Death penalty for a non-murder

So???
My view is basically that I don't trust the government to spend my money intelligently, let alone be able to decide who should live and die. For me, that's all there is to it, although I can understand why others can feel that very bad people don't deserve to live.

 

How is that an extreme? I think "Don't drive drunk" is kind of a good idea. Kinda.

 

I don't understand the death penalty as we here in the United States apply it.

For instance, what did we accomplish by killing off Timothy McVeigh? Maybe, just maybe in his old age he'd have been willing to open up and talk about his crime candidly and give us some more information about it and whatnot.

And for instance, a person like that Karla Faye Tucker (was that her name?) -- her crimes were so long ago and she's changed so much, it almost seemed like a waste of time to kill her. I don't think society was better off without her.

I guess what I am saying is the death penalty in the United States really doesn't do much to deter crime, nor is their generally much connection between the crime and the punishment.

Now in some of the other countries -- where they drag you out into the town square and shoot or hang your ass about ten minutes after you are convicted, well, that makes more sense.

 

If it's .01%, that's enough.

I can name at least 1/2 dozen high profile cases here in Canada where the death penalty would have resulted in the murder of innocent people.

The U.S is the last civilized country that still has the death penalty. You're up there with all your favourite dictatarships: Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia & China. Do you really want to be grouped in with that gang?

Capital punishment doesn't deter crime. That's not an opinion, that's a fact.

It's discriminatory.

It's not justice, it's revenge.

And Inky, don't take pride in celebrating barbarism.

 

Don't drive drunk is fine. Capital punishment for manslaughter is.

I'm not a fan of capital punishment at all, but definitely not in the case of somebody who had no intention whatsoever of killing anyone and ended up doing it out of pure stupidity.

Do we need harsher punishments for people who kill someone while driving drunk? Sure. But not that harsh.

 

I can't believe I even partially agree with zagoshe, but it's one of many reasons to abolish the death penalty. My big thing is what JR nailed on the head. It's not justice, it doesn't teach anyone any lessons (at least that they'd have the opportunity to implement). It's revenge. It's barbaric at worst, and hypocritical at best. It's essentially a society saying "you don't have the right to take a life, but we do." There's something very wrong about that, to me.

 

If I ever meet you I owe you a high-five.

 

Meanwhile, in Topeka, a man who raped a 12-year-old girl REPEATEDLY got three years of probation. No jail time. I'll try to find a link.

 

I don't support the death penalty because beyond the moral arguments, I demand absolute perfection from a legal system designed to deliver an irrevocable punishment. Any system run by humans cannot meet that standard.