The Death Sentence

[Sci_Girl]

I personally believe that not all crimes deserve the death penalty however that said one crime I feel most strongly about is when it involves children. Be that murder, rape, molestation, harsh abuse etc. anything involving a child I have a problem with. Some dead end going no where 'G' who got busted in a robbery and shot up the place is senseless and I feel bad for the families of any victims however I do not believe a crime such as that deserves the death penalty. I believe some people can learn from their mistakes but if it involves children I do not think so. My problem is that my tax dollars are feeding, clothing, and keeping a person warm in jail. MY dollars, MY money, MY hard earned income for some low life to have his peas and corn for dinner and a warm place to sleep for the rest of his life. I do not think so, and that is the problem I have. If some disgusting person ever touched or hurt my baby boy or baby girl in any way I would wish the worst upon them and I sure as hell would not want them alive. Even if it means getting a civil way out of life with a mere needle prick and falling asleep with the chemicals I do not care, the point would be to rid of scum such as a person who hurt a child.

[Victoria]

. My problem is that my tax dollars are feeding, clothing, and keeping a person warm in jail. MY dollars, MY money, MY hard earned income for some low life to have his peas and corn for dinner and a warm place to sleep for the rest of his life. I do not think so, and that is the problem I have.

This ^!! They aren't having a hard life in there. They have cell mates. They have shelter and a bed to sleep on. These savages should get the cold hard concrete floor. We are forced to pay our money to keep these people alive. Some people, not all people, struggle to live, struggle to put a roof over their head and to put food on the table, and you're telling me that even though some people struggle, we are forced to give the government money so they can feed these people and i have to pay for their electric so they can watch tv? They get to go outside, see sunlight, work out, watch tv, take showers, get food. What's the punishment? I don't see it....I was just reading wiki and it says prison uniforms usually consist of clothing better suited to the comfort and durability required for long term inmates. Why are they comfortable again? I highly doubt prison is teaching them anything. If we're not allowed to have the death penalty we should atleast have it to where the murderers should be in a small, confined room, no bed, no pillows, no human contact, no tv and no outside, so where all they have to do is forced to think about what they did.

I say have two different types of jails, one for those who did kill & for those who didn't. Sure im not happy about giving my money away but i would much rather it be for those who didnt kill just so i know my money isn't keeping those people alive.

[bamag]

This ^!! They aren't having a hard life in there. They have cell mates. They have shelter and a bed to sleep on. These savages should get the cold hard concrete floor. We are forced to pay our money to keep these people alive. Some people, not all people, struggle to live, struggle to put a roof over their head and to put food on the table, and you're telling me that even though some people struggle, we are forced to give the government money so they can feed these people and i have to pay for their electric so they can watch tv? They get to go outside, see sunlight, work out, watch tv, take showers, get food. What's the punishment? I don't see it....I was just reading wiki and it says prison uniforms usually consist of clothing better suited to the comfort and durability required for long term inmates. Why are they comfortable again? I highly doubt prison is teaching them anything. If we're not allowed to have the death penalty we should atleast have it to where the murderers should be in a small, confined room, no bed, no pillows, no human contact, no tv and no outside, so where all they have to do is forced to think about what they did.
I say have two different types of jails, one for those who did kill & for those who didn't. Sure im not happy about giving my money away but i would much rather it be for those who didnt kill just so i know my money isn't keeping those people alive.

I am personally against the death penalty. I believe many people are unaware that putting someone to death actually costs more money than to keep them alive.

"Using conservative rough projections, the Commission estimates the annual costs of the present system ($137 million per year), the present system after implementation of the reforms ... ($232.7 million per year) ... and a system which imposes a maximum penalty of lifetime incarceration instead of the death penalty ($11.5 million)." -California Commission on the Fair Administration of Justice

California could save $1 billion over five years by replacing the death penalty with permanent imprisonment.

California taxpayers pay $90,000 more per death row prisoner each year than on prisoners in regular confinement.

Keep in mind this is for the state of California only. In California, the death penalty costs several times as much as permanent imprisonment.The federal costs are much higher.
From an economic standpoint, the death penalty is stupid. To support the death penalty means that you support tax money being wasted on killing criminals. Unless you take pleasure from inmates being executed, there is no reason for the death penalty. Each death costs millions of taxpayers' dollars.

[Victoria]

To support the death penalty means that you support tax money being wasted on killing criminals.

So you're telling me that you would rather have a criminal let go and kill again and have innocent people die than just get rid of them so it doesn't happen again? I'm sorry but if i have to spend a little bit of money to save human lives then I will. I don't see how the information tells me really anything. I'm saying if they did have the death penalty, only do it if they killed someone. Not do it for every criminal that has to be put in prison. That information doesn't take that into affect. That information doesn't show the amount of criminals that will stop once it was in affect. So if you had to spend a few more dollars on your taxes! You spend money on your taxes to help keep criminals alive! Ummm, once criminal activity ceases, so does the need for executions & the need for so many prisons to hold the over population of criminals so we won't have to pay much anymore for their food, clothing, electricity and whatnot. So spend a little bit of money to save money in the long run, ya, ill do that. I have to pay for bullshit in my taxes as is, uncle sam is fucking me in the ass as we speak.

replacing the death penalty with permanent imprisonment.

