Is the Death Penalty too merciful a punishment?

[Kazmodius]

Death penalty after a public beat up/ throw bricks at murderers event. Perfect

[Deleted]

Death penalty after a public beat up/ throw bricks at murderers event. Perfect

And if the dead is found innocent, the same for everyone who participated.

[Deleted]

^ WoW solomonic decision

[Deleted]

^ WoW solomonic decision

Hey, if you gonna use a radical eye for an eye system, might as well go all out.

[Deleted]

We have this thread every few months, it will end up locked but not before establishing three groups....

Group 1 is extremely right wing, and advocates torturing people to death or some other painful punishment.

Group 2 will advocate forgoing the long appeal process and just shoot them in the head, after all a bullet costs pennies. You will also get some people that will volunteer their services for the deed.

Group 3 will be against the death penalty and will instead advocate long term isolation with no perks, think a very small cell with no human contact except for the guards.

[Paladin885]

I still oppose the Death Penalty. But by a completely different reason. I think it's too merciful a punishment, too fast, too easy. In every form, I believe death equals a means of escape. Even in suicide.

penalty by death denies you the right to continue to live. That is not merciful.

Letting you rot in prison for the rest of your life is.


I personally have mixed feelings about death row. Some men and women sit in there for years and years before being sentenced. I think that system needs to be fixed but I don't think it needs to be removed. I do think that some people on deathrow deserve a reevaluation while the rest need a disney world-style fastpass to the front of the line.

sorry if I sound harsh on the subject matter, I tend to be lawful-neutral at times :P

[smegmage]

I always believed in the death penalty, I believed that if you were 100% guilty as in overwhelming proof. Video recording, your own confession, the confession of 80 witnesses then you should be killed. However my opinion changed for TWO reasons.

Confessions are often found to be given falsely, especially when given by young and generally speaking those of lesser intelligence. They're put through hours after hours of ruthless interrogation, lied to about what their rights are and eventually break down and say what their interrogators want to hear simply to get out of the situation. These types of situations are well documented, confessions later being found to be false through evidence convincing someone else. People actually confessing to murders they didn't do, just to feel as though they'll be granted freedom.

2. Crime would potentially decrease but the severity of crimes would be worse. Right now the severity of crimes varies but overall the average criminal knows the most they will get is jail time. What if you know that committing a certain crime will result in death or torture? That may deter a lot of people but for others rather they will take as many people as they can down and then themselves.

The death penalty is not a successful deterrent, that is a truth supported by the evidence.

People will likely disagree with me on this, but the main purpose of prison should not be punishment for the convicted. Instead it's main objective should be to removed those individual from society, and rehabilitate those who are optimal candidates. Unfortunately the American prison system has become a money making industry with the laws in place to make repeat offenses likely.

[Seme]

We have this thread every few months, it will end up locked but not before establishing three groups....

Group 1 is extremely right wing, and advocates torturing people to death or some other painful punishment.

Group 2 will advocate forgoing the long appeal process and just shoot them in the head, after all a bullet costs pennies. You will also get some people that will volunteer their services for the deed.

Group 3 will be against the death penalty and will instead advocate long term isolation with no perks, think a very small cell with no human contact except for the guards.

Pretty much, but solitary confinement is actually one of the cruelest aspects of our criminal system, it's without a doubt torture as it strips away peoples sanity.

[Auloria]

What's the point of making them suffer, you just enjoy the idea? Who decides how much is "enough"?

Just remove those from society who cannot exist in it.

[Dch48]

The death penalty is entirely appropriate in many cases but the current method of lethal injection is what is far too lenient. The prospect of execution has to strike more fear into the hearts of potential killers than simply going peacefully to sleep. Many people suffering terminal conditions would gladly choose that way of passing. Public hangings or guillotining would be more of a deterrent as would other methods used in the past. The electric chair and gas chamber would also be better.

