The death penalty?

Daily Life, Swiss News and General Topics
41
Despite my more liberal leanings and my opposition to the death penalty, castration of repeat sex offenders is something I could live with.

42
Against. I think it is a greater punishment to have a lifetime in prison.

43
I voted no, and for one reason. As I said in a previous thread and has been said here a few times - the criminal justice system is fallible. People make mistakes. If you want statistics, then according to the Death Penalty Information Centre, since 1973, in the US, 139 people on death row have been exonerated subsequent to their conviction.

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/inno...reed-death-row

For those concerned about the lengthy appeals procedure in the US, the average length of time on death row before these people were acquitted was nearly 10 years. Many had to wait significantly longer for their innocence to come to light.

These are not rounding errors and for me, there can be no "pro" argument (and I have sympathy with some them) that outweighs this argument against capital punishment.

44

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_137482...ce=most_viewed

I, as I have said before, believe there should be a death penalty for cases where the crime has been particularly heinous.

Raping a child and I do mean truly raping, not simply "statutory rape" in the sense that a 18yo has a 15 or 16yo sweetie... should be punishable by death.

Perhaps I would say to let them go into the system "once" and come out alive - if they can. I think these people should be put into the general populace while in prison as well. Alas, due to whatever regulations there are for "humane" treatment, quite often people convicted and sent to prison for harming children are put into some sort of protected area in order to keep them safe from the other prisoners. I think this should stop.

If the predator makes it out of prison alive only to commit the same (or similar) crime again once you've been freed, that's it, chance has been blown. No appeals, no pussyfooting about, as soon as possible dead.

I think for these people, it is not a matter of "if" they will harm a child again but "when."

45
I am against the death penalty , for all crimes. But i do believe in imprisonment , rehabilitation where possible and of course repentance.

Death sentences are in my mind legalised murder. That may be ok to some , but not for me , not when we have a government that writes the rules to suit itself and not the wishes of the electorate.

46
I can't condone taking a human life through malice in any circumstances. If I were to agree with the death penalty I feel I would be agreeing with murder in any form. It boils down to the same thing whether it's a nutcase sticking a knife in or pulling a trigger or a government worker flicking a switch or administering a lethal dose.

I cannot agree with the UK even contemplating a return to the death penalty - it would be a step back into the dark ages. Makes me sick.

47
Or - even better - put them in a big cage and the they fight to the death and the last one standing gets pardoned and people can bet on the outcome!

I mean come on man, 'see if they come out alive', I mean why not just employ a new version of the witchfinder general that sniffs out child rapists instead. It'd at least take the justice system back to the level your proposing.

48

The level I propose is simply the level to which we are already asked to put our children at risk when these predators are released.

49
What about this predator then ? http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/848737.stm

Named and shamed in a Newspaper for being a paedophile and has a panic button installed in his house.

When a paedophile is released from prison, he may have rehabilitated perfectly, be cured as some heroin addicts are, does he (or she) not deserve to now be able to live in society ? If they do not, then no other sentence should be delivered except life for any type of sexual conviction.

50
What should happen to Karadzic?

51
Even Albert Pierrepoint , the last hangman of England who reportedly executed around 600 people, became an opponent.

If the justice system were infallible, then perhaps we could justify the death penalty. However it is not, and in that case better 100 guilty persons be spared than 1 innocent person be put to death.

Our society is somewhat sadistic...we'll happily put physically healthy people out of their misery, and keep terminally ill people in theirs.

52
How can we ever justify a death penalty. What gives the state a right to commit cold bloded murder?

53
You're comparing a physically healthy child killer, with an innocent disabled person?

54
They could well be but you are hardly answering the question are you?

55
Err... there was no question in the post I quoted. There was a statement.

I don't see how society can be sadistic based on an irrelevant comparison between disabled people and convicted criminals guilts of hideous crimes.

56
So you believe it's OK to kill but not OK to allow someone to die?

57
The death sentence can only ever be justified for Piers Morgan or Simon Cowell. Chemical castration would also be acceptable.

58
I'm not going to get involved in an extended debate of our different ideas of morality, but do I believe it is "ok" to kill serial killers, or people guilty of heinous crimes? Yes. Do I believe it is alright to preserve the lives of innocent people that are ill? In most cases, yes.

You are (in my opinion) comparing apples and oranges here, two completely different situations.

59
I see the Yanks have been murdering again today!!

60
Without wanting to hijack the poll, what about Saddam Hussein and Bin Laden, is there a level when the death penalty becomes acceptable?