The death sentence.

[Rána Eressëa]

It would most likely reign chaos because humans generally enjoy causing that, but yes, aside from that big and very noticable problem, it would be a good way to have things.

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by Rána Eressëa
It would most likely reign chaos because humans generally enjoy causing that, but yes, aside from that big and very noticable problem, it would be a good way to have things.

In everyone's perfect fantasy world it might work.

[osszie]

Why on earth would a country that can provide a proper penal system need a death sentence judgement

Here in the UK there is no death sentence and I have yet to hear of any serial killer/multiple rapist or worse re-offending

Punishment can be dealt without the taking of a life, in fact I don't know how any predominantly christian society can back a death sentence............surely it is just hypocritical

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by osszie
Why on earth would a country that can provide a proper penal system need a death sentence judgement

Here in the UK there is no death sentence and I have yet to hear of any serial killer/multiple rapist or worse re-offending

Punishment can be dealt without the taking of a life, in fact I don't know how any predominantly christian society can back a death sentence............surely it is just hypocritical

Well I'm atheist so I have no problem supporting the death sentence. Also - as long as the majority of AMERICANS support the death sentence - there will be a death sentence in America. I'm happy for England that you don't have a death sentence - but that's your country. Also - each state has it's own laws regarding death sentences. Some don't allow it at all.

The death sentence isn't given to rapists here anyway. But for the likes of Ted Bundy and that/those sniper(s) in Maryland - they deserve the death sentence.

And just because you don't hear about something - doesn't mean it doesn't happen. There was recently an article about how England was under-reporting their crime statistics.

"The question of whether capital punishment should be imposed in connection with the most serious crimes is an important one. It is a subject of on-going debate within my own country, as it has been in many others. But it is important that our consideration here preserve the respect for the rights of each state to decide this issue through its own democratic processes, in accordance with international standards. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights specifically recognizes the right of states to impose the death penalty for the most serious crimes, provided it is done in a manner consistent with their laws and is carried out with the appropriate safeguards and observance of due process."

We believe that in a democratic society, the criminal justice system, including the punishments prescribed for the most serious crimes, should reflect the will of the people freely expressed and appropriately implemented. Within the United States, the issue of capital punishment continues to be freely debated and is the subject of strongly-held views. At present, a majority of the constituent states of the United States have chosen to retain the option of capital punishment for the most serious crimes. We recognize that many countries have abolished the death penalty under their domestic laws and that a number have accepted treaty obligations to that effect. We respect those decisions. In the United States, however, our open and democratic processes have led to different results."

Ambassador George E. Moose U.S. Delegate to the Special Session of the U.N. Human Rights Commission, Geneva.

http://www.uspolicy.be

Death Penalty: An Overview

The death penalty, or capital punishment, may be prescribed by Congress or any state legislature for murder and other capital crimes. The Supreme Court has ruled that the death penalty is not a per se violation of the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. Furthermore, the Sixth Amendment does not require a jury trial on the sentencing issue of life or death.

In the landmark case, Coker v. Georgia, 433 U.S. 584 (1977), the Supreme Court ruled that the death penalty is a grossly disproportionate punishment for the crime of rape of an adult woman. The Court came to this conclusion by considering objective indicia of the nation's attitude toward the death penalty in rape cases. At the time, only a few states allowed for executions of convicted rapists. More recently, in Atkins v. Virginia, the Supreme Court used the same line of reasoning to rule that executions of mentally retarded criminals are "cruel and unusual punishments" which are prohibited by the Eighth Amendment.

The Supreme Court has established that for death penalty sentencing the sentencer's discretion be narrowly guided as to the circumstances that justify imposing the death penalty and that the sentencing process should be individualized. In Ring v. Arizona, the Supreme Court ruled that a jury, rather than a judge, must make a finding of "aggravating factors" where those factors underlie a judge's choice to impose the death penalty rather than a lesser punishment.

Not all states provide for the death penalty. Most states that do employ capital punishment have an age requirement. However, execution of a 16 or 17-year-old killer does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment per se, though a defendant's age is a factor for the sentencer to consider.

For more details see the Cornell Law School Death Penalty Project.

[Sister Golden Hair]

Also, in the United States, a death sentence does not always guarentee an execution. Many that are sentenced to death die on Death Row. They spend years appealing their case untli they have exhausted everything. There are probably more people that die of natural causes on Death row, then are executed. The appeals process in this country is very lengthy.

And yes, I support the death penalty.

[osszie]

(for the record I do not follow the christian religion myself)

To be honest I am quite ignorant of how the death sentence is carried out from state-to-state in America but ty for the overview JD........any information is readily digested by this lil' Oz

From a personal POV I do not think that anyone has the right to decide who is to die...............besides it is much more gratifieing to let them wallow...............English prisons are not fun, especially as the worst offenders recieve no different treatment (privacy etc) than anyone else .