---------- Post added 2013-06-29 at 02:08 PM ----------

Confessions are often found to be given falsely, especially when given by young and generally speaking those of lesser intelligence. They're put through hours after hours of ruthless interrogation, lied to about what their rights are and eventually break down and say what their interrogators want to hear simply to get out of the situation. These types of situations are well documented, confessions later being found to be false through evidence convincing someone else. People actually confessing to murders they didn't do, just to feel as though they'll be granted freedom.



The death penalty is not a successful deterrent, that is a truth supported by the evidence.

There can be no statistics or evidence proving or disproving the deterrent effect. It's just common sense that it is a deterrent. How can you measure the number of people still alive who wouldn't be if the death penalty didn't exist? You have to know that that number would probably be quite significant if it could be ascertained. You can't have statistics for negative events.

[Taurenburger]

I agree with you. Death penalty is not much of a punishment as it's an easy escape. Your idea of letting them work and what they would have earned goes to the family of the victim is a really good one. They're being useful for society that way and if they get out of prison they can keep the job and keep their earnings.

[Deleted]

The guiollotine while cruel to luck at is in reality one of the best ways to kill somebody mercifull. How the method is choosen is more about white washing the Hands of Society.

While the penalty might be appropriate you should not forget what you lose and its a part of civilisation you give up i would think the price to pay is too high.
Cutting of the Hands of Pickpockets wont prevent starving people from stealing either.

[shise]

Death penalty kind of makes people free. Because when you have a serial killer killed you are not making him pay. I'd rather let him die in jail than just free him with death tbh...

The problem is when an innocent dies..

[smegmage]

There can be no statistics or evidence proving or disproving the deterrent effect. It's just common sense that it is a deterrent. How can you measure the number of people still alive who wouldn't be if the death penalty didn't exist? You have to know that that number would probably be quite significant if it could be ascertained. You can't have statistics for negative events.

Where did I say prove? I said the evidence supports it as a truth, that is not the same as prove. It is commonly accepted amongst experts in criminology that the death penality is not a successful deterrent. Can they prove it 100%? No, like you said you cannot prove that which has not taken place. You can however use crime statistics in areas where the death penality is in place an extrapolate from that that it is not a functional deterrent. Argue through logic all you'd like.

[Wikiy]

Group 1 is extremely right wing, and advocates torturing people to death or some other painful punishment.

Group 2 will advocate forgoing the long appeal process and just shoot them in the head, after all a bullet costs pennies. You will also get some people that will volunteer their services for the deed.

Group 3 will be against the death penalty and will instead advocate long term isolation with no perks, think a very small cell with no human contact except for the guards.

You're forgetting Group 4, extreme left-winger loonies like me who propose things like indefinite psychiatric and psychological treatment until the criminal is deemed to no longer be a threat and then released back into society.

[Deleted]

You're forgetting Group 4, extreme left-winger loonies like me who propose things like indefinite psychiatric and psychological treatment until the criminal is deemed to no longer be a threat and then released back into society.

Until now that group has been sadly under represented.

[glo]

Prisons by design are for rehabilitation, not psychological and physical torture. Thinking and hoping otherwise is pretty sadistic.

[DPA]

Why not force prisoners into work, no matter how big their crime is, they are still capable of performing manual labor.
This way you'll not only have "free" work, but the prisoners will not be as big of an economical burden to the state, like they are today.

[glo]

Why not force prisoners into work, no matter how big their crime is, they are still capable of performing manual labor.
This way you'll not only have "free" work, but the prisoners will not be as big of an economical burden to the state, like they are today.

Vast majority in gen pop do work. It's extremely common. There's people that refuse as well, but what do you expect them to do? It's not like they can send them to jail, they're already there.

[DPA]

Death row, how many there actually want to die?
Force them into labor, make them become less of a burden to the state economically.
How do you force a potentially dead man into work? Well since most people don't want to die, make tokens. Your food token is you, working.
Simple isn't it? If they still refuse, carry on with their death penalty.
I don't believe majority of death row prisoners can be rehabilitiated back into society.