29 replies to this topic

[Emily]

Excerpts from the full article:

 

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Ten years after banning the use of firing squads in state executions, Utah lawmakers on Wednesday endorsed a proposal to allow the practice again to avoid problems with lethal-injection drugs.

The proposal from Republican Rep. Paul Ray of Clearfield would call for a firing squad if the state cannot obtain the lethal injection drugs 30 days before the scheduled execution.

"We have to have an option," Ray told reporters Wednesday. "If we go hanging, if we go to the guillotine, or we go to the firing squad, electric chair, you're still going to have the same circus atmosphere behind it. So is it really going to matter?"

Under current Utah law, death by firing squad is only an option for criminals sentenced to death before 2004. It was last used in 2010. 

 

I thought that this was kind of interesting, and I guess there really is no humane way to kill an human being. There are problems with lethal injections, problems with the electric chair, problems with the firing squad (according to the article, they missed a man's heart and it took him nearly 30 mins to die). 

 

I have mixed opinions on the death penalty. Sometimes I support it and other times I'm not really sure - mainly because I think the costs of keeping someone on death row are ridiculous. At the same time, if someone killed a friend or family member of mine then I would not want to be on the same planet as them. It's not really about revenge, in my opinion. I guess it all just depends on the case too. 

 

How do you feel about the death penalty? What about the ways that people are executed? Firing squad, hanging, lethal injection, electric chair? Is there really a "humane" way of going about executing those on death row? Do you think that there is a sort of circus atmosphere surrounding the whole thing? 

 

Speak to me. 

[Swar]

Torture is better 

[Padme]

 

This is a really informative and about as light hearted of a video that I know of which exists that explains about keeping people on death row and the costs.

 

I couldn't kill someone ( I can't even kill bugs) so I can't really be supportive of something if I don't think I could personally carry out the punishment. 

I think that would change though if I had one of my family members murdered that was really close to me. One of my cousins was killed by a drunk driver when I was young and there are times I'm really bothered knowing that the person who took her life has the ability to walk around.  

 

Then again I think if it does exist that it should extend to people who commit heinous crimes like sexually harming children or anything like that. I would however rather they rot in prison even though they deserve to die, because, the cost of killing them is outrageous and those costs could be used for better causes and victim support, etc. 

[Padme]

No. 

 

It's torturous when you don't understand humour  

[HiMyNameIsNick]

Death penalty is one of the worst ideas of the humankind. I mean, what if someone is -really- innocent?

Edited by HiMyNameIsNick, 19 November 2014 - 08:41 PM.

[Padme]

Death penalty is one of the worst ideas of the humankind. I mean, what if someone is -really- innocent?

 

They know now that they've killed innocent people.

They also put innocent people in jail for decades and rob them of their livelihood and good name. 

They then don't get any reparations for being in jail in a lot of places but some do give them something back in the form of money since you know you can't give them back those years

 

 

 

In the states that do make reparations to the wrongly imprisoned, compensation varies wildly. In some, exonerated prisoners receive a fixed award for each year spent inside: $36,500 in California, $5,000 in Wisconsin, $50,000 in Alabama, $15,000 in Louisiana. A former prisoner in Tennessee can claim up to $1 million; in New Hampshire claims are capped at $20,000.

http://prospect.org/...victed (source)

[HiMyNameIsNick]

They know now that they've killed innocent people.

They also put innocent people in jail for decades and rob them of their livelihood and good name. 

They then don't get any reparations for being in jail in a lot of places but some do give them something back in the form of money since you know you can't give them back those years

 

http://prospect.org/...victed (source)

 

 

I was talking about real innocents who were murdered by the... government? 

[Peaches]

I watched that video about the death penalty, I think it's hilarious. Thank you for sharing.

It shouldn't cost that much to keep a criminal locked up nor to kill one. It's those bastard private companies that hike up the prices of their "services" once they gain a contract with the government.

