in life sentence the person would rot in the small cell for the rest of his life with agonizing recurring thoughts making it absolutely painful to live compared to a relatively humane and painless death? the victim families should have let him rot there...
www.jewsnotzionists.org
www.inminds.com
eye-openers for zionists.
Although that is true, there are some inmates who are dangerous even in an institutional setting. Those individuals could, for example, kill within the prison walls, be it prison guards or other inmates.
The death penalty is designed to obliterate those individuals entirely.
The strong case against the death penalty is the idea of killing an innocent person. I do not buy the moral case that it is inhumane to put to death serial killers, people who torture children, and other sickos. I do not like how many of made the killers out to be the victims in several high profile cases, one of them notably being Tookie Williams.
And yeah I would agree that life in prison could be argued worse, and could also be argued "cruel and inhumane." It is pretty cruel and inhumane to lock someone up for 50+ years until they die. However murderers lost their right when they lived a life that did not respect humanity.
I disagree. When you get life in prison, you are in general population. You can work, do some hobbies, have a social life, you have more freedom in general. A death row inmate is stuck in a cell alone, only allowed out one hour a day. There are no jobs or hobbies or inmate friends to talk to. Also, they are generally there for 15 to 20 years living like that, knowing they are going to die. I find the death penalty worse.
sharewell then the life sentence can be made harsher by takin away all the 'perks' or giving the similar treatment of the death prisoner's, aint that hard...
www.jewsnotzionists.org
www.inminds.com
eye-openers for zionists.
A big issue with the death penalty, is that there is an unwritten law for those with money and another for those without. The film raised this point—that you wont find anyone with money on death row. There is then much hypocrisy surrounding this aspect of the legal issues facing many inmates on death row. Admittedly, those in the lower echelons of the social structure are more likely to commit heinous crimes due to base attitudes and behavior; but much of that is also due to economic woes, lack of education and poor upbringing. This brings up much deeper issues about our society and is the death penalty really just a fix for the behavior of violent criminals that murder and does it act as a deterrent; or is it a punishment and justice served?
Research shows that it is much more costly for the state to enforce the death penalty as opposed to life imprisonment without parole. If this is the case, then the money saved could be put to better use and filtered back into the community and have programs implemented to assist and teach those with severe violent criminal attitudes and behavior who are not mentally ill and can possibly be reached. People are punished for things they shouldn't do, rather than be taught about a different awareness of ways to be and what they could be or could have been doing with their lives instead.
The death penalty could also be perceived as the easy way out, rather than have the inmate spend the rest of their lives locked up and their freedom taken away. Is state sanctioned killing still murder and does this then make the system itself criminal? If you have laws saying you can't do this and that or suffer the consequence and then condone the same actions in the name of the law, justice and even revenge; this is not really solving or addressing the deeper issues inherent in society or the community. It is illegal to assault and batter someone, yet we have violent sports like boxing and cage fighting that does just exactly this and a mass amount of money is made from it and so it suddenly becomes legal.
It is that hard. Can you imagine how much money it would take to house each lifer in his or her own cell?
shareYou are missing the point!
shareCan you imagine how much money it would take to house each lifer in his or her own cell?'
----------------------
You mean like the money used to house people on welfare, and undeserved benefits when they are not even legal immigrants? Yeah, the gov't sure has things balanced out.
'The strong case against the death penalty is the idea of killing an innocent person.'
----------------------
Exactly.
I agree that captial punishment is due for those who we know are guilty without a doubt,but then it's gets complicated if you have some killers who defintely guilty vs. those who are found guity
Yes. Killing someone isn't really punishment because after that instant they're gone and not suffering.
share Killing someone isn't really punishment because after that instant they're gone and not suffering.
____________________
It also makes those, that play some sort of role in the execution, 'implicated' for the death of another person too.
The point of punishment or justice is not to cause suffering. It's a penalty that must be paid. Like when you pay for a traffic ticket. The purpose of the fine is not to make you suffer. It's a penalty imposed for the crime.
Execution is a penalty to be paid. Only once.
Murder is a little bit more severe than speeding. Suffering should be a part of the punishment.
shareNo, they have a good time in prison, after they settle in. They learn to live in their environment. The get free education, if they want it, church, food, they get money somehow to buy goodies with. Some have jobs. They can smuggle in drugs or whatever and party. If you're a lifer, you don't need to worry about a bad mark in your file. They form friendships, can get some exercise (unless they're being punished for an infraction). They live a semi-peaceful life, sometimes for the first time in their lives. WE would hate it, and they may, too, at first. But they are convicted of serious crimes, so considering the alternatives, and considering most of their outside lives, it ain't so bad for them, once they settle in.
There are videos of the serial killer...what's his name? Richard Sparks? He's in prison partying with another inmate. He's dressed up with makeup like a woman (he had become the female to the other inmates). He's having a grand ol' time. They were boozing it up. That is prison. For a serial killer.
Jeffrey McDonald, convicted for killing his pregnant wife and two young daughters, got married in prison. Convicted serial killer Ted Bundy also got married. I also read in the news recently that another murderer was recently engaged or married in prison.
It is Death Row that is more of a punishment. He is segregated from the prison population, kept in a cell by himself much of the time. Some are alone 23 hours, but others like Scott Peterson have 5 hours of outside time for volleyball, board games, whatever. He's fed well. This can go on for years, while he makes his appeals. Appeals can take over 10 or 12 or more years. That's the kind of prison you're thinking of. But that's not the normal prison experience for regular criminals. That's death row. An extreme version of prison. However, lest you think he's totally deprived, he gets tv, access to books and media, good food, etc.
Thanks for this reply, bpollen. I've always been opposed to the death penalty, feeling like it would be more of a punishment to have a convicted killer "rot" there for the rest of his (or her) life. This was until I saw that video you mentioned of Richard Speck. This really struck something deep inside me. This guy was just fine with his life in prison, no sense, it seemed, of feeling deprived of anything. I'm still on the fence about the death penalty, mostly regarding the chance of executing someone innocent of the crime they were convicted of. But I've certainly changed my opinion about life without parole being more of a punishment than execution. Once you're dead, you're dead -- problem over. I feel more for their family members at that point. Anyway, great points, bpollen, thanks.
You beat me to the point. The videos you are referring to are Richard Speck. Speck raped and killed 8 nursing students in 1966 and got life in prison. Videos of him surfaced in 1996 showing him in prison. I remember when these came out because it was a big deal here in Chicago where the murders took place and he was in prison not far away. The videos showed him enjoying drugs and bragging about how much fun he was having in prison. I'm sure it wasn't all great. He was dressed like a woman, probably to save himself from being assaulted by the entire population so he probably was being protected by one or two inmates who used him but he still had drugs, alcohol and a lot of privileges for someone who deserved the death penalty.
share