Are You For Or Against The Death Penalty?

by minimus 78 Replies latest jw friends

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  ziddina

  I'm somewhat against the death penalty as enforced by the state, because there have been several cases wherein convictions were later overturned and the REAL culprit caught - turned out to be someone else...

  Which means that we can be pretty sure that, in the past, lacking modern tools like DNA testing, there have undoubtedly been innocent people put to death, in our legal system...

  On the other hand, I DO believe in the"death penalty" AT THE MOMENT OF ATTACK. If any S.O.B. ever attacks me, I'm a'gonna kill him, even if I have to sink my teeth into his jugular to do it...

  Zid
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  VampireDCLXV

  I agree in principle BUT I think that it's not practical. Too many mistakes tend to be made. It's best to isolate harmful individals from the population.

  It's ridiculous to say "kill 'em all and let God sort them out"...

  V665
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  Mad Sweeney

  The principle is a good one but guilt is almost never beyond a reasonable doubt. Even confessions cannot be relied upon because they are too often the result of coercion that is akin to mind control.

  If you could really really know that you had the criminal in custody, then sure, but how do you really really know? That's the problem.
• 

  Darth plaugeis

  Even if there was No Death Penalty...

  As stated before the Criminals and Guards have an Unwritten Code.

  I am sure many wish they were dead instead of going thru what they go thru.

  Do you know what they eat everyday??? LOL They don't either... there is a reason your food taste like shit!

  Even Manson found himself engulfed in flames during a discussion about the Bible. I'm sure the Guards ran as fast as they could to help Charlie out..... to bad he lived!
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  letsslatejws

  On face value if somebody kills someone in cold blood then I would recommend the death penalty. If though it was a matter of self defense or because of being subjected to extreme violence then I would perhaps think differently....
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  dinah

  When crimes are especially heinous, I can agree with it. But like someone else said, I don't exactly trust to government to not screw up. There have been several cases of being being in prison for YEARS and being released because of new evidence. You can't release someone you put to death.
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  Darth plaugeis

  You can't trust the Justice System.... EVER!

  Look at

  Funny how if you flunk a Drug test and your NOT ON PROBATION.... you loose your Job!

  If you flunk a Drug Test not once but Multiple times and ARE ON PROBATION.... you can stay home.
• 

  dinah

  It's all about the money, Darth. If I drove drunk, got caught, refused to go to court, refused to stay in rehab..............where do you think I would be right now?

  Had I been the judge in that case, the death penality would be tempting with her practically screaming "f you" at the court.
• 

  bohm

  Im with BTS. Its very clear that there are people who commit crimes which are so vile, and where they are so obviously guilty, that even mother theresa on one of her good days would think the following might be a tad to tree-hugging:

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWOn1dFmFds

  I think the big problem is that it is impossible to have two standards of guilt in a justice system, and once in a while the system is wrong. Killing only people who are obviously "i taped myself killing 30 kids and confessed guilty" is therefore not possible, and the result is that once in a while the an unlucky SOB who was framed or where the laboratory bungled the DNA test will be fried.

  So i definately think there is a lot of visdom in Ving Rhames words, and often it would be a fitting punishment. But ultimately the price will be to high.
• 

  Nickolas

  Death is the penalty for life itself, and all of us will face it (wishful beliefs in The Rapture or living through Armaggedon notwithstanding). Society's imperfect iterations decide for themselves the circumstances under which we are allowed to live or die. Here in Canada we stopped hanging people in 1962, not so much because those who commit heinous crimes don't deserve to be snuffed out but because snapping some poor slob's neck prevented only him from recidivistic activity and provided no demonstrable deterrent to others who are similarly inclined. That there were innocent people sent to the gallows didn't help, either. And who decides what warrants death? In Muslim countries gay men are executed because they are gay - right or wrong? According to whom? Should we put child rapists to death? Are we talking about my child, or yours, or anyone's child? Why not castrate him without benefit of anaesthesia, amputate his hands and gouge out his eyes for good measure? Then he wouldn't do it again, by golly. Murderers? We have more than a few behind bars here - Clifford Olsen raped and murdered ten boys and girls, Paul Bernardo raped and murdered two schoolgirls, Robert Picton raped, tortured and murdered at least 26 women and then fed their bodies to his pigs - all of them convicted on irrefutable evidence. Do I think they should get the death penalty? If there was a lottery for the task of pulling the lever on the gallows I just might buy a ticket.