[Norava]

I think as long as the prisoner has the right to choose. They can choose how they want to die, and if firing squad is how they want to go then so be it. 

[Peaches]

Just kill them the same way they killed.

[Emily]

I remember hearing about a Florida man who whose head "burst into flames" while in the electric chair.

 

 

 

"Florida State Attorney General Bob Butterworth was unmoved, saying Medina's gruesome end would make killers think twice about operating in his jurisdiction. "People who wish to commit murder, they better not do it in the State of Florida, because we may have a problem with our electric chair," he said. Gov. Lawton Chiles said he wouldn't suspend executions, as was done for three months in 1990 when another condemned man ignited in the chair. 
---
" Medina was convicted of the 1982 killing of Dorothy James, a 52-year-old teacher who had befriended him. The Florida Supreme Court denied Medina's request for a new trial last month despite a finding that prosecutors had concealed strong evidence implicating the boyfriend James had just dumped. James' daughter, Lindi, opposed the execution, saying she never believed Medina killed her mother.

 

Cases like this annoy me because what if he was innocent? Then he suffered for nothing.

 

Then there are other cases that just enrage me, and I want the killers to be hung right then and there so... I really do have mixed emotions about this topic. 

[Frizzle]

The death penalty is the stupidest idea based on revenge, retribution and emotion. It has no place in a civilised society and I'm glad Europe (bar Belarus) has evolved from that frame of mind.

Let's look at the facts.

You will kill innocent people, I've seen sources as high as a 5% error rate which means that America is systematically executing innocent people. If you feel this is fine due to the amount of guilty put to death, I sincerely hope you aren't in the wrong place at the wrong time or are framed. Will you still be for it when one of your parents is electrocuted or shot?

It's expensive. With the amount of appeals and court apperances as well as the amount of time spent on death row, it's pissing money away just for revenge. Why spend millions on killing one person when that money could be used on public services, improving people's living standards and decreasing the amount of people who'd need to be on death row?

It's not a deterrent. Most crimes punishable by the death penalty are crimes of passion or huge emotion. If you're going to kill or rape someone, you either don't think you're going to be caught or you don't care. There is no way logic and rational thinking apply when you find your wife in bed with another man and you shoot them both, you don't think at the time of the repercussions.

What crimes are punishable by the death penalty? Ok rape is horrific and evil, but you're telling me mass fraud costing billions, bankers plunging the world into debt and tax evasion is overshadowed by a single individuals bad experience? What's worse for society?

I prefer the system of locking dangerous people up for life. Small room, no visits, just a pot to piss in and a bed. Imagine that for the rest of your life? It's awful and a better punishment, as well as the fact you can make amends if you accidently lock someone up. Unfortunately you can't dig corpses up, dust em off and say sorry.

It also sends the wrong message when you have give your politicians the powers to execute people. "Oh killing is wrong, except for when we do it".

Hell the two terrorists who beheaded a solider here and tried to shoot the cops got worse than the death penalty. Both early twenties and one got forty years and the other got a whole life tariff (life imprisonment, no parole). That's a better suited punishment than a quick, painless death. If you locked me up for the rest of my life I'd be doing anything I could to get the death penalty or be hanging real soon.

[Kaddict]

I am all for capital punishment. I feel that it shouldn't have an error rate of even 1% though. I like the idea that the people can choose their manner of execution. But I think the bigger problem is the fact that many prisoners have a more comfy lifestyle than 25% of americans. I hate how much we spend on making them comfortable...

[HiMyNameIsNick]

I remember hearing about a Florida man who whose head "burst into flames" while in the electric chair.

 

 

Cases like this annoy me because what if he was innocent? Then he suffered for nothing.

 

Then there are other cases that just enrage me, and I want the killers to be hung right then and there so... I really do have mixed emotions about this topic. 

 

 

It's pretty common to feel mixed feelings about death penalty.

But you should think about the ones who are being judged. What if you're charged of a crime that you've never been involved?

[Frizzle]

You've obviously never been to a prison then.

