone being executed as a result of his work actually made him work extremely hard to make sure that he got the right offender. He told me it was a huge burden on the conscience of any investigator working on a murder. Now I know the politically correct view is that that should be the case whether or not the death penalty is in place, but that was what he told me thirty-something years ago.

 

[AllieBaba]

Three of my clients are serving life in prison without the potential for parole for homicides they committed. I have a significant interest in what occurs behind bars. I've actually spent the last 18 years working with violent juveniles and programs that serve them. I know how these people think, act, and how they are created. I've spent my CAREER trying to change the system to prevent kids from ever getting to death row. You don't know diddlyshit about what my interests are, old hippy.

While you were chanting mantras, I was serving gang members and getting shot at. Don't ever fucking forget that.

I've worked with them, too.
Bottom line, you never know what they're thinking, though. You can understand where they come from and what makes them...but they're adolescents. It's like trying to decode pi. There are too many aspects to their psyches to read their minds.

I'm with you on trying to prevent them from getting to death row, however. Keep up the good fight, there's not much reward in it and the only hope is that somewhere, years down the line a kid you helped might make one positive choice based on something you were able to imprint upon him.