Do you believe in the death penalty? (317)

"...... However, at Fields' retrial, Judge Vincent Gaughan found Hawkins "incredible," saying that "If someone has such disregard for human life, what regard will he have for his oath?" ....."


Perhaps, the Judiciary should consider their position too, with regard to their Oath.

I agree, wiki sucks but it seems to be a good place to start

Also, the articles are about possible evidence of innocence while none have been proven in court I'm not saying it has not happened, but that it has not been proven to happen.

Even if it was proven to happen, it will only effect cold case murder files, not those who were caught commiting murder So the death penalty will still be enforced against recent crimes not older crimes

Positive, Zee. I run my own little party called "common sense."

I hope you're not refering to Europe because if that were the case, I could compose a list a foot long outlining just how "civilized" Europe has been and still is, starting with their involvement in the financial crisis down to exploiting African oceanic resources, without regard to the effects on life, human and otherwise.

I'm presently a criminal justice student and I have found a lot of interesting information on this topic while doing research for papers. There are many factors that have to be taken into consideration. First of all, the death penalty is not vengeance, it's a punishment that suits the crime. There are some people in this world that are simple evil. There is no hope for them. I don't care how much rehabilitation you provide for them, they will kill or hurt someone if given the chance. Call it emotionally ill if it sounds better, but it is what it is. You have to take into consideration how much it cost to house an inmate daily and how crowded our prisons are at this time. The U.S. has a big problem in the area. Once our prisons are so full, the system begins releasing inmates so that their constitutional rights are not violated. This includes releasing violent inmates on mandatory release possibly without supervision. Most of these criminals that are released go right back out and commit more crimes. To sum it up, yes I do believe in the death penalty. In fact, for a lot of these criminals I don't believe in wasting our electricity or gas. A rope from a tree will do just fine. I encourage everybody to read more about our prison systems and issues that they're up against.

Except, I thought the death penalty was for those on death row who can never get paroled?

I'm presently a criminal justice student and I have found a lot of interesting information on this topic while doing research for papers. There are many factors that have to be taken into consideration. First of all, the death penalty is not vengeance, it's a punishment that suits the crime. There are some people in this world that are simple evil. There is no hope for them. I don't care how much rehabilitation you provide for them, they will kill or hurt someone if given the chance. Call it emotionally ill if it sounds better, but it is what it is. You have to take into consideration how much it cost to house an inmate daily and how crowded our prisons are at this time. The U.S. has a big problem in the area. Once our prisons are so full, the system begins releasing inmates so that their constitutional rights are not violated. This includes releasing violent inmates on mandatory release possibly without supervision. Most of these criminals that are released go right back out and commit more crimes. To sum it up, yes I do believe in the death penalty. In fact, for a lot of these criminals I don't believe in wasting our electricity or gas. A rope from a tree will do just fine. I encourage everybody to read more about our prison systems and issues that they're up against.[/quote

oops wrong button

There are a lot of angles to this issue.

First of all, can we move away from the whole "there are some people who are just evil"?. For an academic, as you claim to be, that's a pretty simplistic view of people. If what you're trying to describe is people with mental illness, then we might as well shift this discussion entirely, because there is an inherent difference between a cold and calculated crime and a person acting because they are mentally ill.

Secondly, the death penalty is not the cure for crowded prisons. Dealing with legislation like "three-strikes", putting more focus on preventing crime and better ability to council former inmates are other solutions that other countries employ successfully. Yes, there are certainly people who go out and do crime, but to delve into this we'd have to start talking about a lot more factors than "evil". Poverty, lack of options and a host of other factors contribute here, and using the death penalty to deal with repeat offenders is a product of not being even remmotely competent enough to tackle this issue.

A rope from a tree? I'd put you one step below those stadium hangings in rural Iran and Afghanistan.

hey, you can always join mine

The Common Sense Party?.... I would have to say that you could have as many as.... hmmmm..... let me add this up..... I would have to say about 7 members World wide?.... common sense isn't so common and nonexistent here.

The death penalty is a cure for over crowded prisons... it make room by putting them in the ground rather than a jail cell, plus they won't be escaping from the ground.

Preventing crime has never prevented crime. Since day one the government has tried to prevent crime... has crime stopped?

Counseling doesn't put food on the table or drugs in a persons system for a lot of inmate.... but crime does.

There are a lot of Benefits to committing major crime. You get a home, three meals a day, free education, no taxes, free membership to a gym, free cable TV and the list is endless. I would consider pushing my kids into a life of crime so I don't have to pay for college and after they serve their 3 to 5 and parole, they could have a wonderful life making a load of money in Europe.

I say kill the all.... I have no problem with that.