The Death Penalty

[sparks]

  I have a tendency to lean towards capital punishment.....as long as the crime committed warrants it and is proved beyond any doubt.





sparks

[muldoon]

I was quite for it for most of my life, but generally have read so much about people on death row getting exonerated after decades that I no longer have any faith in it.  There are cases of flat out negligence, lies, intrusion and violation of basic human rights (I don't mean loopholes), and even cases of knowingly falsifying information in order to convict.

Basically, my trust in the system, and my ability to accept any statement as fact from the system leads to believe that our government has no place in deciding to end life. 

For heinous horrible crimes where the defendant shows no remorse and readily admits it, sure fry em.  But do it within the week....

[MountainDon]

No clear cut yes or no answer is possible for me. I have made a life journey similar to muldoon. Once upon a time I had more faith in the legal system to get things right, and favored the philosophy of an eye for an eye. But not anymore. There are screwups and there are prosecutors with an agenda, people who will lie for their own purposes, etc. I still think there may be cases, situations where it is justified to execute someone but there would have to be absolutely no doubt and it would have to be for some heinous crime.

[Gary O]

"For heinous horrible crimes where the defendant shows no remorse and readily admits it, sure fry em.  But do it within the week.... "

That says it for me
I could never bring myself to put license in the hands of the state, but there are those times......how does something like that, heinous and admitted, get separated from contested cases, for quick, sure justice?

[NM_Shooter]

Whoa.  Compex subject. 

I'm against the death penalty.  My religion is against it, and I agree. 

Even if I was not morally opposed to it, it just costs too dang much.  I think I heard that it costs 3X more to execute someone than it does to keep them in prison for life.

If I were king, all felons would be shipped to Mexico.  Pay them $25 a day to keep our prisoners locked up, no questions asked other than an accurate roll call every night.

[poppy]

A big no here.  We call ourselves a civilized society, yet continue to do barbaric things.

[peternap]

For me, this subject is way too deep to really discuss in a few paragraphs.

To give the short answer, Muldoon, Don, NM Shooter and Poppy have already brought up some of my biggest concerns.....so no, I don't believe in it.

[Woodsrule]

Well, I was FOR it until I learned first-hand how the federal criminal justice system operates. There is little room in that system for justice and the system is weighted too heavily on the side of prosecution. As an aside, it is ironic that most of the liberal majors and governors LOVE prosecuting drug dealers in the Federal system, but REFUSE to prosecute any illegal aliens in the Federal system. Anyhow, unless there is irrefutable proof against a person, life in prison without the possibility of parole is punishment enough. If you are on the fence with this question, check out the Innocence Project.

[Native_NM]

Life without parole and the death penalty are effectively the same. Someone on the news last night suggested the state should "just give him [Troy Davis] life without parole because we can't be sure he did it.".  I don't think life without parole is any consolation. There should be clear, irrefutable proof before any death sentence is passed.

My philosophy is a cross between Muldoon and others.  Most capital crimes are involve rape, kidknapping, or death of an officer. First, I don't think killing an officer is somehow worse than killing any other citizen.  Equally wrong.  Second, there are real cases of exoneration as a result of DNA evidence. 

When there is video proof or numerous eyewitnesses and other physical evidence, like DNA, and it involves crimes against children or is terribly heinous, I'm in favor of a quick execution. 

It's complicated.  Maybe we could bring back dungeons...