170 replies to this topic

[Rlyeh]

Apparently it against the Eighth Amendment for the crime of rape to carry the death penalty.

https://supreme.just...3/584/case.html

Though this is just ignorant;
"Although it may be accompanied by another crime, rape, by definition, does not include the death of or even the serious injury to another person."

[Taun]

In general I am not opposed to the death penalty... However, There needs to be some way to be absolutely sure of the persons guilt... I'm not sure how, perhaps a 'truth serum' administered after conviction but before sentencing (yes, I know these 'serums' are not 100% reliable - but we need something)...

Perhaps I could be against any form of death penalty if prisons really were "Correctional Facilities"... but sadly they don't really correct anything - they mostly just get the convicted out of sight for a while - at great expense...

And I never thought of a death penalty as a 'deterrent' to capitol crime... It does however, ensure that the individual murderer (etc) does not repeat their crime...

And as for a person who has a mental condition where they 'need to kill'... I seriously doubt they can ever be cured, like a dog with rabies... (I could probably word that better, but I'm pressed for time right now)..

Edited by Taun, 04 February 2013 - 05:09 PM.

[questionmark]

As long as you cannot assure that everybody executed is guilty (and it seems that plenty more innocent than we suppose are executed) I am completely against it. If you jail an innocent you can at least tell him that you are sorry for the mistake.

Edited by questionmark, 04 February 2013 - 05:17 PM.

[wolfknight]

FOR. Hang them all by their necks until dead.

[Beckys_Mom]

questionmark, on 04 February 2013 - 05:17 PM, said:

If you jail an innocent you can at least tell him that you are sorry for the mistake.

And pay compensation, and lots of it

[OverSword]

pallidin, on 04 February 2013 - 04:39 PM, said:

For myself, I'm against the death penalty handed down by a government court.

Curiously enough, I'm somewhat OK with, say, my shooting to kill someone molesting my daughters, or raping someone else, or a bad hostage situation, etc...

Interesting that you are against the government killing convicted criminals but for them killing unconvicted people in far away lands via drone.

[Paranoid Android]

As a Christian my view on this is torn between the theoretical and the practical.  In theory, I agree with the concept of a Death Penalty.  In some cases this is warranted.  However, unless the person sentencing the person is able to know with 100% certainty the guilt of the person, it is impossible to ethically enact a death sentence.  And by "100% certainty" I don't just mean a legal ruling.  I refer to a complete knowledge of the person, an ability to read their thoughts and motivations, clairvoyance to see past events that only the accused may have been witness to.  Nothing short of this will do.  No human can do this, not even with modern technology like video footage (they can only see physical actions, not perceive motivations and feelings and thoughts).  Only a god who can delve deep into the heart of a person could conceivably do such a thing.  

Not even an admission of guilt would be enough.  In England there was a murder case (back before Capital Punishment was abolished) in which the accused man gave himself to police (he'd apparently killed his wife and daughter).  He admitted to the crime, told them where to find the bodies, and signed a confession.  Naturally he was found guilty and executed for his crime.  Several years later, this man's landlord was arrested for murdering a client - in exactly the same way as the convicted murderer.  During the inquest, the landlord admitted that he killed the man's wife and child, and was able to manipulate the man into confessing the crime (the man had a borderline mental handicap, on the much lower end of normal intelligence).  Of course, the man was given a posthumous pardon, but that's no comfort to the man's relatives.  Unsurprisingly, this case was one of the watershed events that led to England abolishing the death penalty.  

So taking this into consideration, despite that modern methods can reliably tell us what happened at crime scenes, the chance (no matter how small) remains of someone making a mistake and executing someone unfairly.  Thus I submit that while in theory I may agree with Capital Punishment, in practice, I cannot at all condone the use of such a punishment!

~ Regards, PA

Edited by Paranoid Android, 04 February 2013 - 05:31 PM.

[Beckys_Mom]

OverSword, on 04 February 2013 - 05:23 PM, said:

Interesting that you are against the government killing convicted criminals but for them killing unconvicted people in far away lands via drone.

Translated - I don't like the idea of the law doing it legally, but I would do it illegally  myself.. lol

[Seeker79]

Against. I Eco the sentiments of PA. One innocent is worth more than a 1,000 guiltiest. Though my gut reaction is to "string em up" especially the monsters that mess with children, when I really think about it, death is to easy and torture to dangerouse for the rest of society. I'd rather then rot in isolation for the rest of their lives.

[Hasina]

I'm all for murderers and rapists being put straight to death for their crimes, of course after a trial, but I don't think there should be any other option for them.

[WoIverine]

Capital punishment, that's a tough decision. I used to be for it, but now I honestly think it depends on the cime.

Edited by WoIverine, 04 February 2013 - 07:33 PM.

[HerNibs]

For but not with our current system.

I don't think there is a better system in the world but until we can be 100% sure of guilt we shouldn't be doing it.

Nibs

[ouija ouija]

Here's a good candidate to be strung up:

http://www.dailymail...t-sentence.html

Oh, and I'm for capital punishment and I'm an atheist.

Edited by ouija ouija, 04 February 2013 - 08:11 PM.

[Beckys_Mom]

ouija ouija, on 04 February 2013 - 08:08 PM, said:

Here's a good candidate to be strung up:

http://www.dailymail...t-sentence.html

Oh, and I'm for capital punishment and I'm an atheist.

From the article - Lama al-Ghamdi died in October having suffered multiple injuries including a crushed skull, broken ribs and left arm, extensive bruising and burns.
The child had also been repeatedly raped and the burned.

He has reportedly agreed to pay £31,000 ($50,000), which is believed to have gone to Lama's mother.
The amount is half that would have been paid if Lama had been a boy.
Activists say under Islamic laws a father cannot be executed for murdering his children. Husbands can also not be executed for murdering their wives, the group say.

Absolutely disgustingly evil man.. and so are those that created a law like that for men only.. . If I thought he would rather face death than jail, I would then sentence him to 150 years in jail with no chance of seeing the light of day, and feed him nothing but bacon.  Every day he should suffer and a picture of that little girl shown to him over and over... He is a disgusting piece of filth... Any man that does that to his own child is a disgusting piece of scum ..  I do not give a hoot who thinks I am wrong.. This kind of crime is too much..  

Edited by Beckys_Mom, 04 February 2013 - 08:40 PM.

[WoIverine]

Can delete this.

Edited by WoIverine, 04 February 2013 - 08:37 PM.