Capital punishment

Frederik

Which I hope will never happen to any of us.

Of course not... I was speaking about this on a hypothetical level...!!

kwistenbiebel

I don't know if you have any children, Chris... If you do, imagine what you would do to a person who had done something very, very (and I mean VERY!!) terrible to your son/daughter...

I don't have children yet (even though I got the age for it) ,but I can imagine it would be an overwhelming feeling. I can only hope I will be a sensible human being when something like that would happen.
For me, There's no way of telling that unless one experiences it at first hand. Which I hope will never happen to any of us.

tomsdesk

Self defense might be a better term than revenge, or even punishment...is taking another's life never so justified?

Stinkie

@unknownuser said:

Hey, if you don't see it that way, I'll snap your neck!!

I find that a very convincing argument.

tomsdesk

Well put, Bruce...:`)

bellwells

@unknownuser said:

I have children...I have Grandchildren. If I witness someone killing one of them..well you know I would snap their neck, on the spot. If I did not see the incident but had reliable proof i.e. picture video etc, I would snap their neck. The problem arrises when it is circumstancial evidence. I would still have to be restrained. I would have to look deep into my soul for answers and I can't say how it would go.

Otherwise I don't even kill bugs...they have as much right to life as I do. The spark of life is special in any context, birds, bees, trees, people.

Hey, if you don't see it that way, I'll snap your neck!!

I agree with everything in your post. I actually capture bugs and flies in my house and transport them outside!

kwistenbiebel

@unknownuser said:

@unknownuser said:

Hey, if you don't see it that way, I'll snap your neck!!

I find that a very convincing argument.

Yep, that convinced me as well.... (not to enter these kind of discussions ).

I'll leave the rest of the conversation to you guys.
Now excuse me,I need to feed Bambi and listen to fairy tales.

kwistenbiebel

@unknownuser said:

Solo....you don't have kids. So you are not in a position to judge. Correct me and I will apologize.

I am quite sure you will need to apologize

kwistenbiebel

@unknownuser said:

Well then Kwist you must know he has kids so ....Sorry Solo.

I'm now interested in hearing what he would do in the situation I described.???

Well, I think every one has its own personal way of dealing with things.

Some years ago we had a psycho killer in Belgium that murdered children.
The killer got caught and as I remember, the parents didn't kill the killer in return.
Instead they went through a very difficult mourning process (which they probably go through for the rest of their lifes).

The criminal got convicted and is incarcanated for life.
The parents often spoke to the press during the trial. Their emotions were really intense, but never they spoke of revenge (at least not in a physical sense). They handled it all with dignity, even though it must have been hell for them.

I admire those parents for their mental strength.

basic.woodworks

yeah.. as a guinea pig, maybe. Hard time call for hard way. Crime is ranpid and murder is becoming the sport of choice, Do you honestly believe that keeping Jeoffrey Dommer alive was a good thing?? what about the oklahoma bomber? Benladdin?? Still think capital punishment is such a bad thing??

Make the punishement suit the crime. @5 years as the holiday inn ain't the answer.

Mike RL

kwistenbiebel

I don't believe in any God myself, but I do have principles which basically are humanistic of nature.
And killing a human being to me is not justified...not in any circumstance.

I always count to 10 when I get really angry, and usually that prevents me of saying or doing stupid things.
When a parent looses a child in a brutal way, they would probably have to count to 10 quadrillion to become calm again.....but the principle remains the same.

The ability to gain control over our emotions is what seperates us from the animals.

bellwells

In a way, this topic is similar to abortion. You either believe it has it's place, or you don't. Period.

Recently the US Supreme Court declared the death penalty unconstitutional for child rape. Now, I can tell you that if my granddaughter got raped, I would think long and hard about killing the bastard. Now, whether I would go through with it....I can't say. You'd have to live it to know.

kwistenbiebel

I knew I should not participate in this kind of discussions.
See you guys in other (less violent) threads.

goon of doom

Capitol punishment is a joke.
Lets suppose that in the USA their are 20,000 on death row for easy math Lets say that number is now the cap. 20K max!
Number 20,001 coming in kicks up #1 to the chair. Un-emotional and simple. So #20,001 has until his turn at #1 to appeal, fight, shank, get free medical and cable TV. While he is between books and researching a subject for his next... Painting.

