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Is capital punishment a deterrent?

Is capital punishment a deterrent?

  • Yes

    Votes: 3 10.7%
  • No

    Votes: 25 89.3%

  • Total voters
    28
independent_thinker2002 said:
Nor will I face that choice, because I would rather die than go to prison.

I guess I could say the same thing and be real macho because like you I don't have to face it.......

Its obvious you have never looked death in the eye......You might change your mind.....
 
Navy Pride said:
I guess I could say the same thing and be real macho because like you I don't have to face it.......

Its obvious you have never looked death in the eye......You might change your mind.....

Just out of curiosity, what makes you think that I haven't looked death in the eye?
 
Originally Posted by Navy Pride
Yeah right........Billo I know your smarter then that........
It's "than" that. But I might have to disagree with you there. Everything I know, is a result of a mistake I have made in the past.
 
Navy Pride said:
your thoughts please:

I believe capital punishment is a deterrent if it's carried out right away versus being dragged on for 5-10 years. We would save a lot of tax dollars too if we executed prisoners right away.
 
Of course capital punishment doesn't deter anyone. Do you honestly believe that anyone who commits a crime worthy of the death penalty stopped to consider the possibility that he might be executed? It's simply not a factor for these people.

I would think that, aside from Texans, most Americans don't even know whether their state has the death penalty. And people who commit capital crimes usually aren't the brightest crayons in the box who would go out and research this ahead of time.
 
realist said:
I believe capital punishment is a deterrent if it's carried out right away versus being dragged on for 5-10 years. We would save a lot of tax dollars too if we executed prisoners right away.

And hey, as long as we're denying people their legal rights in the interest of expediency and tax efficiency, maybe we can have death squads to execute all the poor people too.
 
Kandahar said:
And hey, as long as we're denying people their legal rights in the interest of expediency and tax efficiency, maybe we can have death squads to execute all the poor people too.

Why does it take so long? I guess the waiting period on death row differs between each state. I just think that if your guilty without a doubt you should be executed right away. Guilty is different than poor, but obviously you feel that the death penalty is racist, which could be, not really sure?
 
realist said:
Why does it take so long? I guess the waiting period on death row differs between each state. I just think that if your guilty without a doubt you should be executed right away. Guilty is different than poor, but obviously you feel that the death penalty is racist, which could be, not really sure?

It takes so long because it takes a while for the defendents to exhaust all of their appeals. And until they've had every right afforded to them under the American legal system and Constitution to disprove the allegations, you can't say that they're "guilty without a doubt." And even then, mistakes ARE made.

Once the appeals are exhausted, it doesn't take long at all. Usually less than a year.
 
George_Washington said:
Of course killing an innocent person would be worse. But I don't think that means we shouldn't use the death penalty. If you commit horrible acts of violence and rape, I think you deserve to be put to death. I really do believe that. Whether or not it actually cuts down on crime is irrelevant; I believe the state simply has a moral duty to put to death people that are extremely sick and evil.

I believe that the death penalty is morally wrong. It is the equivalent of two wrongs trying to make a right. I have already expressed my views several times already.
 
I do not believe the death penalty is a deturrent.
 
Can't answer the poll question. Answer isn't that clear cut.

If it means as currently applied is capital punishment deterring anyone, hell no.

If it means can capital punishment be a deterrent if done right, of course it can be.

The problem, of course, is certainty. Sometimes we know damn good and well who did it, how, and why. May as well toss 'em in the trash compactor and be done with 'em. Is society really served by keeping something like John Wayne Gacy alive until it croaks of natural causes? Mulching's a good method, too, btw.

What won't be a deterrent is an antisceptic peaceful journey into neverland on the ol' needle in the arm ride.

Beheadings seem to be effective in raising public disgust. But they're useless unless criminals get the idea that it really can happen to them. And in this country especially there's always a second chance, for most of 'em, anyway, so they get the idea instead that they can get away with it.

IMO capital punishment is one of those things that's fine in theory, but it's better to let the Westerfields, the Dahmers, and the Petersons of the world learn what fun it is rubbing elbows with the career gangster in general population. That kills more inmates than capital punishment ever will.
 
It's a little of both really. On one hand, you have the rational people, who may feel like killing someone at some point, then they think, OMG, I might get the death penalty. Then you have the irrational, sometimes insane folks, that will never even consider this. They have no conscience, and believe what they are doing is acceptable, almost like how an animal kills their prey. They live in another dimension, and this will never stop them from taking whatever they want, including human life. I think it's time to end this circus, as it only leads to lengthy trials, and expensive appeals, the lawyers see to this. I am not sure if I am correct, but I recall hearing that it costs more to kill, then it does to serve a life sentence.
 
