Do you agree with capital punishment?

Do you agree with capital punishment?

  • Total voters
    55
Asguard said:
Define Justice
Click to expand...


in the law of Moses, specifically in Deuteronomy 19:17-21, which includes the punishments of "life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot."

By the way what is wrong with revenge??

Asguard said:
i wanted a definition from a legal perspective
Click to expand...

Then you have to find a lawbook....

I thought the US attacked Afghanistan as part revenge, part deterrent, part payback, part lethal punishment. Most Americans agreed with that attack, so they must not have a problem with either....
 
Twenty-six years

Addressing the poll for this topic, which has two affirmative answers, and noting that "only for murder" is the less-popular between those, there are some words we should consider:

Twenty-six years.​

That's right, twenty-six years.

From CNN.com:

Charles Chatman said throughout his 26 years in prison that he never raped the woman who lived five houses down from him.

Now 47, Chatman is expected to win his freedom Thursday on the basis of new DNA testing that lawyers say proves his innocence and adds to Dallas County's nationally unmatched number of wrongfully convicted inmates ....

.... If released on bond at a Thursday court hearing as expected, Chatman will become the 15th inmate from Dallas County since 2001 to be freed by DNA testing. That is more than any other county nationwide, said Natalie Roetzel of the Innocence Project of Texas, an organization of volunteers who investigate claims of wrongful conviction.

Texas leads the country in prisoners freed by DNA testing. Including Chatman, the state will have released at least 30 wrongfully convicted inmates since 2001, according to the Innocence Project ....

.... Chatman's nearly 27 years in prison for aggravated sexual assault make him the longest-serving inmate in Texas to be freed by DNA evidence, Innocence Project lawyers said.

(CNN.com)
Click to expand...

Good thing we stopped executing for rape convictions a while ago.
 
Yes, but if a rape victim was confirmed beyond a doubt to be guilty, then that DOES deserve execution.
 
Asguard said:
Someone has probably already said this but there are only 3 reasons for criminal punishments

1) protect the population
2) rehabilitate the offender so they can be a productive member of sociaty
3) deter others from comiting offences

none of these need death

jail protects the public

if rehabilitation isnt possable and the offence is of a segnificant degree (ie not a compulsive litterer) then life without Parole is enough protection

death isnt a deterant. deterants dont actually work
Click to expand...

Yes, but what of the victims? Can we merely bring them back to life?

1) Executing the criminal ensures that the population does not need to deal with him
2) Rehabilitating him is merely a waste of time
3) Is it supposed to be a deterant? No, a punishment
 
Freudian whatsit?

Norsefire said:

Yes, but if a rape victim rapist was confirmed beyond a doubt to be guilty, then that DOES deserve execution
Click to expand...

Um ... you know, Norsefire, what you're describing is the expectation of your standard, every-day, run-of-the-mill conviction.
 
Firstly "in the law of Moses, specifically in Deuteronomy 19:17-21, which includes the punishments of "life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot."

Umm you do realise that the bible also agrees with slavery and thinks that adultery should be punishable by death. not the most reliable legal text.

and Norsefire as much as this may shock you but the victioms have very little to do with the criminal justice system. Its about preventing the same thing from happerning again not compensating the victiom. Thats the civil system your talking about. For instance if someone assults you and they are fined say $1000 how much of that goes to you? none, if you want compansation you sue the offender
 
Asguard said:
Umm you do realise that the bible also agrees with slavery and thinks that adultery should be punishable by death. not the most reliable legal text.
Click to expand...

You asked for legal, I gave you legal. The bible has been the law for centuries for millions of people. I know several women who agree with death for cheating....That is their choice not mine.

