Bye Bye Death Penalty

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  • ArroganceInStep
    ArroganceInStep Posts: 6,239 Member
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    I am clueless on why we pay to house and feed someone for the rest of their lives instead of giving them the death penalty. If their crime was so bad that they can no longer be in society then why do we as a state, country have to waste of tax money keeping them alive?????

    Because it's cheaper than killing them. That pesky constitution and all.
  • jaric01
    jaric01 Posts: 132 Member
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    I am from the city that executed TImothy McVey in Indiana. However, being Catholic, I have a hard time justifying the death penalty. I am conflicted.

    I think all those on Death Row should instead be dropped on an island with other felons and let them fend for themselves. Let Darwin win.

    Or we could do a Hunger Games with randomly selected felons on death row. The winner gets life without parole and free HBO. The proceeds will pay for the prison system. :-)
  • devilwhiterose
    devilwhiterose Posts: 1,157 Member
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    I am clueless on why we pay to house and feed someone for the rest of their lives instead of giving them the death penalty. If their crime was so bad that they can no longer be in society then why do we as a state, country have to waste of tax money keeping them alive?????

    Agreed.

    I lived in a state that didn't have the penatly, and a state that did. The state that did was far nicer. :laugh:
  • Ruger2506
    Ruger2506 Posts: 309 Member
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    My opinions:

    The best argument(s) against the death penalty (in the US) to make to people who are for it:
    1) Executing someone is more expensive than imprisoning them for life

    That is because the gov't is involved. They need to outsource it. Heck, I could carry out the punishment for $0.35. That is much cheaper than imprisonment.

    I imagine you're joking, but in case you aren't the vast majority of the expense of an execution has nothing to do with the actual act of killing the person.

    Exactly my point. It should be "guilty!" Bang, dead. Not "guilty." sit in jail appealing for 30 years.
  • doorki
    doorki Posts: 2,611 Member
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    This will probably be an unpopular opinion - but it amazes me that there are any states in the US that still have the death penalty. It seems medieval to me.

    (From Britain)

    I think it's when I hear of these horrible crimes and I picture how these people were killed, so brutally and many times for no "reason", (I use that term loosely), I just don't feel they have the right to breath the air that they so quickly and horrifically took from another human being.

    I do get that, and feel the same, honestly. I just think meeting violence with violence isn't the way that a civilised society behaves. Look at what other countries in the world still do it - are they countries you want to be in the same club as?

    I also think that if even one person in a thousand is wrongly executed, that's too many, and the only way to avoid that is not to execute people at all.

    Also - if the death penalty's OK, are other forms of corporal punishment OK too? Is it OK to cut the hands off people who steal, or stone women who commit adultery, or allow teachers to flog pupils for misbehaving in class? Where does it then end?


    Yes! I completely believe in "eye for an eye" punishment. I'm all for cutting off hands of theifs , castrating molestors, etc. I think our country could benefit from some serious punishments these days.

    I hear Saudi Arabia and Egypt have this code. They seem to be doing great.
  • NakedLunchTime
    NakedLunchTime Posts: 559
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    I think on the fiscal level it makes no sense. In CA they live in their own cells, have extra security, have access to all sorts of legal aid, their cases are automatically appealed. It is much more expensive to keep people on death row. And they are there for decades.

    “The additional cost of confining an inmate to death row, as compared to the maximum security prisons where those sentenced to life without possibility of parole ordinarily serve their sentences, is $90,000 per year per inmate. With California’s current death row population of 670, that accounts for $63.3 million annually.”

    "The cost of a system which imposes a maximum penalty of lifetime incarceration instead of the death penalty would be $11.5 million per year."

    http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/costs-death-penalty

    ^^^ This

    I am for the death penalty, in certain cases.

    But like in Cali, my state rarely serves out the death penalty...people sit on death row for decades.

    Inmates get 3 hot meals a day, access to unlimited education, cable TV, internet and a vast number of other things that everyday people NOT in prison can't get access to.

    Studies have shown that violent offenders have an extremely high chance of re-offending. How many times are we supposed to 'forgive' them?

