The Death Penalty

P

PT

Off 'Motherfuckin' Topic Elite
The other day I was listening to the radio. They do a 20 minute survey everyday, questions from abortion to favorite soap. Anyway the other day it was "Do you support the death penalty?"

Now, about 80% of the callers voted yes, but the jockey said no. He gave an interesting argument. He says he would rather be put to death than to spend the rest of his life in prison. I would have to agree, prison to me is about the scariest thing I can think of. Perhaps if I was a little bigger it wouldn't scare me much, but even then I think it would.

I've always been for the death penalty. An eye for an eye mentality, I suppose, but I think we need to rethink this. We currently spend way more money of defending the MANDATORY appeals of the death row inmates than it would cost to just keep them in prison for life. So, fear of sentence and cost both say that life it prison is a better option. I think I'm going to have to change my long standing view on this matter for now, at least until we can do something about the entire appeal process.
 
I say we should being back the gas chamber. It's a really terrible way to go. I'd much rather die quickly and painlessly with an injection into the arm, instead of choking on noxious gasses, getting zapped with 200,000 volts, or hanging there butt-ass naked while the rest of the townspeople have a picnic and watch.
 
It is oh so simple.
The MOST precious thing anyone has is their life.

Therefore, execution is indeed the ultimate punishment. I'd have certainly look at anyone with a very jaundiced eye who attempted to insult my intelligence with the well worn fallacy that having to live the REST of your life in prison would be worse than death.

Given the choice between getting three hots and a cot and going poof I know which I'd choose.

Cake or Death?
Well we're outta cake!
We only had three bits and we didn't expect such a rush.
 
should I (at the risk of looking dumber than I already do) attempt to engage that line of reasoning?
 
Freedom is my argument. Without it, life ain't much good. If life was thrown away intentionally on a viscious act, that's the fault of the criminal. They voluntarily gave up their freedom.
 
My opinion, although not law, is this...

Every violent crime deserves the death penalty, and only 3 appeals before the sentence is carried out. It would save the criminal justice system time, money, and, most importantly, would be swift. Justice delayed is justice denied. Also...anyone convicted of jury tampering, perjury, or evidence tampering in a trial involving the death penalty gets the same sentence as the guilty party. Any convicted felon getting the death penalty automatically gets his/her internal organs harvested for people more deserving.
 
PT's argument is an interesting one. I too have always supported the death penalty in cases where I felt it was warranted; namely, if you take another person's life in a:

1. gruesome

2. particularly callous, wanton, or random

3. avoidable

4. premeditated

5. personally profitable

manner, then you gotta go. Now. What we waitin' on, m'biscuits are gettin cold, off with his damn head already. Your victim got no appeal; you won't either. Now lay your ass down here and somebody hand me that cuttin' axe, I got things to get done today after this.

Unlike most (and I hope, all) of you, I have been inside prisons. My current and most recnet job require(d) me to go there as part of my job. Is it somewhere I myself would choose to spend any portion of my life? No. That's why I don't do things that could put me there. Is it the living Hell the liberal media makes it out to be with their bullshit about "a fate worse than death"? No.

Let's take a quick peek at prison life as compared to the victim's fate:

Prison weekday morning: Awakened by a mean undereducated guard. Forced into a cafeteria where bland industrial food prepared by inmates is plopped on your platter. Eat. Go to your job assignment.

Victim weekday morning: Body decays in coffin.


Inmate weekday afternoon: After a similar lunch, return to job assignment. Avoid shiv from Crazy Rat Bastard from cell block 6. Smoke. Watch TV. Wait for supper.

Victim weekday afternoon: Body decats in coffin.



Inmate weekday evening: Eat supper. Return toi cell to write more letters to 36 "pen pals" whose addresses were provided by some social services program. Attempt to bilk pen pals out of twenty bucks for cigarettes and sodas.

Victim weekday evening: Body decomposses in coffin.



Inmate weekend: Lay in cell. Wait for visitors. Hope one is that pretty Sunday school teacher who might marry me someday. Call lawyer, bitch about the screwing I got in court. Eat cookies sent to cellmate. Watch football game in rec room. Collect 10 cigarettes from Duke in cell 273 who bet on Texas Tech like a dumbass. (They got NO quarterback.) Lift weights in gym. Play guitar. Paint some shit and hope it sells at the next Prison Auction. Sharpen shiv.

Victim weekend: Body decomposes in coffin.






Still feel like keeping these scum alive?

Still feel like paying for it?

Still have all that self-righteous empathy for the poor asshole who blew away a school bus driver for $23 and a Zippo?



I work with murderers every day. I work with people who have been there. 75% of them don't care if they go back. It's easier than doing what you and I do - getting up in the morning, going to work, paying bills, being responsible, and staying off dope. Prison doesn't bother most of them.


Y'all do as you please. Your opinions are yours to keep and defend, as I have mine. But know that prison for life is not the punishment you think it is. These people do not think like you and I do. Their priorities are not where ours are. A family and a home to them is more hassel than it's worth. A job is alien to them. Responsibility is a concept they cannot fathom. Allowing them to do what they want to do - sit on their ass and be kept up, fed, clothed, and housed - is precisely what they want. And we call it punishment?


Off with their heads.
 