I am all for capital punishment. I feel that it shouldn't have an error rate of even 1% though. I like the idea that the people can choose their manner of execution. But I think the bigger problem is the fact that many prisoners have a more comfy lifestyle than 25% of americans. I hate how much we spend on making them comfortable...

[Emily]

 

It's pretty common to feel mixed feelings about death penalty.

But you should think about the ones who are being judged. What if you're charged of a crime that you've never been involved?

 

 

It happens a lot. There's a NY man who's being freed after nearly 40 years in prison because a witness, who was 12 at the time, lied. Apparently, there was no evidence to support that he had anything to do with it. There's also the case of the Central Park Five (there's a documentary on this, if you're interested), who were coerced into confessing to a crime that they didn't commit. There was no DNA evidence linking them to the crime, and the DNA evidence that was at the scene didn't match any of the boys. A judge actually just approved a $41 million dollar settlement for them in September. 

 

So I don't think in cases like this the death penalty should be used (and it wasn't in the cases above but it was still unfair to these people, whose lives were essentially stolen from them). There still could be plenty of people who have been executed that were innocent so their lives were stolen from them too. I don't know how correct this is but apparently about 4% of those who receive the death penalty are innocent. It would be wishful thinking to believe that everyone who has been executed in the United States was guilty of whatever crime they were believed to have committed. 

 

However, there are some cases where I believe that person or persons who committed the crime should rot in hell. Like the Petit family murders or the living Boston Marathon bomber, for example. It's not up to me when or how they die though. They'll rot eventually. 

[Dan]

An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.

 

Capital punishment hurts our society more than it helps it. How can we outlaw the murder of another person as the most punishable act, and yet later deem it as an acceptable punishment?

[Oninna]

The death penalty is the stupidest idea based on revenge, retribution and emotion. It has no place in a civilised society and I'm glad Europe (bar Belarus) has evolved from that frame of mind.

Let's look at the facts.

You will kill innocent people, I've seen sources as high as a 5% error rate which means that America is systematically executing innocent people. If you feel this is fine due to the amount of guilty put to death, I sincerely hope you aren't in the wrong place at the wrong time or are framed. Will you still be for it when one of your parents is electrocuted or shot?

It's expensive. With the amount of appeals and court apperances as well as the amount of time spent on death row, it's pissing money away just for revenge. Why spend millions on killing one person when that money could be used on public services, improving people's living standards and decreasing the amount of people who'd need to be on death row?

It's not a deterrent. Most crimes punishable by the death penalty are crimes of passion or huge emotion. If you're going to kill or rape someone, you either don't think you're going to be caught or you don't care. There is no way logic and rational thinking apply when you find your wife in bed with another man and you shoot them both, you don't think at the time of the repercussions.

What crimes are punishable by the death penalty? Ok rape is horrific and evil, but you're telling me mass fraud costing billions, bankers plunging the world into debt and tax evasion is overshadowed by a single individuals bad experience? What's worse for society?

I prefer the system of locking dangerous people up for life. Small room, no visits, just a pot to piss in and a bed. Imagine that for the rest of your life? It's awful and a better punishment, as well as the fact you can make amends if you accidently lock someone up. Unfortunately you can't dig corpses up, dust em off and say sorry.

It also sends the wrong message when you have give your politicians the powers to execute people. "Oh killing is wrong, except for when we do it".

Hell the two terrorists who beheaded a solider here and tried to shoot the cops got worse than the death penalty. Both early twenties and one got forty years and the other got a whole life tariff (life imprisonment, no parole). That's a better suited punishment than a quick, painless death. If you locked me up for the rest of my life I'd be doing anything I could to get the death penalty or be hanging real soon.

I wholeheartedly agree. I can't add much to it.

[Bee]

I personally find the death penalty abhorrent. The worst thing you can do to a person is take away their rights, and prison does that effectively. According to this article, trying a death penalty case costs $1.25 million more than trying a case that results in life without parole. That's money that is better  spent elsewhere.