    Off topic: I want to eat your profile pic!! :love:
  • ArroganceInStep
    ArroganceInStep Posts: 6,239 Member
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    Exactly my point. It should be "guilty!" Bang, dead. Not "guilty." sit in jail appealing for 30 years.

    Again, I am in favor of capital punishment, but you don't think they deserve an appeal? You don't think courts are fallible?

    How do you feel on the 10 guilty people going free before 1 innocent person is convicted philosophy?
  • LemonsAndCoffee
    LemonsAndCoffee Posts: 313 Member
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    The death penalty is just way too expensive. It costs less to jail someone for life than to fry them. That's why New Jersey got rid of it a few years ago.

    Besides, I rather see somone rot in jail everday for the rest of their life than get the easy way out.

    That is because there is an appeals process and we keep them alive for years if not decades. I think if the judge says "guilty, sentence is death". BOOM. They are dead immediately. Shot in the head by the executioner.

    I also think the lawyers should suffer the same punishment as their client. Sure would cut down on the defense of the guilty POS that committed some of these awful crimes. Plus it would really cut down on all these frivolous law suits.


    LOL....I think I love you!
  • Eaglesfanintn
    Eaglesfanintn Posts: 813 Member
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    I'm against the death penalty - there have been some cases when the person hasn't been guilty.
    Killing for killing = wrong IMO.

    Names?????

    Troy Davis was one that I can remember off the top of my head.

    Sorry...But you are full of it!

    Sure, you know more about all this than the people who work at the Innocence Project. I'm going to put my money on them, not you.
    I'll also direct your attention to this article on Findlaw.com - http://knowledgebase.findlaw.com/kb/2009/Jun/CS060809.html
  • Tropical_Turtle
    Tropical_Turtle Posts: 2,236 Member
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    I live in CA where they are contemplating getting rid of the death penalty. Too many tree hugging hippie liberals in this dang state. (this should sum up how I feel about the death penalty)
  • medaglia_06
    medaglia_06 Posts: 282 Member
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    I think the death penalty is hypocritical (sp?) You killed someone, so now we're killing you...

    Don't get me wrong, I think there are people out there (child molester's for one) that deserve an eternity in hell, but who are we to decide who lives or dies?

    I know it is much cheaper to have the death penalty than pay for a prisoner for years, but cut down on their comfort, give them the bare necessities only and let them suffer that way. I wouldn't want to be the one deciding that someone deserves to die.
  • OH_matt
    OH_matt Posts: 228 Member
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    I DID believe that there should be a death penalty and that everyone that had a "life sentence" should be put to death instead of sitting in a cell wasting tax payer money. HOWEVER, after doing some research, I have completely changed my mind. I think it should be the opposite. All prisoners that would be sentenced to death should be sentenced to life in prison without possible parole. The death penalty should only be used in extreme cases and carried out quickly. Like Charles Manson who gets a parole hearing every 5 years and laughs at the panel most of the time he's there, he should be shot immediately for the $0.25 it costs for a rifle round. Not for any kind of "killing criminals is wrong" reason, but purely monetary. Let me explain...

    The average person on death row is there for nearly 15 years due to restrictions in the legal system spelled out in the Constitution. In California, the government pays nearly $90,000 MORE a year PER PRISONER to keep a person on death row as opposed to being in a max security facility with the other life sentenced prisoners. In 2008 there were 670 prisoners on death row in California. That means that the tax payers were paying an EXTRA $60.3 million dollars per year just to keep them on death row. That money could be used for school, roads, or anything else. Instead it is spent to keep prisoners on death row.

    Florida has spent $57 million between 1973 and 1988 on death row inmates with only 18 executions. That an average of almost $3.2 million per execution.

    Texas spends a total of $2.3 million per death penalty case. That's 3 times the cost of keeping the same prisoner in a single cell at the highest security level for 40 years.

    California has sentenced around 3,500 people to "life without the possibility of parole" since 1978 and NOT ONE has been released, except those very few that have proved their innocence.

    Plus, building prisons and hiring guards creates jobs. So you save money and help unemployment. WIN-WIN!!

