Do You Support The Death Penalty?

[Shasta542]

OK-- you would kill them if they were attacking your family, but not if they killed your family?? I'm asking.

Killing is wrong whether it's done by John Wayne Gacy or the state of Texas.

Did you mean it's wrong EXCEPT when they are attacking your family?

I think I would, too. But I would decide according to the situation on the death penalty. I might be for it in some cases.

[David In Indy]

I've often wondered if my feelings towards the death penalty would somehow change if a member of my family or a friend was murdered. I'd like to think that I would continue to oppose it. I don't think any of us really know the answer, and thank God most of us will never have to find out.

Somebody addressed the issue of self defense. We had a case here in Indiana several years ago and it was a real eye opener. At least it was for me. A man noticed his neighbor being robbed at gunpoint. The thief was yelling things which clearly indicated he fully intended to kill his victim. The neighbor sneeked up from behind and shot the thief in the back and he later died of his injuries. However, the police discovered the thief was using a toy gun during the robbery. So, the victim was never in REAL danger; at least not in danger from a gun. The case went to court and the man was convicted of manslaughter. Was it a fair conviction? I'm not sure. The robber was obviously committing a crime, but did he deserve to die for it? On the otherhand, he was asking for all sorts of trouble when he made the decision to use a toy gun during his robberies.

[serious crayons]

OK-- you would kill them if they were attacking your family, but not if they killed your family?? I'm asking.
Did you mean it's wrong EXCEPT when they are attacking your family?

Yes, I would kill someone who was about to kill my child in order to keep that from happening. I -- on principle, anyway -- would not be in favor of killing someone who had already killed my child, thus too late to prevent it from happening.

And this doesn't apply just to my family, of course; it applies to everyone.

This is horrible even to discuss, but I hope the distinction is clear. In other words, murder is wrong when it's not for the purpose of preventing another murder.

[delalluvia]

For the death penalty for certain crimes.

Some people are too dangerous to be let out in society, their crimes too heinous, their conscience and remorse completely absent.  Society is better off without them and there are better things to spend my tax dollars on than keeping them in room and board the rest of their lives.

[serious crayons]

Society is better off without them and there are better things to spend my tax dollars on than keeping them in room and board the rest of their lives.

Execution costs more than life imprisonment.

http://www.mindspring.com/~phporter/econ.html

A Duke University study found... "The death penalty costs North Carolina $2.16 million per execution over the costs of a non-death penalty murder case with a sentence of imprisonment for life." ( The costs of processing murder cases in North Carolina / Philip J. Cook, Donna B. Slawson ; with the assistance of Lori A. Gries. [Durham, NC] : Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy, Duke University, 1993.)

"The death penalty costs California $90 million annually beyond the ordinary costs of the justice system - $78 million of that total is incurred at the trial level." (Sacramento Bee, March 18, 1988).

"A 1991 study of the Texas criminal justice system estimated the cost of appealing capital murder at $2,316,655. In contrast, the cost of housing a prisoner in a Texas maximum security prison single cell for 40 years is estimated at $750,000." (Punishment and the Death Penalty, edited by Robert M. Baird and Stuart E. Rosenbaum 1995 p.109 )

"Florida spent an estimated $57 million on the death penalty from 1973 to 1988 to achieve 18 executions - that is an average of $3.2 million per execution."
(Miami Herald, July 10, 1988).

"Florida calculated that each execution there costs some $3.18 million. If incarceration is estimated to cost $17000/year, a comparable statistic for life in prison of 40 years would be $680,000."
(The Geography of Execution... The Capital Punishment Quagmire in America, Keith Harries and Derral Cheatwood 1997 p.6)

Figures from the General Accounting Office are close to these results. Total annual costs for all U.S. Prisons, State and Federal, was $17.7 billion in 1994 along with a total prison population of 1.1 million inmates. That amounts to $16100 per inmate/year.
(GOA report and testimony FY-97 GGD-97-15 )

[delalluvia]

Execution costs more than life imprisonment.

http://www.mindspring.com/~phporter/econ.html

It depends on how old the criminal is.  If he's an older man, it's more expensive to execute him.  If he's a younger man and liable to live for 60+ years, then it's not.

Plus, it isn't about the expense.  There are starving people who have done nothing wrong whatsoever who deserve my tax dollars more than some sociopath who is never going to reform.

[injest]

One thing that is never brought up in this debate is the executioner. I would not want anyone I know to be the executioner. It has to be a hard thing to live with...I would HOPE it would be a hard thing to live with.

No life should end without some regret...even if the only regret is the person who is dying wasted his chances.

 

I think a lot about this when I hear people talking about torture...all the focus is on the person tortured...but I can't imagine being married to a man that would/could leash a naked man and torture him and then come home and play with the kids....EE!

[serious crayons]

It depends on how old the criminal is.  If he's an older man, it's more expensive to execute him.  If he's a younger man and liable to live for 60+ years, then it's not.

Well, again, studies indicate otherwise. To requote a couple of excerpts from the material I already quoted above:

"A 1991 study of the Texas criminal justice system estimated the cost of appealing capital murder at $2,316,655. In contrast, the cost of housing a prisoner in a Texas maximum security prison single cell for 40 years is estimated at $750,000." (Punishment and the Death Penalty, edited by Robert M. Baird and Stuart E. Rosenbaum 1995 p.109 )

"Florida calculated that each execution there costs some $3.18 million. If incarceration is estimated to cost $17000/year, a comparable statistic for life in prison of 40 years would be $680,000."
(The Geography of Execution... The Capital Punishment Quagmire in America, Keith Harries and Derral Cheatwood 1997 p.6)

They're talking about 40 years, not 60. But do the math -- assuming these studies are correct (and I grabbed this quickly off the internet, but there was plenty to choose from offering the same conclusion), 60 years of incarceration does not cost more than execution.

Plus, it isn't about the expense.  There are starving people who have done nothing wrong whatsoever who deserve my tax dollars more than some sociopath who is never going to reform.

Of course they do. Yet by paying for an execution, you're spending more of your tax dollars and have less left over to give to the starving people.

[delalluvia]

Well, again, studies indicate otherwise. To requote a couple of excerpts from the material I already quoted above:

They're talking about 40 years, not 60. But do the math -- assuming these studies are correct (and I grabbed this quickly off the internet, but there was plenty to choose from offering the same conclusion), 60 years of incarceration does not cost more than execution.

The study is over 16 years old now.  Considering health care fo inmates as they get older gets exponentially more expensive, the economy has not gotten better and technology has advanced, I would like to see a newer study.

Of course they do. Yet by paying for an execution, you're spending more of your tax dollars and have less left over to give to the starving people.

Not really.  The less people to guard less people on death row means less overhead for the penal system and thus...[shrug] my focus as a taxpayers can be on social services and not providing room, board, health services, entertainment, conjugal visits what have you for convicted murderers.

Also, they have been permanently taken out of society and will never be a threat to anyone else.  Yes, accidents do happen.  Serial killers, rapists and child molesters do accidentally get released from prison.  The death sentence puts that possibility to rest.

[souxi]

For peadohphiles yes. I don,t care about "research shows this" and "studies show that", the only fit place for a peadophile is a hole in the ground, preferably a cesspit. If anyone hurt my children I,d happily do it myself, np atall.