Welcome to Gaia! ::

In response to the raising of "God" within this topic, who are WE to say what God wants? Which God, What God, Here a God, There a God, Everywhere an Oh my God!! Who's to say THERE IS a God?

And comparing us to animals; well... Who are WE anyhow?
What makes US think that we are the SUPERIOR species, the "chosen ones" of our "chosen" gods?
It seems to me that that the only things we are IN FACTUALITY "superior and intelligent" at are DESTROYING THE VERY WORLD IN WHICH WE LIVE, which also incidentally is responsible for all "creation". Hmmmm. Lots of Topics are being covered here.

The long and short of it, animals kill each other for a variety of reasons, they build/find homes, forage, hunt, breed, play, hurt, feel, sleep, etc., but I have yet to hear of ANY who debate whether or not they are doing "God's will". I'm certain that if any who are ANTI death penalty debaters here- had a child or precious loved one- maybe even themselves- Viciously attacked, eaten alive, tortured, played with, ADD TO THIS the only human extra--"psychological (*insert f word+ ing here) up (that only we the "superior race/species/whatever" have the capability of inflicting on another) would DEFINITELY consider if not DEMAND that the "ANIMAL" be destroyed.
In our Human case here, we not only spend countless, precious hours, minutes even seconds debating the issue, but coddling the offenders etc, etc, while a LARGE number if not ALL are spending their warm, lonely nights climaxing to dreams of future atrocities they will inflict on the ones you may love next "if and when their lawyer wins their appeal" or they can break out.
* I live near/around within 100km's of several maximum security penitentiaries, and believe me, they don't Change. There are murders, riots, escapes, rapes, drugs, many even not on "death row" do whatever they can to get caught and go back after only a short time back in society- they've got it better than welfare.
Obviously, we are talking about HUMAN ATROCITIES here. The types of Monsters I have in mind for the Death Penalty are not the kind who's cases would leave ANY shadow of a doubt.
Maybe you've heard of the Robert Pickton case in BC Canada? Well, I lived not far from his farm when it was all happening, have lived through having a friend and several children within my community victims of Clifford Olsen in the 70's who both play games with the police and victims families with respect to locations and numbers of bodies, demands for money/burial site info trades, and I could in good conscience (not without sadness) flick the switch, give the order, whatever it takes to make that abomination non-existent.
We're not talking about 1 crime here- even if it was only 1 victim- anyone involved is a victim, nightmares, fear, loss of innocence, trust- the crime never ends, usually not even with death.

Is the crime rate higher because of the death penalty or is it because states that do use the death penalty have higher populations and a larger police force to go along with that population?

Sometimes the perpetrator of a violent crime can be rehabilitated. There are psychologists out there who specialize solely on rapists. There are people who can be guilty of terrible things due to something in their past that they must, with help, move past to become again productive members of society.

There are some though, for whom their crimes are part of a deeper psychosis, one which can never be cured. Some people are "just sick" with no chance of recovery. In which case death is a kinder alternative. I support the death penalty in cases such as that, a repeat offender who has escaped utterly unchanged from any attempts to heal him/her.

If people must persist in using the death penalty in cases less extreme than the above described, then I support shortening the wait. A guilty person draining the states resources that could be used for something much more useful, or an innocent person left to stew awaiting near-certain death. I think it is kinder to the condemned to shorten the inevitable.

As for method, I think the condemned should choose between lethal injection, electric chair or the proposed methods here of beheading and gunshot to the back of the head. As previously stated, there would be no shortage of volunteers for executioner.

42 people would make him a repeat offender, if he went on that long the logical assumption would be that rehablilitation would not be possible and he would deserve nothing other than the death penalty.



I don't see anything pansy about electrocuting someone. Have you ever gotten a high voltage electric shock? Most people jump from a bigger spark of static electricity.
Swingin's are messy and we're killing the offender because we hold ourselves to a higher moral standard. Sinking to his/her level goes against the very reason the kill is taking place.
We are humane, the killer isn't. That distinction must remain.

Actually lethal injection isn't all that humane. In theory, the first chemical injected into the person is supposed to relax them enough to the point that they lose consciousness. This doesn't always work. If it doesn't work, the person will have to cope with chemicals wrecking havoc on their inside, which is a horrible way to die. Essentially the most "humane" mehods of execution are ones like firing squad, guillotine and the Russian method of a bullet to the back of the head. These, though messy, ensure a quick death of the condemned. But let's be honest: there is no humane way of killing a person, because in any case, they end up dead. Therefore, worrying about a humane way of killing a person is silly, and I have no idea why people worry about it so much.

One, how long would it take to rehabilitate these offenders? How much easier is it to simply find a working member of society who hasn't commited any crimes and can take their place in the work force? For one, I'm not going to trust a first-time murder at all. The person already proved that they can't be trusted, so why let them live?

Once again I almost completely agree Freischütz.



Well, when you jump from an electrical shock it is a very low-voltage. A shock as powerful as that of an electric chair is never actually felt because it is a constant current and so powerful that it numbs the entire body. When a body makes contact with a bare electrical wire at a roadside, for instance, they do not actually feel the damage of the shock until they lose contact with the bare wire, which by the way is impossible because the current disables the person's body so that they can not control their muscular system to let go of the wire. This same effect is in the electrical chair, but the current is so strong that the person dies within seconds (despite how it may appear as the current continues to flow through the body keeping every muscle contracted even after death).

While it is nice to think that the reason we have moved on to these modern forms of capital punishment is because they are humane, it is not the case. I see no reason we must show these monsters an ounce of compassion, outside of religious motives anyway -- we aren't killing these people humanely to hold our actions above theirs. Killing such atrocious fiends is entirely justified, because they have intentionally and knowingly taken the lives of many and yet are only sentenced to die but once. None of the effects that their crimes against humanity have had on others applies to their own death. We are simply doing away with what is little more than a plague on humanity; we are not murdering killers to show that killing is wrong. We are killing murderers to show that murder is wrong.

I am pro capital punishment, it is a effective way of removing the unwanted people from gene pool. With that said there is no current court in the world I would give the death penalty to. The reason for saying this is the politic about it.

The best way to get off a death penalty it to pay for a lawyer, in fact in the USA the main different between people with cases with the death penalty is that one that pay for help get off the hock, while nearly all thought who are sitting on death row did not pay for legal help. The reason is that most department of prosecution around the world are under presser to perform, therefor they steamroll easy cases & not bother with people with a hard defense. & in most cases they don't care if they really it, along as the paperwork say he did it, & the person in question is in legal lock down. they then can put "successfully solve another case" onto there resume, & reap the reward.

This is why I do not trust any court in the world to give a fair trial, therefor they can't hand out the death penalty.