Death Penalty

Post Reply New Topic

I don't know. I don't particularly like it, especially since people are wrongly convicted sometimes. But I do think some people are incapable of reforming and being useful to society, so I don't see the point of looking after them in prison. But I don't know. I live in a country where we don't have the death penalty, so I choose not to think too much about it.

Maybe I'm megasick, but I thought the torture of not being able to escape yourself was the whole idea of incarceration?

Well, maybe it was originally.

abstract of rates of wrongful convictions in america
they are NOT "extremely rare," not by a longshot. even just ONE wrongful conviction is awful, but 5000 a year is obscene beyond all reason. what if it were you or someone you loved, who was railroaded in a kangeroo court? no amount of wrongful convictions is morally acceptable. plus putting innocents where they don't belong only results in yet more hardened graduates from crime school [prison]. we incarcerate more people than all other nations combined. this either means we are the most evil people on the planet, or [more likely] that there is something seriously wrong with our system and our culture, to be producing so many criminals. in choosing to maintain the barbarity of capital punishment, we are keeping some unsavory company with tyrannies around the world from us.

I agree, though maybe not necessarily chain gangs , I think rehabilitation and putting them to use is better than letting them sit around recruiting more gang members and destroying their ability to change
Some though, won't be useful and can't/shouldn't be rehabilitated.
I don't think death penalty is a good thing as it is basically the easy way out for some really, really evil people who deserve to rot away with no hope of escape

Yeah they are deifnitely nmot extremely rare. DNA evidence isn't foolproof and it is no t as accurate as people tend to think. MAtter of fact your shoe alone rpobably has millions of DNA on it. No evidence is 100% or even clsoe to hthat. Guilty vconvictions are done by what is consdiered sufficient evidence rather than neceessarily overwhelming evidence.

@ Vigilans: I bleieve everyone has the potential to change but rehab should be something that instills personal responsbility and address cognitive distortions inherent in such a selfish mentality rather htan just being some coddling BS that can easily be used as a free rrdifirdie. They will still continue to recreuit gang members and go on with thier criminal activity if they choose to. Their paradigms can only make a shift if they progress towards moving away from em. Even if you go clockwork orange on em they still won't change unless they're willing to., The only person that can change is yourself, and they have to decide for themselves that crime isnt the way to go.

Since the judiciary interprets the law on behalf of the state, capital punishment is a political issue. You don't know what government you may have one day and despotic regimes may happen to you. Even in democratic countries, I'd hardly afford the government the right to kill civilians.

Capital punishment is a form of state terrorism. It is used to assert the horrible power of those who rule. This was very true in this country until we abolished the death penalty and especially true 16th, 17th and 18th centuries. Executions were a form of theatre, like a military parade, a display of brutal power and a nasty, atavistic ritual reminiscent of human sacrifice. Even after there were no longer public executions, just the whole idea of capital punishment, its symbolism as part of national identity, is really powerful.

Trust me, I don't think rehabilitation should be soft or coddling like you have said before about a safety net, it shouldn't be a hammock. Its a hard problem to deal with, trying to change the paradigm of millions of these people

Not that you said it should be, but I'm just saying that's the type of approach that should be avoided when ti comes to rehab. Still though I think prison should be a lot tougher and the chain gangs should be brought bakc. I think prison rape should be cracked down on though, all it does is spread AIDS around which can also apread around to the general population and I hate dp think that CO's are being paid taxpayer money to look the other way rather htahmn actually doi their goddamn jobs. So yeah prison should be a lot tougher than it is but inmates have no business hurting other inmates or carrying out their own sense of justice.

I'll take LESS government along with the setbacks that will come with it.

I'm also for less governemnt sione I' m,a right libertarian.

@AceOfSpades
Yeah, I think more supervision to prevent prison rape or other sexual assault would be ideal. I think some prisons are severely understaffed though, or overpopulated, or more likely, both at the same time.
One can look at preventative measures earlier on as ways to avoid the whole fiasco but I suppose it is really difficult to do in a nation of 300+ million people.
I think one measure that could help decrease the prison population would probably be full legalization of cannabis. I don't really want to hijack this thread with discussions on pro/anti legalization so if anyone really wants to debate me just send me a PM. But in any case, there is often espoused a theory that 'pot is a gateway drug', but the truth of the matter is that people are the 'gateway drug'. So separating people curious about pot from the general criminal populace could prevent a lot of young people from being introduced to these filthy low lives looking to exploit them or whatnot

Yeah there is an issue of overcrowding and understaffing. The overcrowding can be redued significantly by puytting an end to th WAr on Drugs.

I'm personally of the opinion that convicted violent offenders should be doused in kerosene and set ablaze, but that's me.
Deterrence is a powerful thing.

I certainly make concessions in my general Social Libertarian attitude when it comes to violence against women. The rape conviction rate is horribly low.



On the issue of Prisoners working. I think it's terrible idea and will only provide a vast swathe of cheap labour for Capitalists. It will drive down wages and function in the same way that NAIRU does.

Huh? How can a conviction rate be horribly low?

How are you pro-abortion and anti-death penalty, that is kinda hypocritical to say a murderer has more rights to life than an innocent child.