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[xAndyx]

Following the recent announcement that Scott Peterson has been sentenced of death, I was wondering how all of you feel about the death penalty, and if it is a righteous form of justice.
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One day you will look behind you and you will see we three, and on that day, you will repent, and we will send you to whatever god you wish.

-The Boondock Saints

[beltmann]

I don't believe capital punishment is an effective deterrent. I don't believe in state-sanctioned murder. I don't believe a man forfeits his rights when he violates the rights of others. I don't believe governments have the moral authority to assume the right to kill criminals.

I believe in the sanctity of life. I believe the punishments a society employs say more about the society than about the guilty.

I believe the death penalty is vengeance, not justice.

Eric
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"When I was in Barcelona they showed pornography on regular television. I'm assuming it's the same way in Mexico since they also speak Spanish." - IMDb user comment

[the night watchman]

I think the practicality of a system is proof of its moral positive, and if the death penalty could be shown to be a deterrent to crime I would support it. Unfortunately, the statics between crime and capital punishment is ambiguous at best. Worse, every single person I?ve ever encountered who staunchly supports the death penalty is guilty of dehumanizing those on death row, which immediately indicates to me that their camp relates to the issue from an emotional level rather than a rational -- practical -- one; so for them it?s ?vengeance, not justice,? as Eric put it, and state-sanctioned vengeance strikes me as a social debilitation. In fact, I used to support the death penalty, but the rhetoric from that side made me question my conviction.
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"If you're talking about censorship, and what things should be shown and what things shouldn't be shown, I've said that as an artist you have no social responsibility whatsoever."

-David Cronenberg

[Monkeypox]

I don't think one has to be emotional to support the death penalty. In fact, I believe people on both sides of the argument are given to too much REACTION and too little thought.

Now, whether or not capital punishment is effective is dependent on the SYSTEM in which it's placed. Do I believe in our current system? No. Do I believe capital punishment can be a useful means of punishment? Yes.

I personally don't think there's much of a difference keeping a person in a cage for 8 consecutive LIFE sentences and sentencing them to death. It then becomes a matter of efficacy. Capital punishment does not appear to be a deterrent. Unfortunately, neither does prison time, so this alone does not seem to be a solid argument AGAINST capital punishment, unless we think people should just not be punished at all for committing crimes.

Now, I don't mind anarchy, but we're a little too lazy and noncommital of a society for that.
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Rattlesnake's Texas Cobra, you sonofabitch!

[the night watchman]

[Monkeypox]

You knowing some people who have gone to prison and receiving some kind of benefit from it doesn't change the overwhelming statistics that point to the contrary. People in prison become slightly better criminals, and usually much more physically dangerous ones. Prison naturally decreases one's ability to get any kind of gainful employment, and they revert back to a life of crime. Many times, prison time only serves to reduce their fear of prison.

No punishment of any kind, prison time or other, will act as a deterrent to crime.

And the criminal shooting the clerk at the liquor store in the face in order to steal the money isn't debating whether or not there's a valuable lesson for them to learn from our justice system. I would argue their needs to be a little more immediate.
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Rattlesnake's Texas Cobra, you sonofabitch!

[the night watchman]

I'm not arguing that there's more to a crime than the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the punishment of its commission as a social deterrent. But the point of my posts was that there is a pragmatic reason for imprisonment, but not an apparent one, statistically and socially speaking, for the death penalty.
_________________
"If you're talking about censorship, and what things should be shown and what things shouldn't be shown, I've said that as an artist you have no social responsibility whatsoever."

-David Cronenberg

[Monkeypox]

[the night watchman]

[xAndyx]

For me it is a toss up. I was born in a conservative family and have fairly liberal beliefs, so I sway back and forth on certain issues. As far as the death penalty works I do not believe in taking a persons life on any occasion, but I see the problems our prison system is undergoing, and understand why people would view it as an equal and cheaper alternative to solving the same problem. I see how it is impossible to reform these people in any case because they will not be getting out of prison, except under rare circumstances, but I feel the person has a moral conviction to reform on his own, and we should not limit any person from that. We have to install in any person that what they did was wrong, and while killing people who commit the crime may restrict others from repeating it, it still does not correct the mental imbalance that is found in many murderers and other criminals. It is impossible to stop murder, except in Minority Report, and we need to correct things in society that are causing people to act in this way rather than just killing everyone before we get answers. While nothing justifies what they have done, we may begin to better understand the psyche of criminals and discover what has caused them to act in such violent ways.
_________________
One day you will look behind you and you will see we three, and on that day, you will repent, and we will send you to whatever god you wish.

-The Boondock Saints

[beltmann]

[xAndyx]