All of America knows that there is a death penalty yet murders still occur. In fact the murder rate is higher in many states that have the death penalty than ones that don't. The death penalty isn't a deterant and showing it publically isn't likely to change that.
I wonder what the stats would show if these azzholes knew if there were a law that states if one is found guilty of murder and is condemned to death that he ONLY has 1 month to live. Not a decade. Not even a year, but a month. Time in jail (for these types of people) is a second home for them...and accomplishes nothing.
Oh, I totally agree. In fact, this is my only reason for not supporting the death penalty, is the distinct possibility that one innocent person could be killed. And as you said, the courts are not infallible by any means. If we lived in a make-believe world where the court's were infallible, I believe justice is ultimately served by putting the murderer to death.
totally agree... wtf are wrong with these people.. lets see how they feel if it was one of their family members or loved ones that was taken. lets see them hold a vigil for the murderer.. these people are all r****ds
Probably wouldn't reduce it that much. I don't understand what motivates someone to become a murderer but it seems like its rarely rational in what most of us would consider rational. For example it looks like Hasan and Choi planned to die when they shot up Fort Hood and Virginia Tech. In that case a death penalty is no deterrent even if it enacted swiftly. In the case of McVeigh he saw his death as the culmination of his struggle so that he dies a martyr. Besides that I suspect many of those who commit heinous acts aren't thinking about being caught or simply aren't thinking through the consequences. There was a case here in Minnesota a few years ago where a person kidnapped raped and murdered a girl. While he kidnapped her in Minnesota, a non-death penalty state, he took her over to South Dakota, a death penalty state, and murdered her there. Now he is sitting on South Dakota's death row. Consider Muhammed who carried out sniper attacks in several jurisdictions some with the death penalty and some without. If the death penalty was a deterrent he would've stuck to non-death penalty states. Finally swifter justice though would undermine the argument that the death penalty is only reserved for the most heinous crimes that meet the highest standard of proof. Swift justice is rarely thorough justice and if executions were carried out a month after initial conviction there would be no way that due process could be fully carried out.
Good thoughts and argument. Btw, I do realize that my "idea" wouldn't change much now if enacted...but after a generation of living with the 1 month idea, maybe people will think differently, especially the young. They at least should know they have a whole lot more to lose. Back to your thoughts. So what is going to be the deterrent? Jail doesn't work. God doesn't work. Rehab doesn't work. Guilt doesn't work. Society's PC-ness doesn't work. Using our dime to put up these guys doesn't work. There probably will never be a good, correct answer. But until they find something that DOES work, I'll be happy to pull the lever.
I didn't decide it, a judge and a jury of his peers did which is good enough for me. You don't deserve your life as soon as you murder a single person, death is certainly a good solution.
I hate to say it but there probably isn't much that can be done to prevent a John Muhammed, Choi or Hasan. There is always going to be some sick people out there. The problem I have with the death penalty though is that our justice system always is going to be imperfect. We can't just say in the abstract we only reserve it for the worst of the worst because there always will be a chance for a mistake.
Yes, not much can be done with the "them" of the world. Agree. But I fear those "thems" are going to start poppin up more and more. I see your point on the death penalty, I do, but my threshold for waiting around wondering if Hasan actually killed anyone is very low. That's an exaggeration, if not a poor one, but you get the idea. I'll live with the science of the day and if the science says he's guilty and a jury finds him guilty and gives him a death sentence and the judge agrees, well, goodbye "them".
Why do people constantly take this biblical quote out of context? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eye_for_an_eye Lex talionis in Christianity Christian interpretation of the Biblical passage has been heavily influenced by the quotation from Leviticus (19:18 above) in Jesus of Nazareth's Sermon on the Mount. In the Expounding of the Law (part of the Sermon on the Mount), Jesus urges his followers to turn the other cheek when confronted by violence: You have heard that it was said, "An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth". But I say to you, do not resist an evildoer. If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. (Matthew 5:38–39, NRSV) This saying of Jesus is frequently interpreted as criticism of the Old Testament teaching, and often taken as implying that "an eye for an eye" encourages excessive vengeance rather than an attempting to limit it. It was one of the points of 'fulfilment or destruction' of the Hebrew law which the Church father St. Augustine already discussed in his Contra Faustum, Book XIX.[4] As noted in previous sections, the natural tendency of people is for revenge and in the extreme. “You hurt me or offended me so I am going to take an ‘arm and a leg’ or sue you for all you have!” Although both the Hammurabi Code and Hebrew Law both had death penalties for many crimes, the “eye for eye” was to restrict compensation to the value of the loss. Thus, it might be better read 'only one eye for one eye'.
Are there really? I'm not seeing an epidemic of heinous crimes in my state or the US as a whole, and I live in a non-death penalty state. I don't think more or less harsh or swifter death penalty makes much of a difference to the number of heinous crimes committed. I'm not quite so confident in our justice system given the numbers of people we find wrongfully convicted.
Life is a game of percentages. Waiting for the perfect hand to make a play is like waiting for technology to stop to buy the perfect TV. It ain't never gonna happen.
