Death Penalty

[Five-0]

An earlier thread:

http://apbweb.com/forums/news-5/judg...chamber-44650/

got me to thinking about the death penalty. We can debate back and forth till we are blue in the face the merits of the death penalty. However, if faced with the decision to push the button, pull the lever, or pull the trigger could you? If so, how would you sleep at night.

See the poll, post your vote (more than one allowed), and discuss below.

[jmur5074]

I'd do it.

I don't think I'd be "haunted" by it, BUT...taking another persons life, even when justified, is liable to significantly affect a person for at least a little while. So I'd maybe have a few rough nights of sleep. But when it's all said and done I don't think it would profoundly affect my life as a whole.


I've actually got a book called "The Last Face You'll Ever See" that's about executioners. The guy interviewed the some of the guys who've "pushed the button, pulled the lever, and pulled the trigger" and talked about how their profession affected them, their families, etc. It's an interesting read.

[Jenna]

I'm ambivalent about the death penalty.

I'm pretty sure at least a few innocent people have gotten the death penalty, just because no system is going to get 100% accuracy. New DNA technology has exonerated a few people on death row, so some of the people executed before such technology existed are likely to have been innocent as well, and new technologies invented in the future will probably exonerate some people who are currently being executed. Whether someone gets the death penalty or a lesser penalty also often depends on how good a lawyer the defendant has, and on the personal biases of the judge and jury.

On the other hand, an innocent person's risk of dying from an unfair, undeserved application of the death penalty is far lower than that person's risk of dying from an even more unfair, undeserved accident, illness, or murder. Execution is actually a lot quicker and less painful than most of the accidents, illnesses, and murders people die of, and the death penalty also offers time to get one's affairs in order and say goodbye to loved ones that many people do not get before they die. I'd personally prefer to die by lethal injection or an electric chair than by most murders, accidents, and illnesses. So the harm that the death penalty can do, even in the worst-case scenario of innocent people getting executed, is no worse than the harm that is already done by any policy that might cause innocent people to die, which includes just about every policy that affects healthcare, law enforcement, and public safety.

Most of the world's religions say that it is usually wrong to kill people, but also that killing is permissible in some circumstances. I can't tell which, if any, religion is right, or even where each religion might draw the line. If I knew that the death penalty were wrong from the perspective of a religion that I were sure is true, I would oppose it, but I don't have that information.

I don't support the death penalty as retribution, but I would support it if I had evidence that each execution prevented the death of at least one innocent person, either by serving as a deterrent to other would-be murderers or by preventing the executed murderer from murdering more people (fellow prisoners or prison staff, or random people after escaping). I don't have such evidence, but I don't have evidence that this is not the case either.

Because I don't have enough information to be confident of my views, I don't strongly oppose or support the death penalty. So under normal circumstances, I would be too ambivalent to be willing to execute someone. If I were the only person available to execute someone who I was sure was guilty because I witnessed him/her committing murder, and if I believed it were likely that that person would kill more people if allowed to live, I might execute that person, but I would be haunted the rest of my life by the possibility that what I did was wrong.

[luckyme]

I'm opposed to the death penalty. After several people have been found innocent from DNA after they had been sentenced to death I don't see it as a risk worth taking. I do fully support true sentencing and life without parole.



From a more practical stand point it costs more to carry out the death penalty than to house an inmate for life. It's because of all the mandatory appeal process's for death row guys.

[pgg]

I support it. Especially after some of the crimes Ive seen people commit. There is no saving them, and the safest thing for society is to just put them down like rabid dogs.

[Odd]

We can debate back and forth till we are blue in the face the merits of the death penalty. However, if faced with the decision to push the button, pull the lever, or pull the trigger could you? If so, how would you sleep at night.

Did the whole death penalty debate to myself. Again. Some more. Thanks for that! Ok, short version - I'm against the death penalty and still I'd push the button and sleep the same as ever.

[pac201]

For it, I too have seen the depths of depravity that mankind will sink to.

ETA: my signature tag reveals how I feel...

[lewisipso]

I do not like the death penalty. However it is necessary and I support it. I would do the deed if needed but it would have an effect on me. Having to take a persons life on the job would effect me as well but sometimes we just have to do what we have to do.

[Five-0]

My reasoning behind my vote for doing it and not being affected and expecting others to do it is simple. I see it as a legitimate function of government in providing for the common defense. I think the penalty protects society as a whole from the most dangerous amoung us. If I am willing to do it I expect others to do it too, and vice versa. I would not expect someone else to do something I am not willing to do myself.

[lewisipso]

Agreed.

