Murderer Who Wrote Boasting Letter Executed

[The End]

lets not forget that the "death penalty" can also act as a mental deterrent towards the population. However I must agree that it should be more swiftly handled, perhaps in a somewhat Chinese type efficiency.

[Stealthbomber]

lets not forget that the "death penalty" can also act as a mental deterrent towards the population. However I must agree that it should be more swiftly handled, perhaps in a somewhat Chinese type efficiency.

That's fine until you find yourself as a convenient scapegoat (or genuinely falsely-accused) for a capital crime.

 

Personally, I think the procedure of a death-penalty case should be a money-no-object operation given that there's a life at stake.

[Chimpy]

Pretty-much what you said.

 

Also, it does occur to me that courts might be inclined to dish out more "full-life" sentences once the death-penalty was abolished but I guess that's just speculation.

 

TBH, this is only really a minor facet of the discussion.

I was just commenting that any kind of "full-life" prison sentence might alter the economics of the situation a bit.

 

10,000 seems like a large overestimation to me. The average life expectancy is the US is 78 years so picking 70 years as an arbitary number seems on the high side. Also there have been several occasions when very few people have been executed such as the late 70s to early 90s and also a federal ban on it for several years in the 70s. There are also very few death penalty convictions in comparison with life setences, life setences without parole exist and the 'SuperMax' facilties already exist so the economics of "full-life" are somewhat better understood than you think.

[Jagdraben]

I doubt that many prisoners are constantly handcuffed - if so then yeah that is pretty *suitcase*, but doesn't compare to the act of killing somebody.

 

You're pretty nuts if you think killing somebody without thier consent is merciful. And I also can't get my head round why you would think that killing an innocent man is better then letting them suffer in jail untill they are released after been proven innocent. Unless you meant something else?

 

I was speaking metaphorically: The manacles represent state-sponsored slavery. Because you can feel being gangraped and shived after you're dead?

 

Frankly, I think that prisons are an abomination. We need only holding cells, three strikes, and a gallows. All men make mistakes and are worth attempting to rehabilitate. If they continue to commit crimes, it is reasonable to presume that they cannot be rehabilitated and should be killed (or exiled, but it seems that Australia has run out of space). Nothing constructive can be achieved by locking someone up in a warm cell, with cable television, and fully-stocked libraries and gyms, where the only rehabilitation they will receive will be joining a prison gang or falling victim to one.

[Chimpy]

Where does this rehabilitation happen then Jagd?

 

One of the biggest issues for the US system at the moment seems to be a distinct lack of trying to rehabilitate people. Fast tracking people through some uber authoritarian system like you propose doesn't seem to deal with that at all.

[Stealthbomber]

One of the biggest issues for the US system at the moment seems to be a distinct lack of trying to rehabilitate people. Fast tracking people through some uber authoritarian system like you propose doesn't seem to deal with that at all.

The biggest issue with any system like that is that it's likely to encourage more serious crime in repeat offenders.

 

No criminal is going to leave a living witness if they KNOW their next crime is going to send them to the chair.

[Jagdraben]

Where does this rehabilitation happen then Jagd?

 

Why, the same place you send the sick to heal them and equip them to re-enter the real world: Hospitals and half-way houses.

 

One of the biggest issues for the US system at the moment seems to be a distinct lack of trying to rehabilitate people. Fast tracking people through some uber authoritarian system like you propose doesn't seem to deal with that at all.

 

I prefer to think of it as traditional.

 

The biggest issue with any system like that is that it's likely to encourage more serious crime in repeat offenders.

 

No criminal is going to leave a living witness if they KNOW their next crime is going to send them to the chair.

 

Simple solution: Tracking devices. If someone has been rehabilitated twice, there exists a high possibility of a repeat offense. So you implant a tracking device. A tracking device that constantly uploads its location to a secure government server that can only be accessed by court order (or if anti-tampering sensors in the device go off) for specific time periods (ie: you want to know where John Doe is, now, and where he was one the night of Octavian the 32nd). You can, thus, establish that John Doe was at the scene of the crime when it happened (or not) and that he is now in Springfield, hiding under Homer's bed (or where ever). Between tracking devices and modern forensic science, it would give them no reason to kill or intimidate a witness, unless they wanted to take out as many people as they could on their way to the other side (in which case you have an active shooter situation, which is a whole other ball of yarn).

[Chimpy]

Yeesh sounds like a great dystopia you've got planned out there Jagd. Given any thought to natty uniforms? I head a nice strong red, white and black with a leather motif is popular these days.

[Jagdraben]

I was thinking black uniforms for the guards and executioners (cotton with leather accessories for the former, all leather for the latter), white pleather for the hospital staff (long overcoats and trousers for the male staff, short overcoats and skimpy skirts for the female staff), and red silk robes for the courts.

 

Shall we let the sinner go or try him?

Try him!

Is the culprit guilty or not guilty?

Guilty!

Shall we pardon him or burn him?

Burn him!

Are our methods legal or illegal?

Legal!

Are we judges of the law or laymen?

Amen!

Shall we burn this vile transgressor?

Yes, sir!

[Triggerhappychappy]

I miss Q.

 

I think the issue with mental hospitals is that they are full of mental people, doped up on drugs to keep them quiet... or is that nursing homes?

 

The problem with half-way houses or bail hostels is that they are full of ex-cons with little to no proper supervision, who can come and go as they please- the potential to re-offend when left to your own devices upon leaving prison is huge, and the number of convicts freed ( early or otherwise ) who go on to reoffend is increasing I believe ( since the jails in the UK are overflowing ).

 

Even in America there are a large number of overcrowded prisons, so being able able to keep the most dangerous crims seperate and well supervised simply isnt viable; solution is to build more prisons, employ more staff, implement more rehab programmes... but that all costs money, so in the mean time things arent going to change. I like the idea of the prisons in that film 'fortress'...

[GuzziHero]

Solution is to stop dictating what someone can do with their own body by decriminalising all narcotics. Where they have been legalised, the crime rate is of course lower, leaving fewer people disenfranchised and even the usage rate is lower. You put less money into the hands of organised crime as the prices drop. People dont have to rob and kill old people to pay the high drug prices. You need fewer cops and less military like hardware for those cops...

 

The answer is relatively simple.

[Carter]

I think, as a supporter of the death penalty, that capital punishment is not about money, revenge, or any of what has been discussed. It's about forfeiture of the most basic right: life. If a person has committed a heinous crime, whether it be rape or murder or liking Nickelback, then they have forfeited that basic of all rights.

[Smitty619]

As a leftist, anti-death sentence anarchist I say...if anyone deserved it, this ***** did. I just felt the world get one idiot lighter.

 

As a right wing, anti death penalty libertarian, I agree!

 

I didn't know VA still used the chair.

 

*I only disagree with the death penalty because innocent people end up on Death Row. Texas just issued a post humous pardon for a man they executed a while back. If the justice system was perfect, I'd say, "Line 'em up, and fire up Ol' Sparky!"