 

A basic search of Google also reveals this little tidbit:

 

 

 

• In California the current sytem costs $137 million per year; it would cost $11.5 million for a system without the death penalty.
  (California Commission for the Fair Administration of Justice, July 2008)

[Liesa]

I wish they had a death penalty in my country..especially for the ones who get sentenced for 'life'.

Pedophiles,multiple murder charges,.. shouldn't get to return to society.

[Bone]

The death penalty is the stupidest idea based on revenge, retribution and emotion. It has no place in a civilised society and I'm glad Europe (bar Belarus) has evolved from that frame of mind.

Let's look at the facts.

You will kill innocent people, I've seen sources as high as a 5% error rate which means that America is systematically executing innocent people. If you feel this is fine due to the amount of guilty put to death, I sincerely hope you aren't in the wrong place at the wrong time or are framed. Will you still be for it when one of your parents is electrocuted or shot?

It's expensive. With the amount of appeals and court apperances as well as the amount of time spent on death row, it's pissing money away just for revenge. Why spend millions on killing one person when that money could be used on public services, improving people's living standards and decreasing the amount of people who'd need to be on death row?

It's not a deterrent. Most crimes punishable by the death penalty are crimes of passion or huge emotion. If you're going to kill or rape someone, you either don't think you're going to be caught or you don't care. There is no way logic and rational thinking apply when you find your wife in bed with another man and you shoot them both, you don't think at the time of the repercussions.

What crimes are punishable by the death penalty? Ok rape is horrific and evil, but you're telling me mass fraud costing billions, bankers plunging the world into debt and tax evasion is overshadowed by a single individuals bad experience? What's worse for society?

I prefer the system of locking dangerous people up for life. Small room, no visits, just a pot to piss in and a bed. Imagine that for the rest of your life? It's awful and a better punishment, as well as the fact you can make amends if you accidently lock someone up. Unfortunately you can't dig corpses up, dust em off and say sorry.

It also sends the wrong message when you have give your politicians the powers to execute people. "Oh killing is wrong, except for when we do it".

Hell the two terrorists who beheaded a solider here and tried to shoot the cops got worse than the death penalty. Both early twenties and one got forty years and the other got a whole life tariff (life imprisonment, no parole). That's a better suited punishment than a quick, painless death. If you locked me up for the rest of my life I'd be doing anything I could to get the death penalty or be hanging real soon.

 

Yep. 

 

I wish they had a death penalty in my country..especially for the ones who get sentenced for 'life'.

Pedophiles,multiple murder charges,.. shouldn't get to return to society.

 

And how doesn't a life sentence prevent them from returning to society?

[Liesa]

Yep. 

 

 

And how doesn't a life sentence prevent them from returning to society?

 

Life here means you get 30 years, that is ideally.

But with our fucked up justice system even people who have been given 'life' can get free after 5 years because of 'good behavior'.

[Epicurion]

Life here means you get 30 years, that is ideally.

But with our fucked up justice system even people who have been given 'life' can get free after 5 years because of 'good behavior'.

 

Then I would say they need to fix their idea of a "life sentence", not add the death penalty as an option.

 

I wish the death penalty would be completely removed from every countries law, and a full life sentence be used in it's place...for all the reasons previously mentioned.

[Liesa]

Then I would say they need to fix their idea of a "life sentence", not add the death penalty as an option.

 

I wish the death penalty would be completely removed from every countries law, and a full life sentence be used in it's place...for all the reasons previously mentioned.

 

Even if they'd fix it we'd still have way too little space in prisons here.

[Epicurion]

Even if they'd fix it we'd still have way too little space in prisons here.

 

Still not a reason to kill someone...at least not in my opinion.

 

A few people have already said it, but I think the best phrase I've seen yet is "An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind".  There is no logic behind "hey, you killed someone so now we will kill you!".  The death penalty is one of the most useless and hypocritical punishments ever conceived.