What are your views on Capital punishment?? (regular, death, crime)

[nature's message]

What are your views on Capital punishment??

[tangodoodles]

I don't support capital punishment. Statistically speaking, the presence of the death penalty in the U.S. has never been proven to lower the crime rate. Also, more than 100 people have been set free after years on death row and more than 10 people have been murdered by the state and were posthumously found not guilty. That is unacceptable. If the government is going to play God, they damn well better get every execution right. There isn't room for error with these things but the justice system is the perfect breeding ground for such an error to occur be it prosecutorial misconduct, lying witnesses, or a jury who decides a verdict based on "how they feel" rather than the actual evidence. Plus, death row is significantly more expensive than regular prison. I think crimes of death penalty "caliber" (for lack of a better word) should end with a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. Plus, if we did that, we would be able to prosecute and serve justice to the people who commit crimes in the U.S. and flee to other countries who won't extradite them if they're facing the death penalty.

The justice system has too many variables and relies too much on human beings, flawed as they are, to make a decision about whether someone should live or die. That's not to say that I don't sometimes read about the crimes of a death row inmate and think that he probably deserves what's coming to him, but ultimately killing him wouldn't bring back the victims and even one innocent person killed on death row is one too many.

[kdbrich]

We've all heard cases of people that got out, either by parole or by escaping, and did the crime again. There is no guarantee that a life imprisonment cannot be commuted, then then paroled. So...in extreme cases I favor the use of it.

[ovcatto]

From a philosophical and social view point, I am opposed to it. From a personal, "he did what" point of view, I am rather ambivalent, but then I expect society to operate at a higher level than my personal view point.

[Irishtom29]

Ole Ovcatto pretty much described the way I think about it.

My opposition to killing criminals isn't from a consideration for those who are really guilty but from a consideration for those who aren't. And then there's the fact that execution has been misused for political ends---The Haymarket Martyrs for instance. I guess if I were a conservative I'd say I didn't trust "the government" with the power to kill those convicted of crimes.

[Moth]

Originally Posted by nature's message

What are your views on Capital punishment??

Practically speaking, its more trouble than its worth.

[katzenfreund]

I am opposed to it. However, I believe certain individuals should not be allowed into the general population, ever... so there should be life in prison with no chance for parole, ever.

[Redrover]

I am a proponent of capital punishment. There are phyilosophical reasons why I support it but from a purely pragmatic reason I support it because as a citizen & taxpayer I resent having to pay for the room and board of a vicious killer for a lifetime. And if it isn't really a lifetime then I don't want said killer to be free to rejoin society. Very oversimplified but there it is nonetheless.

[evilnewbie]

I support capital punishment and the only way I would be against it is IF we dropped every criminal convicted of the crime onto a vacant island that is at least a thousand miles away from any place and patrolled by a vessel with shoot to kill orders on anyone attempting an escape... they no longer deserve to be part of the society they preyed upon... socialists may feel otherwise...

[arctichomesteader]

I don't trust the government with that kind of power.