Are there any crimes that deserve death?

[Theophany]

One bullet/length of rope/hypodermic costs the taxpayer less than 40+ years of food, containment, guarding, psychological support, activities and paperwork.

I'm pretty sure few people would find it hard to sleep at night when the worst of the worst were put down if there was a noticeable drop in their tax bills.

Out of interest, are there any statistics on how many people have been wrongly executed in the USA? People always **** and moan about the worry of wrongly giving the death penalty, but without any statistical evidence to back it up it's a moot point to cite incidents as far back as the 30s and 40s when methods of policing were comparatively Neanderthal.

 

[RDM]

One bullet/length of rope/hypodermic costs the taxpayer less than 40+ years of food, containment, guarding, psychological support, activities and paperwork.

I'm pretty sure few people would find it hard to sleep at night when the worst of the worst were put down if there was a noticeable drop in their tax bills.

Out of interest, are there any statistics on how many people have been wrongly executed in the USA? People always **** and moan about the worry of wrongly giving the death penalty, but without any statistical evidence to back it up it's a moot point to cite incidents as far back as the 30s and 40s when methods of policing were comparatively Neanderthal.

If you make execution cheaper than life imprisonment then you also get rid of all of the safeguards that makes sure innocent people are not executed.

 

[RickST]

I just wanted to clarify what I said earlier:

I would only support death penalty if they have had commit crimes a number of times so the traditional system had a not worked OR if the person had commit several crimes at once, for example a mass murder or someone who abused many children.

The reason why i support the death penalty is not as a deterrent it is purely to have them removed from society. I don't understand why it is better for anyone to be kept in prison for the rest of their life. just kill them and get it over with.

The fact is, if you are going to kill someone punishment is not going to stop you. people don't think they will get caught.

 

[semi-pro waster]

One bullet/length of rope/hypodermic costs the taxpayer less than 40+ years of food, containment, guarding, psychological support, activities and paperwork.

It is not and never has been the case that you couldn't "off" people cheaply - it's that you can't do it and consider yourself to have a civilised and functional legal system. An actual execution can be inexpensive but everything that goes with it such as the appeals process, the solitary confinement on death row or whatever you want to call it etc is the part that is expensive.

Personally I'd suggest an axe if you're wanting cheap and re-usuable methods for execution, a few sharpenings when needed and it should last for years.

Out of interest, are there any statistics on how many people have been wrongly executed in the USA? People always **** and moan about the worry of wrongly giving the death penalty, but without any statistical evidence to back it up it's a moot point to cite incidents as far back as the 30s and 40s when methods of policing were comparatively Neanderthal.

Northwestern University reckons 39 cases since 1970s in the US where the executed were either innocent or at least there was doubt as to their guilt. However they're a) anti death penalty and b) that's just a link that I took from Wikipedia as it's rather difficult to quantify exactly how many innocent people are executed. Further from the Wikipedia there have been 123 people released between 1973 and 2005 from awaiting execution (i.e. were scheduled to be executed and found innocent). Since 1976 there have apparently been 1233 people executed in all the states still practicing execution, if we allow the 39 innocent executed figure by my reckoning that makes a 3% failure rate from the total - is that really acceptable, bearing in mind that most of the people executed will not have any sort of investigation done on their cases once executed so potentially the number guesstimated there is on the low side.

 

[deuse]

Are there any crimes that deserve death?

YES

 

[^TANK^]

Lol,

Show some proof before you make that OUTRAGEOUS claim please ...

Do please show me proof that some babies are evil...

 

[Infam0us]

Damn you Tank, this is a serious conversation

 

[^TANK^]

Damn you Tank, this is a serious conversation

In GD whatever next.

 

[Infam0us]

In GD whatever next.

 

[ecksmen]

I fundamentally disagree with the concept of capital punishment. If there was one person I would have been happy to see hang to death, it would have been Saddam Hussein. But I could not accept that he should be put to death, and I cannot foresee anybody being more deserving of the worst possible sentence for a long time.

That video is on the interweb....

 

[Theophany]

If you make execution cheaper than life imprisonment then you also get rid of all of the safeguards that makes sure innocent people are not executed.

Death is always cheaper than life, I don't understand the point you are trying to make?

Northwestern University reckons 39 cases since 1970s in the US where the executed were either innocent or at least there was doubt as to their guilt. However they're a) anti death penalty and b) that's just a link that I took from Wikipedia as it's rather difficult to quantify exactly how many innocent people are executed. Further from the Wikipedia there have been 123 people released between 1973 and 2005 from awaiting execution (i.e. were scheduled to be executed and found innocent). Since 1976 there have apparently been 1233 people executed in all the states still practicing execution, if we allow the 39 innocent executed figure by my reckoning that makes a 3% failure rate from the total - is that really acceptable, bearing in mind that most of the people executed will not have any sort of investigation done on their cases once executed so potentially the number guesstimated there is on the low side.

