pro-capital punishment or anti-capital punishment? (Congress, death, violent crime, politicians)

[stephonee3]

Pro-capital punishment or anti-capital punishment, that is the quesion?
Death penalty or no death penalty???

i want to hear everyones ideas for both sides!

and personaly i am pro-capital punishment (if anyone wanted to know)!

[fishmonger]

I'd be pro-capital punishment in some cases if our justice system was infallible. Unfortunately, it isn't. Let's get rid of it, I don't think the vengeance of putting murderers to death is worth the inevitable small number of innocent (or at least not deserving the death penalty) people that get injected with the lethal sauce.

[katzenfreund]

against capital punisment. Expensive and it obviously isn't a deterrent. Murder rates and violent crime rates in this country are much higher than for example in most european countries, where there is no death penalty. I think it also hypocritical. Lock a violent offender up for the rest of his life, no parole, much better punishment... and still cheaper.

[Anchorless]

Against. The current model is obviously not working, its completely antagonistic to the very foundations of our civilization, and it creates a poor image of justice and authority.

Yes, there are some crimes so severe that a lifetime of imprisonment would hardly do justice. There are some people that evil that no punishment short of death would hardly seem fair. But I don't believe in an eye-for-an-eye justice system, again because it corrupts the very basic rules of society that we depend on.

I am very much in favor of prison labor. Put inmates to good use by making them do work for society.

[Philip T]

For it -- but applied to a different criminal sector --

Elected politicians and government appointees who are involved in lying, cheating and/or stealing or other corruption in the public sector.

We would not have worry about term-limits anymore.

[LancasterNative]

Pro. Based on Romans 13, the state has the right to dispatch justice on wrongdoers.

Besides...it works! No executed criminal has ever raped or murdered anyone again!

[saganista]

Originally Posted by LancasterNative

Pro. Based on Romans 13, the state has the right to dispatch justice on wrongdoers.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion...

Originally Posted by LancasterNative

Besides...it works! No executed criminal has ever raped or murdered anyone again!

Neither has any victim of murder. Or anyone killed in a plane crash.

[Evlevo]

I am against it because once you pull the lever there is no chance to erase a mistake, and there are numerous examples of wrongful convictions throughout all jurisdictions.

I also think that all the extra time spent in court (I have heard estimates of 1 million or more) isn't worth it. Sure, the families of the victim want to see the guy fry, but how about putting that $1,000,000 into some kind of poverty-child mentoring program instead and help give people an alternative to crime. That way the parents of a victim in the future don't suffer, because you effectively helped the murderer not be a criminal and thus the "future victims" end up not being a victim.

The prison system has two main goals, and they are sometimes on opposite ends of the spectrum.

1) To protect society. By removing the criminal from the general population, that is served. Realistically a criminal isn't likely to escape so there isn't much need to 'kill' them in the interests of protecting people. Furthermore, by the time the 20 years or so of appeals are over, they guy is an old (or at least middle-aged) man and less of a threat. There also isn't much chance of a guy who waits until after the appeals process is exhausted to make an escape attempt.

2) To punish the criminal. Being locked up and freedoms removed during a prison stay is certainly a punishment. The difficulty is that to an extent the more you punish, the less you protect society. Locking a guy in a box and poking him with a stick every hour is certainly punishment, but can actually harm society in tangible ways (when the guy gets out he has no skills and is likely to return to crime) and intangible ways (the Abu Ghraib "punishments" damaged the image of the US domestically and internationally).

The big problem is that to make a guy be less of a criminal you will have to give them job training, a job, a place to stay, etc and none of those things are punishments (and are probably closer to 'rewards'). You already have heard complaints about "why don't I get free college, I never went to prison?"

Tough questions though, with no easy answers.

[Yeledaf]

Originally Posted by saganista

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion...


Neither has any victim of murder. Or anyone killed in a plane crash.

All the more reason to rid the genetic pool of murderers. Oh, and maintain the nation's excellent aviation safety record. Just to mention one non sequitur.

[NewToCA]

Very limited pro capital punishment, and with the way the issue gets debated and politicized I end up being against it.

If it were only used for murders where the perpetrator was verified beyond any doubt at all then I would be OK with it. But the reality is that it gets incrementally expanded due to political posturing, so that makes me against it.

Sound like a politician on this issue...