Also Capitol punishment is usually reserved for the murder conviction. What about the predatory petifile or rapists, Just like abortion. My view is that we are having to few of both.
GOD

Stinkie

I am fairly certain I wouldn't be able to be as dignified as the parents Kwist was referring to. What an unbearable loss they suffered. (Let's not forget the killer's parents either. His father lives in Gent, Belgium. I often saw him there, wandering on his own. Never saw a sadder face.)

I've never lost any children, but I did bump into a couple of burglars once. I can tell ya - out went reason and consideration. I instantly rushed towards them (there were two), and started hitting them as hard as I could. I was into power training at the time, so I could hit pretty hard. Now, it wasn't like I wasn't thinking at all anymore. Oh no. I was very clear-headed. But there was only one very, very dominant thought in my head: it's either you or me. I beat the cr*p out of them. I simply couldn't resist the urge. (Mind you, I'm not a violent person - I was astonished afterwards.) In any case, they fled.

Strangely, they decided to come back two days later. Same scenario: I immediately hurled myself at them. Automatically, as it were. Now, by then I had a hunting rifle. Not because of the burglars, I needed it as a prop. It was real enough, but luckily it didn't work anymore. Otherwise, yours truly would've two deaths on his conscience. Which obviously would've been terrible. There's no doubt in my mind: I would have fired that gun.

What I'm saying is: I understand the opinions vented above. Man is an animal. But, we're capable of transcending our pedigree. A civilised justice system that is based upon reason and not bloodlust helps us to do so.

@basic.woodworks said:

yeah.. as a guinea pig, maybe. Hard time call for hard way. Crime is ranpid and murder is becoming the sport of choice, Do you honestly believe that keeping Jeoffrey Dommer alive was a good thing?? what about the oklahoma bomber? Benladdin?? Still think capital punishment is such a bad thing??

Make the punishement suit the crime. @5 years as the holiday inn ain't the answer.

Mike RL

At least get the names right.

utiler

@unknownuser said:

As am I. The death penalty's an immoral and primitive concept.

Best said stinkie, I say no...

basic.woodworks

goes to show.. the universe didn't give the common sense of a mule to all men.

I think that to all rules there are exceptions. I understand the reason for the right to appeal but if you ain't found new information after a year or 2, odds are you're not gonna. The courts should definitely have a say as to whether a person deserves capitals punishment and there should be guidelines to avoid abuse of power but in the same token, as to my earlier post, some people really don't deserve to live and each breath they take in air that could be used for someone who needs it and an affront to the survivors affected by the commission of the crime. Should a man be put to death for accidentally killing someone in a fight where he was defending himself .. absolutely not. Should a man be killed for rapping and killing a child.. oooooh you betcha!!!

my opinion

Mike RL

kwistenbiebel

Honestly,

Some of the answers here in this thread are just too shocking for me.
Seriously, I need to keep it closed, as I want to keep believing we have nice and peaceful people here.
I really get a bad feeling when browsing this thread, and it is miles away from anything I find important in life.

Jackson

Wow, surprise surprise, this topic managed to get everyone riled up.

Next week: Abortion? Good or bad? Troll Wiki.jpg

Ross Macintosh

@kwistenbiebel said:

I want to keep believing we have nice and peaceful people here.

I tell people I live a 'sheltered life'. Living on a predominantly rural island with a low population in a relatively safe country, I do feel quite sheltered from violence.

When I think of how people here would react to stumbling on an intruder in their home, the first thing that comes to mind is they would ask the intruder "Hi, can I help you?". They would try to talk the person into leaving peacefully -- and chances are the intruder would leave with a wave. Of course some folks would blow up but I really think they would be a minority.

On American tv shows we often see the stereotypical rural 'pa' reaching for his gun to go out to 'greet' the stranger seen coming up the driveway. I hope that doesn't really happen. It certainly doesn't happen here - where 'pa' would be more likely to go out and find out the life story of the stranger, offer a cold drink, and any help the person might need.