Okay but they haven't had permanent imprisonment for every murderer. Majority of the time they are let out on parol or lowered sentences. If they were so worried about executions why haven't they starting doing the right thing and just keep them permanently in prison then. But then also on your more tax payer thought, if we do start permanently keeping people in jail? Well now that is NO ONE getting out, meaning more people, more people, more people, see where im getting at? That means more prisons, more money going out to feed them for the rest of their lives now, electricity for the other prisons that had to be built, more flat screened tvs for the cells, more gym sets for them to work on on. Okay, if you say well if people will continue to commit crime after they know that they will be sentenced to permanent imprisonment, what makes you think they still won't go out killing people if you implement the death penalty? Well, I don't know, but what i do know is that majority of every humans goal is to live, to survives and not die, would you commit a crime knowing you will but put in jail, forever, but will be able to still talk to people and know whats going on in the outside world and still have a life, or death.

[bamag]

I don't understand why you would think that people that are permanently imprisoned would have flat screened TVs and stuff. Prison isn't exactly paradise. There are some people that have luxuries in prison but its usually for smaller crimes. There are also many life imprisonment sentences where parole is not a possibility. Your argument for using the death penalty as a deterrent is valid but is statistically shown not to work.
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Refer to the chart. The death penalty is used much more often in the South than in the Northeast. The South also has a higher amount of murders per million.
Furthermore, most experts in the field do not see the death penalty as a deterrent:
"A recent survey of the most leading criminologists in the country from found that the overwhelming majority did not believe that the death penalty is a proven deterrent to homicide. Eighty-eight percent of the country’s top criminologists do not believe the death penalty acts as a deterrent to homicide, according to a new study published in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology and authored by Professor Michael Radelet, Chair of the Department of Sociology at the University of Colorado-Boulder, and Traci Lacock, also at Boulder.

Similarly, 87% of the expert criminologists believe that abolition of the death penalty would not have any significant effect on murder rates. In addition, 75% of the respondents agree that “debates about the death penalty distract Congress and state legislatures from focusing on real solutions to crime problems.” (M. Radelet and T. Lacock, DO EXECUTIONS LOWER HOMICIDE RATES?: THE VIEWS OF LEADING CRIMINOLOGISTS, 99 Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 489 2009)

[haxatax]

i think prison is better then death. If you just kill them they wont suffer at all. just a quick and easy way out. If they were in prison they can suffer surprise butt secks and wish to die but they cant

[Cara]

I think some criminals DO deserve the death penalty. Those who kill others, don't deserve their lives since they have taken one from someone else. However, stupid stuff like stealing and such should just have the person rot in their prison cell until they are free again. A prime example of someone who deserves the death penalty is karla homolka. Another, is a more recent case: casey anthony. two sick, sick women that don't deserve their lives, in MY opinion.

[Chi]

In Australia there isn't the death penalty. I don't really have a stance on this....just because we don't have it here and we aren't really exposed to the same degree of crimes...whether it be it just doesn't as happen as much here or the media isn't allowed/doesn't want to advertise that it has happened.

I think if someone murdered someone close to me however and I had the choice to send them to prison or put them to death I would probably opt for the death penalty. I don't believe in life after death and therefore not having any form of consciousness would be the ultimate punishment in my eyes, and that they don't deserve to spend another minute on this planet.

[bamag]

In Australia there isn't the death penalty. I don't really have a stance on this....just because we don't have it here and we aren't really exposed to the same degree of crimes...whether it be it just doesn't as happen as much here or the media isn't allowed/doesn't want to advertise that it has happened.

I think if someone murdered someone close to me however and I had the choice to send them to prison or put them to death I would probably opt for the death penalty. I don't believe in life after death and therefore not having any form of consciousness would be the ultimate punishment in my eyes, and that they don't deserve to spend another minute on this planet.

If the victim was someone close to you, you would want revenge. What about if someone that you did not know was murdered? Would you still opt for the death penalty? It is pretty interesting how Australians view the death penalty.

In a survey taken by Roy Morgan Research in August 2009, only 23% of Australians aged 14 and above believed that the death penalty should be used for murders. Yet at the same time, 50% believed that an Australian who was caught smuggling drugs from a foreign country should be executed by the foreign country. Does this mean that drug smuggling is viewed as a more serious crime than murder?
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[Azn]

I have a neutral stance on this, because I empathize with both sides, more towards the sides of the families of the murder victims. However, I also empathize a bit with the murderer's side because I believe people can change for the good. But mostly I lean a little towards the death penalty.

However, I would like to bring up that, by using the death penalty, we may actually kill innocent prisoners. In my opinion, it is a little foolish to think that everyone sitting in prison right now is guilty. There are tons of innocent people accused of murders and other crimes sitting in jail.

Here's an example of an innocent man who almost faced the death penalty:
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