Capital punishment
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The cost of killing someone is the same as keeping them in prison for the rest of their life, quite strange really, but thats the way it is.
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An eye for an eye, like the dark ages never went away.
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Don't believe that Remus. It is bullshit. If those sentenced to capital punishment were swiftly executed the costs would be insignificant compared with lifetime incarceration.
In the USA where they have capital punishment they usually keep the condemned on 'Death Row' for many years allowing time for all legal options to have due process. Add the cost of incarceration + all the legal costs and yes the result would likely equal (or exceed) the cost of lifetime incarceration. On the other hand, if the Judge read the sentence and the dude was taken out back and a bullet was put in his head, the costs would be really insignificant. Bullets are cheap.
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Ross, this is starting to look very much like the conversation i had with bubba at the start of this thread.
If it worked as you said then a huge number of innocent people would be dead. I dont know about you but i find that quite disturbing, especially if it was done in the name of keeping costs down.
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Remus,
I seem to recall that this was discussed on the old forum, I'll say again what I said then. The last person to be hung in Britain (in the 1950s) was "innocent" in as much as he could not be held responsible for his own actions because he had learning difficulties. He shot a policeman because his friend said "let him have it" meaning "give the policeman the gun". He was later pardoned, but a fat lot of good that did him once he was dead.
To my way of thinking anybody that can take a human life is mentally sub-normal and should be treated. I know it isn't that black and white though. Granted there are also some thoroughly evil b******s in the world, but for them death is the easy way out. Keep them alive, treat them humanely and keep them in very basic surroundings. I reckon boredom and isolation is a really underestimated punishment. -
Hello !
I'm against death punishment, however murderers should start.
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I don't care... I'm all for it!
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@unknownuser said:
I don't care... I'm all for it!
A society can easily defend itself against 'dangerous elements' by incarcerating those elements. Anything beyond that has the stench of revenge to it.
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Well by selling drugs you do risk that sort of thing.
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He didn't sell drugs!! That's the point...
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Ok, very bad misinterpretation of your post on my part, sorry.
It sounds like a very lenient sentence, and form the very brief overview of the case you gave it sounds like they deserved a far longer sentence, although i still dont think they should be sentenced to death.
In what way would society benefit through these people being dead?
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Well if you want to keep paying ridiculous taxes to keep these guys living... that's you! I will still vote for the death penalty!
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Id rather the government skimmed a few billion of the defense budget than had to resort to killing prisoners purely for monetary reasons.
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It would be nice if we didn't have to spend billions on defense... but unfortunately we do.
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@unknownuser said:
It would be nice if we didn't have to spend billions on defense... but unfortunately we do
Care to elaborate why we do? I don't want to start an international argument, but I for one don't want any more of my taxes going on a pointless oil war that we can't win.
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Well if you believe what Bush says then we aren't in a oil war. He calls it the war on terrorism... but I see where you're coming from! We spend money on all types of defense systems for this country... internet, missile defense, security at airports, border patrol, etc...
Why you ask? The middle east hates us! They'll do anything they can to bring us down... (or do I have this backwards?)
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Nope. They hate ya. Which, as far as I know, is due to the US's support to Israel. I'm no fan of terrorist attacks, or of any sort of violence for that matter, but I think there's a firm link between the US's foreign politics and, say, 9/11. I sincerely hope the next American president realises you cannot tread on sore toes without there being some retribution (that's a word, right?).
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@unknownuser said:
Well if you believe what Bush says then we aren't in a oil war. He calls it the war on terrorism... but I see where you're coming from! We spend money on all types of defense systems for this country... internet, missile defense, security at airports, border patrol, etc...
Why you ask? The middle east hates us! They'll do anything they can to bring us down... (or do I have this backwards?)
I'm sorry, but you'r a billions miles from thinking in a civilisated world.
Outside of USA of course.
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@remus said:
Ross, this is starting to look very much like the conversation i had with bubba at the start of this thread.
Not really. Bubba is pro-death penalty. I am not. I think the real issue is does society have the right to decide to kill a citizen for breaking society's rules? It should not be an issue of cost (as in theory killing someone can cost almost nothing if they'd just do it).
I do not trust the justice system to get it right. As a designer of jails, police stations, and courthouses I know first hand the people involved do want to get it right but that it isn't easy. The best of intentions can still result in mis-justice. As our system has flaws it seems unreasonable to expect it to work flawlessly.
Any of us can be wrongly convicted of murder. While the chances are very slim it most definitely can happen. Wrong place + wrong time circumstances can lead to a strong case that could tie one of us to a murder. This is probably more likely to happen to any of us than winning the lottery.
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@unknownuser said:
Nope. They hate ya. Which, as far as I know, is due to the US's support to Israel. I'm no fan of terrorist attacks, or of any sort of violence for that matter, but I think there's a firm link between the US's foreign politics and, say, 9/11. I sincerely hope the next American president realises you cannot tread on sore toes without there being some retribution (that's a word, right?).
Stinkie, do you think 911 was the fault of George W Bush's foreign policy?
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