    The list goes on and on for states and the federal government spending BILLIONS of dollars that could be going to schools, roads, police officers, fire departments, or many other public services. That is why I think the death penalty should be done away with UNLESS we can execute them quicker than 15 years.
  • PudgyPigeon
    PudgyPigeon Posts: 89 Member
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    I was born in Texas, that should about sum up my view on the subject.

    I live in Texas. Sometimes, my lights flicker when someone goes down in Huntsville Texas (jk).

    That's terrible...
    ... and I may be going to hell for laughing at this. <.<;
    lol
  • CharityEaton
    CharityEaton Posts: 508
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    my opinion is that if we were all allowed to carry our own weapons with out the government putting such strict laws on how we are allowed to defend ourselves then there would be a lot less violent crimes. However, this would probably cause a huge increase in deaths too but, do you think someone is gonna try to rape a young girl if they aren't really sure if she has a gun and knows how to use it??? Maybe they will still try and maybe she will kill the POS before he has a chance to...problem solved...and YES, I would shoot the POS if it were me. I wouldn't hesitate in the least bit.
    Aso, if our legal system wasn't so twisted up these jerks would never get a chance to be back out on the streets.
    For the person that said it cost more to follow through with the death penalty then to keep them in prison....not sure that makes sense.
    A one time deal to kill them but year after year of crowded prisons, feeding the criminal, allowing him to appeal, suppliying them with a lawyer, oh and the best part.....access to fitness equipment and furthering their education.....WTH, a scumbag gets better care then 90% of the American populatin because he is in prison.
    Forget the death penalty let's get back to hardcore manual labor and chaingangs...chain 'em up and work them to death.
  • losethatshit
    losethatshit Posts: 22
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    New evidence emerges every day that exonerates criminals, some of them awaiting execution. Innocent people are executed all the time.

    That in itself is enough to justify not murdering people with state sanctions. My taxes shouldn't be used to fuel murder. There is no such thing as "100% definitely guilty." Makes me ****ing sick we are even discussing this.

    In Europe, believe it or not, they actually help criminals with their problems.

    http://www.whyeverythingisawful.com/prison-walls-are-never-built-to-scale/
  • katlynx6
    katlynx6 Posts: 68
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    I too live in CT and I am familiar with the Petit murders and the trials of Hayes and Komisarjevsky (the murderers, who are without a doubt, 100% guilty as they have both confessed, and were caught fleeing the scene of the crime moments after they set the house on fire with both children alive inside) and when considering the horror that family went through (and Dr. Petit who survived, still must go through) it's hard not to feel they should be executed & Dr. Petit has spoken out against the repeal of the death penalty.

    Just as a point of interest, the repeal would only apply to future sentences, so the inmates currently on CT's death row (including Hayes and Komisarjevsky) will still be executed eventually.
  • ncahill77
    ncahill77 Posts: 501 Member
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    I am clueless on why we pay to house and feed someone for the rest of their lives instead of giving them the death penalty. If their crime was so bad that they can no longer be in society then why do we as a state, country have to waste of tax money keeping them alive?????

    Because it's cheaper than killing them. That pesky constitution and all.

    Please don't reference the Constitution to explain the mockery the legal system has become. That is just ignorance. The Constitution never said a guilty party should get by on technicalities for decades, some asshat lawmakers, judges and attorneys built that system.
  • TexanThom
    TexanThom Posts: 778
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    I'm against the death penalty - there have been some cases when the person hasn't been guilty.
    Killing for killing = wrong IMO.

    Names?????

    Troy Davis got what he deserved....No more No less.

    Troy Davis was one that I can remember off the top of my head.

    Sorry...But you are full of it!

    Sure, you know more about all this than the people who work at the Innocence Project. I'm going to put my money on them, not you.
    I'll also direct your attention to this article on Findlaw.com - http://knowledgebase.findlaw.com/kb/2009/Jun/CS060809.html
  • boomboom011
    boomboom011 Posts: 1,459
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    Texas native, no need to elaborate.
  • MFPAddict
    MFPAddict Posts: 2,303 Member
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    There is no such thing as "100% definitely guilty." Makes me ****ing sick we are even discussing this.

    Really? So a guy caught on video shooting & killing another person wouldn't be considered 100% guilty?

    Makes me sick that my tax dollars are wasted housing scumbags.

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