Deegan said:
It's a little of both really. On one hand, you have the rational people, who may feel like killing someone at some point, then they think, OMG, I might get the death penalty. Then you have the irrational, sometimes insane folks, that will never even consider this. They have no conscience, and believe what they are doing is acceptable, almost like how an animal kills their prey. They live in another dimension, and this will never stop them from taking whatever they want, including human life. I think it's time to end this circus, as it only leads to lengthy trials, and expensive appeals, the lawyers see to this. I am not sure if I am correct, but I recall hearing that it costs more to kill, then it does to serve a life sentence.

Human beings are animals and every human being in my view is capable of murder and of doing some horrendous things. It is part of the nature of every human, whether most of us like to admit it or not.
 
TimmyBoy said:
Human beings are animals and every human being in my view is capable of murder and of doing some horrendous things. It is part of the nature of every human, whether most of us like to admit it or not.

I agree, that's why I said that even rational folks have the thought cross their minds, but thankfully, common sense usually prevails.
 
Deegan said:
I agree, that's why I said that even rational folks have the thought cross their minds, but thankfully, common sense usually prevails.

Yup, thank god it usually does. But it doesn't always.
 
Crap.

Sometimes it's necessary to kill someone. Guaran-damn-teed if someone threatens my kids, and they're believable, I'll be doin' some pre-emptive medicine.

Yep, that's very much medieval, but so what? You can't claim to be civilized until you have such urges and controlled them.

I'm civilized.

Are you?
 
There has never been a verifiable study that has shown that the death penalty is a deterrent to crime. There have been many flawed studies that begin with the end in mind - DP is a deterrent - and manipulate data to support the conclusion.

There is an interesting article on the subject here:

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/FaganTestimony.pdf

I'm basically against the death penality with perhaps a few exceptions:
1. Murdering a cop
2. Terrorists
3. Child molesters

Even in those instances it's not so clear cut and we have certainly put innocents to death.

I think you would be hard pressed to find a criminal that didn't commit a crime out of fear that he/she would be executed.
 
Navy Pride said:
No its not not but I am sure if you asked all the in mates on death row you would find out I am right for the reason I already mentioned which you conveniently ignored....

It is easy to say I would rather die then go to prison for the rest of your life until you have to face that death...........

I know what your going to say..You would rather die if it was you,Problem is your not facing that choice...............

Hey NP - If you want to make your slam of liberals on the abortion issue more effective - change the 3.500 figure to 3,500.

Liberals sleep well tonight...3.500 babies were murdered in the womb today.
 
independent_thinker2002 said:
Just out of curiosity, what makes you think that I haven't looked death in the eye?

Your comments, but its not relevent if either of us have in this debate...
 
independent_thinker2002 said:
The state and federal govt. have a "moral" obligation to it's citizens to keep them safe. Keeping them incarcerated with the restrictions that death row inmates have does that. In Illinois a man was exonerated (DNA evidence)after being on death row for 17 YEARS. Using the phrase "moral duty" and put to death is oxymoronic in this context. It is unnecesary. Please don't tell me about the cost of incarceration. We can talk about the cost of incarcerating victimless non-violent crimes which outweighs that cost. I am not sad that Gacy is dead. He was no longer a threat before his death because there was no possibility of him getting out.

Yes, I know that sometimes mistakes happen and sometimes innocent people are sent to death row. But does that really mean we should just disregard the dealth penalty altogether? Imagine if someone you loved was brutally raped and murdered in the worst way possible. Would you not want them killed? Can you honestly say you wouldn't?
 
George_Washington said:
Yes, I know that sometimes mistakes happen and sometimes innocent people are sent to death row. But does that really mean we should just disregard the dealth penalty altogether?

Umm yes. That's exactly what it means.

George_Washington said:
Imagine if someone you loved was brutally raped and murdered in the worst way possible. Would you not want them killed? Can you honestly say you wouldn't?

Well that's one reason that we don't let the family members of the victim serve on the jury or as the judge, now isn't it?
 
Kandahar said:
Umm yes. That's exactly what it means.



Well that's one reason that we don't let the family members of the victim serve on the jury or as the judge, now isn't it?

I just think that sometimes it's justice for a person to die, as in justice for the victim's families.
 
Navy Pride said:
Spin it any way you want.......The guy executed will never rape or murder again......

Oh and one more thing...There are documented cases of criminals moving to states that don't have the death penalty to commit their crimes........Why do you think they did that?
Prove it! I think you're making this up. If it's "documented" why haven't you provided the documentation?
 
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