Interesting stuff, I'd actually like to see those statistics in greater detail, a break down of wrong convictions on a year-by-year basis to see whether or not there was a quantifiable improvement in the standard of policing methods. 1973-2005 seems like a rather large time frame given new policing methods that have become commonplace since then.

I'm sure I read in a journal or some such that if a referendum on the death penalty were put forward it would pass by a landslide given polling data that has been taken on the topic. I only wish I could remember where I read it now, but I'm certain that the postulation was that the majority of the British public would be in favour of the death penalty's reinstatement.

Of course, that does have to factor in with my ardent belief that 'the majority of the British public' are morons and I would have to question (and likely disagree) with the fundamental reasoning behind many people's want for the death penalty's return...

 

[flapjackboy]

Twilight. /thread

 

[AJK]

Some people are born evil. Nurture has a part in how we end up but so does nature.

I don't think there's any scientific basis for that statement.

Show some proof before you make that OUTRAGEOUS claim please ...

On the other hand, where is the proof that people can NOT be born "evil"? People can have any number of different personality characteristics which have nothing to do with their upbringing (though of course, to be clear, the reverse is true as well).

Male/female, submissive/dominant, academic/vocational, hetero/homosexual... the list goes on.

How about moral/immoral? Your understanding of morality is nurture - your innate acceptance of those morals or desire to live your life by them? At least partly nature.

Is it so unrealistic that there are (unlikely) combinations of natural personality characteristics which, together, become "evil"?

 

[semi-pro waster]

Interesting stuff, I'd actually like to see those statistics in greater detail, a break down of wrong convictions on a year-by-year basis to see whether or not there was a quantifiable improvement in the standard of policing methods. 1973-2005 seems like a rather large time frame given new policing methods that have become commonplace since then.

It is a fairly long time-frame but it's just going on the basis of easily available and comparable data. It does seem like an awful lot of people executed over that time period wrongly though and remember doesn't include exonerations in the incorrect convictions list.

It would also be interesting to see if policing did improve as you say but rather difficult to quantify properly.

I'm sure I read in a journal or some such that if a referendum on the death penalty were put forward it would pass by a landslide given polling data that has been taken on the topic. I only wish I could remember where I read it now, but I'm certain that the postulation was that the majority of the British public would be in favour of the death penalty's reinstatement.

It probably depends how you word the question what the answer will be as well as the demographics chosen. If you do find it I'd be interested to see it.

Of course, that does have to factor in with my ardent belief that 'the majority of the British public' are morons and I would have to question (and likely disagree) with the fundamental reasoning behind many people's want for the death penalty's return...

I'm not going to disagree with you on this one - I don't think that the population (of any country) is always the best to decide on what is a suitable punishment.

 

[RDM]

Death is always cheaper than life, I don't understand the point you are trying to make?

In the US for example it is more expensive to execute someone than do keep them in prison for life. This is due to the costs of the various appeals and other legal issues and the cost of keeping them on death row. If you do away with the appeals and legal costs, do away with death row by executing quickly then you can indeed make it much cheaper to execute someone than to keep them alive. However the chances of executing an innocent person starts to climb quite rapidly. There are enough examples in the UK of people being released many years after their sentence that post humous pardons would be required if we went back to the death penalty.

 

[FatRakoon]

The thing you keep hearing about the Death penalty, is that so many people who oppose it often say such stuff like "Would you pull the lever?" and such things like that, but guess what?

Yes I would.

If some filthy arse ever touched my daughter, he ( or she ) is dead.

I would happily drive a screwdriver throug their eyeballs, and dont for one minute that I would stop just before I do to check myself and compose my thoughts, cos I wont.

If the death penalty ever came back to the UK, then trust me... Where do I sign up.

I fully and whole heartedly feel that the death penalty should be introduced for lesser crimes.

Im not sying that some knob mugging a granny should be stoned to death, no. Im not saying anything of the sort, but the moment they put a person into any physical danger, they crossed the line for me Im afraid. They should die as far as I care.

Also a persons home is their castle. The moment, anyone steps into anyones home, then the person who lives there should be 100% well in their rights to defend their home in any way they should wish to. If that means cutting someones head off with a shovel... Im fine with that

 

[Glaucus]

is that so many people who oppose it often say such stuff like "Would you pull the lever?" and such things like that, but guess what?

when do people ever say that?

You statement is exactly why victims have no say on punishment in uk law and for a very good reason. Revenge should not and does not come into it.

 

[Yas786]

Crimes such as kiddy fiddling and murdering children should have the death penalty...kids like the 2 scumbags that killed Jamie Bulger should have been strung up simple as that. That also includes the scumbags that have killed other children ie Climbie and Baby P...those lot should have been strung up.

But only in the cases where its without a doubt that they are 110% guilty.

 

[Cuchulain]

Do you personally believe there are crimes where the only fitting punishment is death?

Child abuse, more specifically, sexual & violent abuse. Prior to having children I'd have said no, no crime deserves the death penalty but your perspective changes.

 

[King85]

Child abusers, child killers, mass murderer's and premeditated murderer's.

Of course only with damning evidence.