Again, can you guarantee that a killer in prison won't kill again or he won't be let free again? No dead people killed anyone, as far as I know....
 
actually you can jail someone for the term of there natural life and "the law of moses" is not a legal definition, its not in any constitution nor for that matter is it written in the decleration of human rights or in any international laws. I would highly doubt that you would find it quoted in any common law either (which after all is the basis of US, UK, Canada, Australia, and NZ law systems)
 
Norsefire said:
One who kills cannot live
Click to expand...
You mean should not. And by whose hand? Who decides? What about killing innocent people? You appear to believe in a justice system that is actually infallible, another ideal. In an ideal world, people wouldn't murder other people in the first place, I would suppose?
Norsefire said:
..one who tortures must be tortured to insanity, one who rapes will be violated.
Click to expand...
What sort of purpose would this kind of "as ye do, so shall be done unto you", justice serve?
Along with an absolute power of discrimination of guilt or innocence, the almighty and all-seeing system (a computer, maybe?) then chains them to a wall and tortures them to death or rapes them? What sort of social service is that exactly?
Sounds like a comic-book story about some post-apocalyptic society with a seriously warped moral sense. "Judge Dredd meets Psycho."

Seriously, dude, read something else. Try Kant, or Spinoza. Maybe Gibran, or Kabir. Get with it, for crying out loud. The Inquisition is over, man.
 
Fry 'em slowly, right?

So ... what do our state-homicide advocates suggest for this?

Longview police say four boys feel terrible about a Christmas prank that triggered a fatal heart attack.

Sgt. Robert Huhta says the four juveniles came into the police station and confessed after learning that 63-year-old Ray Chavez died Dec. 26 after an angry tussle with one of the boys.

He had caught them rearranging a lighted-reindeer display in his yard.

Police will forward a report on the incident to the Cowlitz County prosecutor's office for possible charges.

(SeattleTimes.com)
Click to expand...

Right now, that's all we've got to go on. (Literally, that's the whole of the article.) But, as I understand the state-homicide argument, these four boys should be put to death.

Anyone? Anyone?
 
Asguard said:
actually you can jail someone for the term of there natural life
Click to expand...

Correct and:

1. Wouldn't that be unconstitutional because "cruel and unusual punishment"?
2. Can you guarantee you don't jail an innocent person for life?

One black person in Texas just got out after 27 years imprisoned innocently for raping a girl. He went in at 20, spent the best years of his life in prison. He actually got 99 years, which was way too much. As the example shows, there are plenty of innocents in jails for decades, what you gonna do about it?
The point here is that if you use the "innocents executed" excuse, that is also valid for "innocents jailed". So if you argue against CP because the system is not perfect, you should argue agains punishment at all too...

Let's try to perfect the system and not throw it away althogether...
 
Defiant said:

The point here is that if you use the "innocents executed" excuse, that is also valid for "innocents jailed". So if you argue against CP because the system is not perfect, you should argue agains punishment at all too.
Click to expand...

We return to the question of whether there is a difference between life and death. You seem to be arguing, in this instance, that there is not.
 
Frud11 said:
What about killing innocent people?
Click to expand...

I think you are talking about victims here, right? :rolleyes:

What sort of purpose would this kind of "as ye do, so shall be done unto you", justice serve?
Click to expand...

What short of purpose would punishing them at all serve? Why don't we just say to them: "don't do that again", and give them a ticket to the Bahamas, so they can chill out and become a normal, purposeful member of the society?
 
Yes, I support death penalty -- for multiple murderers who repeatedly demonstrated callous disregard for human life, in other words, clearly see other humans as prey. My reasoning is neither punishment nor deterrent -- it is removing from society an element which is too dangerous to be allowed to exist. It is the prey species' responsibility to protect itself from predators. As far as I am concerned, executing such people is no more a "punishment" than putting down a rabid dog is a punishment.

I would not execute anyone who killed only once. OTOH, I do not believe there should be a distinction between murder and attempted murder. Each knowingly tried to take a human life. No reason to reward the incompetent one. So there may be theoretically a situation where I would support executing someone who did not actually kill anyone -- just tried really hard and repeatedly.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top