Still have all that self-righteous empathy for the poor asshole who blew away a school bus driver for $23 and a Zippo?
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Oh, I have no empathy for them at all. I would love it if there was a firing squad awaiting the verdict, and it was delivered swiftly. Sure, there are such things as false testimony, and surely there are people on death row that did not commit the crime they have been convicted of. I realize this. And yet I still have to come to the conclusion that there are two options that seem logical. Swift and exact punishment, eg. Firing Squad outside the courthouse, or lock them in a cell and forget about them. If they want to appeal give them a couple tries or a certain number of years. I would be happy with anywhere from three to five. Once the time is up, they're done.
Still feel like paying for it?
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This is the one argument against the death penalty that I really feel is valid. Feel like paying for what? Either we pay to keep them incarcerated for the rest of their lives, or we pay for their appeals and 10 to 15 years of incarceration. Here are the arguments both ways.

Pro

Con
 
Until the government is no longer in charge of putting people to death I am forced to remain, sadly, anti-death penalty.
 
I see it as a responsibility. Not all can handle it, understood. My proposal...

Let an urgently immediate family member (parent, spouse, child) act as executioner. Push the button, drop the blase, pull the trigger, etc...in the event that the appointed injured party is unable to carry out this duty, the guilty party gets life without parole automatically.
 
What if, for the sake of argument, there were a surviving spouse and 2 kids of the murder victim. Would all three have to pass up on the execution to give the condemned a life sentence?
 
Yea. What I'm after is the ultimate legal revenge. I'm not opposed to the death penalty. I'm opposed to allowing government to have legal precedence to kill us.
 
Gonz said:
I see it as a responsibility. Not all can handle it, understood. My proposal...

Let an urgently immediate family member (parent, spouse, child) act as executioner. Push the button, drop the blase, pull the trigger, etc...in the event that the appointed injured party is unable to carry out this duty, the guilty party gets life without parole automatically.
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:wink2: Gee, Gonz...I believe handing over the responsibility to the individual rather than the state would demonstrate the implicit "revenge" factor of capital punishment even more blatantly..... Couldn't have put it better myself.

...I'm sure theres no need to rant to y'all about where I stand on this one.
 
for consideration;

Matthew 5: "You have heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.' But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also... "You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven."
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:biker: Jesus was one seriously wise dude...man. :lol: more or less...

John 8, a story is told of a woman who was caught in the act of adultery. The Old Testament Law demanded that she be put to death, however, Jesus saves her life against the teachers of Law when he tells them that who-ever is without sin should throw the first stone. He later tells the woman to go and sin no more... Because the theme of the Bible is man's redemption through repentence to Christ, some Christians argue that by executing a murderer we are cutting short his life and taking away his opportunity to repent.
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not to mention the 14th Dalai Llama:
the 14th Dalai Lama is indicative of the thought of Buddhists over the last 2,500 years:

"The death penalty fulfills a preventive function, but it is also very clearly a form of revenge. It is an especially severe form of punishment because it is so final. The human life is ended and the executed person is deprived of the opportunity to change, to restore the harm done or compensate for it. Before advocating execution we should consider if criminals are intrinsically negative and harmful people and whether they will remain perpetually in the same state of mind in which they committed their crime or not. The answer, I believe, is definitely not. However horrible the act they have committed, I believe that everyone has the potential to improve and correct themselves. Therefore, I am optimistic that it remains possible to deter criminal activity, and prevent such harmful consequences of such acts in society, without having to resort to the death penalty."
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consider this:

Countries and territories which retain the death penalty for ordinary crimes"
AFGHANISTAN, ANTIGUA AND BARBUDA, BAHAMAS, BAHRAIN, BANGLADESH, BARBADOS, BELARUS, BELIZE, BOTSWANA, BURUNDI, CAMEROON, CHAD, CHINA, COMOROS, CONGO (Democratic Republic), CUBA, DOMINICA, EGYPT, EQUATORIAL GUINEA, ERITREA, ETHIOPIA, GABON, GHANA, GUATEMALA, GUINEA, GUYANA, INDIA, INDONESIA, IRAN, IRAQ, JAMAICA, JAPAN, JORDAN, KAZAKSTAN, KOREA (North), KOREA (South), KUWAIT, KYRGYZSTAN, LAOS, LEBANON, LESOTHO, LIBERIA, LIBYA, MALAWI, MALAYSIA, MONGOLIA, MOROCCO, MYANMAR, NIGERIA, OMAN, PAKISTAN, PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY, PHILIPPINES, QATAR, RWANDA, SAINT CHRISTOPHER & NEVIS, SAINT LUCIA, SAINT VINCENT & GRENADINES, SAUDI ARABIA, SIERRA LEONE, SINGAPORE, SOMALIA, SUDAN, SWAZILAND, SYRIA, TAIWAN, TAJIKISTAN, TANZANIA, THAILAND, TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO, UGANDA, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, UZBEKISTAN, VIET NAM, YEMEN, ZAMBIA, ZIMBABWE
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or this: “According to Amnesty International's annual report on official judicial execution, in 2003 there were 1,146 executions in 28 countries. 88% of the deaths occurred in five countries. The People's Republic of China (PRC) carried out 726 executions. Iran executed 108 people, the United States 65, Vietnam 64, and Saudi Arabia 52.”

or even this:

“Most democratic countries today have abolished the death penalty, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, almost all of Europe, and much of Latin America"
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Perhaps for a more objective consideration of the PROS and CONS of the death penalty you might like to try reading this
source

Or perhaps much on some very credible and non-governmental evidence (statistics, facts - the whole shabam) against it (it is, after all: a violation of the human rights act): here
Amnesty International


voila!
 
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