Hope you rot in hell!!!!!

[Barinthus]

I used to be for captial punishment but not anymore. I changed my mind not on moral grounds but on economic grounds. It's cheaper to keep an inmate alive in the system until he drops of old age or whatnot as opposed to trying to bring him to the death chamber. A prisoner sentenced to death has right to appeal, appeal, appeal, and appeal for how many times I don't know. Since he's a prisoner he cannot afford a lawyer therefore the government has to pay for his lawyer, their lawyer, judge, court costs, and so on. Everytime he appeals... I don't have exact figures but I did research on this for a paper a while ago and I assure you it's way cheaper to just sentence criminals to life imprisonment than trying to put them to death.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Do you think the average crack dealer or gang member who has a life expectancy of a couple of years really worries that 15-20 years down the track he might be executed by lethal injection?

Yes, threat of death is a powerful stopper.

And serial killers are not going to be stopped by any threat.

But they'll be stopped by the punishment. They won't be rehabilitated and are just taking up space. Fry the bastards!

Anyway, what about the innocent? There are in all likelihood innocent people on death row. I suppose you think it is OK that they be sacrificed for a policy that has no demonstrable effect on crime rates?

Now with DNA the threat is minimized. In all probability some innocents are on death row... but in all probablity you have innocents who died while in jail for 'life'. What's the difference there?

[Agathon]

China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the United States and Iran are the most prolific executioners in the world. Indeed, the US is one of six countries (including also Iran, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Yemen) which executes people who were under 18 years-old at the time they committed their crimes.

Man, what good company.

I hear the Taliban were fond of the DP too.

[GhengisFarb™]

Originally posted by Agathon
All you right wingers are so full of crap. Why don't you just admit that you like killing people?

As long as the liberals keep committing crimes in Texas...........

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui

Do you think the average crack dealer or gang member who has a life expectancy of a couple of years really worries that 15-20 years down the track he might be executed by lethal injection?

Yes, threat of death is a powerful stopper.

It isn't if you are less likelier to die earlier if you continue a life of crime. And the stats prove over and over again that it is not a deterrent. Murder rates fell in most countries after they abolished it.

And serial killers are not going to be stopped by any threat.

But they'll be stopped by the punishment. They won't be rehabilitated and
are just taking up space. Fry the bastards!

It's actually cheaper to keep them in prison. Think of the waste to the court system of the endless appeals.

Anyway, what about the innocent? There are in all likelihood innocent people on death row. I suppose you think it is OK that they be sacrificed for a policy that has no demonstrable effect on crime rates?

Now with DNA the threat is minimized. In all probability some innocents are on death row... but in all probablity you have innocents who died while in jail for 'life'. What's the difference there?

The difference is that if you kill them there is not going to be any chance of them being released. If they live 30 or 40 years the chance is greater. And you can be convicted without DNA evidence - tampering etc.

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by Agathon


Thank you for proving why civilized societies no longer employ the death penalty.

I wasn't talking about a social remedy, but a personal one.

And no, if someone murders my children, they will not get a "civilized" response from me.

[Bereta_Eder]

What did the Apache do already

[Imran Siddiqui]

Murder rates fell in most countries after they abolished it.

So if you get rid of the death penalty people will kill less? What kind of ****ed up logic is that? Correlation and causation problem again?

It's actually cheaper to keep them in prison. Think of the waste to the court system of the endless appeals.

There is a simple answer to that... you can probably guess.

The difference is that if you kill them there is not going to be any chance of them being released. If they live 30 or 40 years the chance is greater. And you can be convicted without DNA evidence - tampering etc.

It's a miniscule difference. I'd rather bury the serial killers instead of having them sit in a cell and continue gaining their cult of personality (ie, Charles Manson).

[Agathon]

Originally posted by MichaeltheGreat


I wasn't talking about a social remedy, but a personal one.

And no, if someone murders my children, they will not get a "civilized" response from me.

I'd feel the same way. That's why I like having a justice system to prevent Wild West style justice.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Does ANYONE think that if we eliminate the death penalty our crime rates would be less?

Do some of the states have no capital punishment? I think that makes the fairest comparison.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Do some of the states have no capital punishment? I think that makes the fairest comparison.

Well, actually the states with no death penalty have generally higher crime rates than those that do. HOWEVER, that doesn't prove anything. States are different. Iowa and New York are drastically different states. What is good for the goose, isn't always good for the gander.

[monolith94]

If the jails weren't overflowing with pot-smokers, then he probably would've been in jail.

/against the death penalty
/also against murder

[GhengisFarb™]

Isn't it nice that pot-smokers and child molesting murderers get the same fate from our justice system.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Well, actually the states with no death penalty have generally higher crime rates than those that do.

False.

http://www.txdpinfo.org/issues/crimerate.htm

Average of murder rates among death penalty states: 5.5
Average of murder rates among non-death penalty states: 3.6

[Spiffor]

Ghengis:
You must agree the Death Penalty doesn't seem to work very well in Mafia games