[Captain America]

In a clear cut case with a boatlload of evidence (i.e. physical , video , multiple eyewitnesses that know the suspect , trace evidence, etc.) I could pull the lever, push the button, pull the trigger and then go find some lunch somewhere. I have zero compassion for the uncompassionate.

[Buttercup]

In a clear cut case with a boatlload of evidence (i.e. physical , video , multiple eyewitnesses that know the suspect , trace evidence, etc.) I could pull the lever, push the button, pull the trigger and then go find some lunch somewhere.

I agree, although it would probably hit me later and give me a few sleepless nights. I think it would, anyway.

[keith720]

In a clear cut case with a boatlload of evidence (i.e. physical , video , multiple eyewitnesses that know the suspect , trace evidence, etc.) I could pull the lever, push the button, pull the trigger and then go find some lunch somewhere. I have zero compassion for the uncompassionate.

Well said. I concur whole-heartedly.

[Car 4]

Jenna....please believe me when I tell you that you WOULD NOT like to die by electric chair.



Car 4

[Jenna]

Jenna....please believe me when I tell you that you WOULD NOT like to die by electric chair.



Car 4

Lethal injection is probably less painful, but even if death by electric chair might be painful for a few seconds, it's still a lot quicker and more dignified than most deaths that people experience. If I were likely to die soon anyway (for instance, if I were diagnosed with a terminal illness like, say, Alzheimer's or ALS) and then found myself mistakenly sentenced to the death penalty, I'd feel grateful and fortunate, and try to get executed ASAP instead of trying to prove my innocence. An added benefit is that someone else might eventually clear my name after I die, and then I'd be remembered as a martyr. I'd try to come up with some inspiring message about world peace as my last words, so that they can be used in school plays about me after my name is cleared.

[StoleIt]

I am for the death penalty.

I'm opposed to the death penalty. After several people have been found innocent from DNA after they had been sentenced to death I don't see it as a risk worth taking. I do fully support true sentencing and life without parole.

From a more practical stand point it costs more to carry out the death penalty than to house an inmate for life. It's because of all the mandatory appeal process's for death row guys.

This is a good point though. I studied this a bunch in college as part of my major (not criminal or law enforcement, but actual Human Factors Engineering...have fun figuring that out).

While I am pro-death penalty I also believe that there needs to be undeniable proof of the crime in order to qualify for it.

As for the costs of the death penalty, that can be quelled with proper regulation. The cost of keeping a 20-30 year old in prison for another 50-70 years is not small amount.

[Car 4]

Lethal injection is probably less painful, but even if death by electric chair might be painful for a few seconds, it's still a lot quicker and more dignified than most deaths that people experience. If I were likely to die soon anyway (for instance, if I were diagnosed with a terminal illness like, say, Alzheimer's or ALS) and then found myself mistakenly sentenced to the death penalty, I'd feel grateful and fortunate, and try to get executed ASAP instead of trying to prove my innocence. An added benefit is that someone else might eventually clear my name after I die, and then I'd be remembered as a martyr. I'd try to come up with some inspiring message about world peace as my last words, so that they can be used in school plays about me after my name is cleared.

For God's sake, Jenna...next time we meet, I will show you a photo of Ted Bundy after he took the ride on Old Sparky....you may change your mind about that.


Car 4

[MacLean]

Life and death is not a linear logic problem.

[gopherpuckfan]

As a Catholic, I don't know how the Church leaders can be against it. I mean, even Jesus was given the death penalty, and he willingly agreed to abide by it.

[McCrackhd]

I have to say that I am surprised at how many LEO's are against, or not whole heartedly for the death penalty. Not that there's anything wrong with that, everyone is entitled to thier opinion, just surprised is all. I for one am for it, and I feel like keeping someone on death row for 30 yrs before sentence is carried out, is ridiculous. It should be ten yrs max, with 3 appeals during that time. After 3 strikes, you're out! Unless some truly game changing evidence comes up. I would also like to see the murderers have to die in the same manner in which the victim died..i.e.: stabbed 20 x's, drowned, buried alive, whatever.

Though, I do find it interesting what a friend who went to college in Berlin told me that one of his professors said during a class. He said that, according to some sociologists and psychologists, that one of the reasons that the U.S. has such a high murder rate is because we have the death penalty. They were cited as saying that due to the death penalty, people being killed is not as much of a shock on our consciousness as it is in other westernized countries. It kinda makes sense, but I'd still like to burn that anti-freeze feeding bitch at the stake! And God forbid if anyone were to ever hurt my family, I would make Hannibal Lecter look like a saint!!

Yeah, I'm a little twisted. Btw, would somebody just shank O.J. and be done with it already.