Death Penalty

[ruby59]

https://www.aol.com/article/news/20...iams-4th-lethal-injection-in-a-week/22059776/

I was always against the death penalty because I feel it is not applied fairly.

But my G-d, they need to stop until at least it can be done more humanely.

 

[redwood66]

I don't support it at all. It costs taxpayers too much money to prosecute, house, and then appeal after appeal for years. Life without possibility of parole in a 6x8.

 

[ruby59]

What concerns me are the ones convicted before DNA evidence was able to be utilized.

You read about those on death row who have now been proven innocent.

 

[AnnaH]

Agree, no death penalty.

 

[monarch64]

Totally anti.

 

[MollyMalone]

https://www.aol.com/article/news/20...iams-4th-lethal-injection-in-a-week/22059776/
I was always against the death penalty because I feel it is not applied fairly.
But my G-d, they need to stop until at least it can be done more humanely.

I too am opposed to the death penalty. I think the guillotine would be the most fail-safe method and would ensure a very quick death with minimal pain experienced by the prisoner.

But I think it's unlikely that we, as a society, will ever deem it acceptable since it's a more visually brutal scene than, e.g., a lethal injection MO (if that unfolds as planned) -- especially now that ISIS delights in posting videos of beheaded captives. The gore that accompanies firing squad executions is why, as I understand it, those were phased out by states years ago.

 

[jordyonbass]

I remember watching a doco about death row prisoners and it would seem that lethal injection is humane for those watching but not necessarily for those who are going through it; a warden said that one prisoner being executed said these final words to him after being injected with all the chemicals; "It really ain't that pleasant sir"

I've never supported it but I am not vehemently against it either; in certain cases like with Timothy McVeigh I wonder what else a government can do? To give the same life term imprisonment punishment as someone else whose crimes are not anywhere near as bad seems inconsistent to me in a way.

 

[Arkteia]

This story stands out. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameron_Todd_Willingham
The proof that the father killed his three daughters was so flimsy...

Also, consider the life on the death row. I read about a kid who was sentenced although his IQ was 40 or so (it was the same death row) and who was repeatedly raped by other inmates on the row.

All of it makes me rather anti-.

On the other hand, my state was the home for two horrible serial killers, Ted Bundy and the Green River killer. Ted Bundy was executed because of the only person he killed in FLA, where executions were still practiced. Gary Ridgeway (Green River Killer) is alive, I think because he stroke a deal with the prosecution (naming the ones he killed and showing where he buried them - the relatives needed a closure). His toll amounts to 72 very young women, mostly runaways from bad homes who turned to prostitution. I don't know what to do with such people. Not only murderers, but sadists.

 

[Madam Bijoux]

I'm against it. I can't flip a switch to create a life, so I'm not going to flip a switch to end one.

 

[Austina]

We've not had the death penalty here since the 1960's IIRC, but I think there are crimes so heinous that the death penalty is the only appropriate punishment.

If one of these monsters had subjected a member of my family to a violent and terrifying death, then I feel they wouldn't deserve to carry on living and it wouldn't bother me if they suffered during their dying moments. I'd also object to my hard earned taxes being used to keep them alive for 30 years plus.

 

[redwood66]

Austina the cost in the US for prosecution, housing and decade(s) of appeals amounts to much more than the average over a lifetime of an inmate that receives life without parole. I totally understand the emotional aspect of wanting the scumbag to pay the ultimate price and I was a DP advocate because of that for a very long time. But after years of watching the system fail while costing the taxpayers so much money, I can no longer support it.

 

[jaaron]

I also understand the emotional response, and have certainly felt it myself, but I can't support it.

I agree that it's ridiculously expensive. I also haven't seen anything convincing that shows it's a deterrent, it's meted out and applied very unevenly, and as long as there's any possibility of executing an innocent person, I think we have a real problem.

I don't know if anyone else has followed this (this article only touches on it), but to my mind, this makes a mistaken conviction much more possible.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...forensic-science-commission-article-1.3039251

 

[Calliecake]

Austina the cost in the US for prosecution, housing and decade(s) of appeals amounts to much more than the average over a lifetime of an inmate that receives life without parole. I totally understand the emotional aspect of wanting the scumbag to pay the ultimate price and I was a DP advocate because of that for a very long time. But after years of watching the system fail while costing the taxpayers so much money, I can no longer support it.

Thank you for giving your opinion on this Red. I've often wondered how you felt about this. I'm torn as I can't imagine how I would feel being a family member of someone was brutally tortured and murdered. I imagine you would have some peace knowing this person could never hurt another human being. I would always worry he could escape or be released.

 

[Austina]

I agree that it doesn't seem to have much of a deterrent factor in the US, but with the advances in forensics, that 'should' significantly reduce the incidence of innocent people being wrongly executed.

We have historically lived with terrorism for a lot longer than you have, in my life time I have seen random acts of violence from the IRA, and just a few short weeks ago, the stabbing of a police officer in Westminster (London) and the murder of innocents walking along the bridge minding their own business. We have had known terrorists living in London, that we, the taxpayers have had to financially support, because the EU determined their 'human rights' would be breached by deporting them.

I'm afraid my tolerance level is a lot less than yours when you live with the worry that your husband going up to London every day to work, may not return because of a random act by a lunatic.

 

[jaaron]

I agree that it doesn't seem to have much of a deterrent factor in the US, but with the advances in forensics, that 'should' significantly reduce the incidence of innocent people being wrongly executed.

We have historically lived with terrorism for a lot longer than you have, in my life time I have seen random acts of violence from the IRA, and just a few short weeks ago, the stabbing of a police officer in Westminster (London) and the murder of innocents walking along the bridge minding their own business. We have had known terrorists living in London, that we, the taxpayers have had to financially support, because the EU determined their 'human rights' would be breached by deporting them.

I'm afraid my tolerance level is a lot less than yours when you live with the worry that your husband going up to London every day to work, may not return because of a random act by a lunatic.

Yes, well the article linked above is on how Jeff Sessions is rolling back forensic science as evidence. And I too have seen senseless and random acts of violence (lived right near the WTC on 9/11) and my husband and I both live and work in central London now, so I understand the feeling. I still don't believe in it.

 

[Austina]

Fortunately @jaaron we are civilised enough to be able to agree to disagree

 

[jaaron]

Absolutely