[Lefty Scaevola]

Execution is too merciful for the worst crimminals, they should rather suffer for decades in prison.

[Laurelyn]

No. If killing is illegal, then killing is illegal!

[crickhollow]

Originally posted by osszie
Here in the UK there is no death sentence and I have yet to hear of any serial killer/multiple rapist or worse re-offending

We're all glad to know that England keeps it's serial killers under lock and key. Of course the government would make sure that high profile killers don't reoffend. What do you do with someone like David Westerfield? He brutalized a six-year-old girl, murdered her, and hid her body, but I've heard some people argue that he oughtn't to receive the death penalty because he was *only* a first time offender.

[edit: I support the death penalty]

[osszie]

Originally posted by crickhollow
We're all glad to know that England keeps it's serial killers under lock and key. Of course the government would make sure that high profile killers don't reoffend. What do you do with someone like David Westerfield? He brutalized a six-year-old girl, murdered her, and hid her body, but I've heard some people argue that he oughtn't to receive the death penalty because he was *only* a first time offender.

[edit: I support the death penalty]

Well. I don't know many facts about David Westerfield but in the UK anyone convicted of a similar crime would be found to be criminally insane, sent to a secure hospital and given enough drugs to render them incapable of a concious thought, which IMO is good enough for them. Turn them into mindless zombies and administer enough bromide so their sex-drive disapears forever.

If they were not judged to be insane then they go to a high security prison.........and extra "Justice" is usually given by the other prisoners...........a sex-offender in a UK prison probably has a lower life expectancy than someone on death row

[crickhollow]

Personally, I'm in favor or castration for sex offenders.

[Sister Golden Hair]

I think a lot of people in the U.S., especially people who have been victims of violent crimes and their famlies, feel a better sense of security in going on with life when a killer of a loved one is put to death. A life sentence does not always guarantee incarceration forever. It may be a more painful punishment, because there are worse things then death, such as a lifetime of confinement. However, with all the flaws in the justice system, and the legal loopholes that a master lawyer could use to eventually free one of these criminals is always a possibility, and a threat to the victim's family, that this could happen again to someone else. Non-existence is the only guarentee that that person will not be able to do it again. The sad part is that there is always another to take that killers place.

[Lizra]

The Jeffrey Daumer case was weird. So he get's life, but his crimes were so heinous, another inmate killed him, I don't think anyone shed a tear there. It still creeps me out that Charlie Manson is lurking around somewhere!

[Sister Golden Hair]

Originally posted by Lizra
The Jeffrey Daumer case was weird. So he get's life, but his crimes were so heinous, another inmate killed him, I don't think anyone shed a tear there. It still creeps me out that Charlie Manson is lurking around somewhere!

The Jeffrey Dahmer case was a strange one for me. He originally lived about 15 miles from me in a small town called Bath. His first victim was a 19 year old student named Steven Hicks from the University of Akron, where I once attended college. I still live in Akron. When he was covicted for the murder of Steven Hicks and the other young men in Wisconsin, I am not sure if the death penalty in Ohio, or there was in existence. You certianly would think that he was eligable if it was and how could he have escaped it?

What's funny about Charles Manson, is that he never killed anyone himself. I don't think he will ever get out. I do know that many of his followers have been up for parole, and were turned down each time, especially that one lady named Lesly Van Houghton, or something like that.

[Gwaimir Windgem]

Just want to point out that capital punishment is supported by Christianity.

[gimli7410]

i live here in canda where we dont have the death sentence but there are things that happen here that people should have the death penalty. im sort of supportive and sort of not im not sure.

[Insidious Rex]

Ive always been torn on this point. Some people are definitely on my better dead list but Ive always had an issue with The State having the final say on whether someone actually lives or dies. God it just seems such a dangerous thing to lay in the hands of government. And anyway if you ask me life in prison without hope of parole is such a worse sentence then merciful death. You die either way. And spending your life in jail without any hope is more horrible a death to me then getting injected with a needle. And now with all these people getting their death sentences overturned because of DNA evidence it just makes you wonder how many innocent people have been put to death.

[Gwaimir Windgem]

I definitely agree. I'd far prefer death sentence to life imprisonment.

[jerseydevil]

Originally posted by Insidious Rex
Ive always been torn on this point. Some people are definitely on my better dead list but Ive always had an issue with The State having the final say on whether someone actually lives or dies. God it just seems such a dangerous thing to lay in the hands of government.

Well actually, as far as i know, the government can not pronounce the death sentence. The deatn sentence can only be given by a jury.

[Insidious Rex]

Originally posted by jerseydevil
Well actually, as far as i know, the government can not pronounce the death sentence. The deatn sentence can only be given by a jury.

ok details. Its still in a highly state sanctioned and state supported environment. its not as if 12 guys off the street can point to someone and say hey you need to die and make it happen. and in death sentences they are automatically appealed so in the end it does come down to a judge (or a governor or something).