the death penalty

[megaman89]

if that guy really did that he should be shot in both kneecaps then strapped on a bicycle with pedal brakes and placed at the highest and steepest hill and let gravity do the rest.

all for the death penalty in any case like this. eye 4 an eye

[genocidal]

how do u figure? ur telling us that a vile of w/e they use for lethal injection costs more than feeding that inmate for 50-60 years? including electricity for his cell, staff to watch over him, washing his clothes, cleaning products for his cell, hygiene products...u did say "system"........after all, we do pay TAXES.

come on now. thats ridiculous

It's not ridiculous, it's a fact.

"For comparative purposes, the Commission adopted a very conservative estimate that seeking the death penalty adds $500,000 to the cost of a murder trial in California. The costs of a second defense lawyer, the background investigation for the penalty phase, and the added duration and expense of the trial for jury selection and penalty trial alone would easily add up to $500,000 in most cases. The current rate of 20 death sentences per year would require 40 death penalty trials per year, for a total added cost of $20 million...

The costs of confinement can also be estimated with some precision, based upon the Department of Corrections estimate that confinement on death row adds $90,000 per year to the cost of confinement beyond the normal cost of $34,150."

That's what a commission found in the state of California, the report can be read here.

Here is what the Comptroller of Tennessee's Treasury Department found in a report conducted in his state (this guy is an accountant, not some left-wing agenda-based hippie).

Overall, first-degree murder cases in which the prosecution has filed a
notice to seek the death penalty cost more than life without parole and life
with the possibility of parole cases. Death penalty cases cost more because:
• they are more complex
• more agencies and people are involved in the adjudication of
the cases,
• both the prosecution and defense spend more time in
preparation, and
• the appellate process has more steps.

The full report can be read here.

Any assertions I make will just be re-stating the facts so I'll leave it with this: beyond the dollar signs that taxpayers scamper for, the cost of a human life is incalculable when a mistake has been made.

[Money]

only way u get the death penalty in Texas is capital murder, thats murder as the result of another felony, SUCH AS ROBBING. not everyone gets it tho, only the gruesome ones like kidnappers rapists...the ones who kill their victims and dismemember them yea.. and even then they sit in prison for 15-30 years so w/e

in fact there is a case in Houston right now of a man who killed his girlfriend hacked her up, bbq'd her..they found at least 3 of HER teeth in his garbage disposal..why waste money on that? yea they can rot in prison all their life...but no matter what u say from TWO states u wont convince me its cheaper to keep one alive for 60+ years than it would to house and execute them after 15

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/6028720.html
and hes not facing the death penalty, cuz hes a stand up guy, amirite? laff
thx

rofl "In the weeks leading up to the trial, Shepherd's attorneys said that confession should be thrown out because police questioned him after he asked for an attorney." he shouldnt have answered.

[H.M.S. Stargazer]

I hear the Cardassians have a pretty good justice system.

Where's Saturn V to back me up on this?

The verdict is decided BEFORE you coem to court. The court is just so people feel that justice is served. And the verdict is almost always guilty.

[Saturn V]

FOR CARDASSIIIIAAAAAAAAA!!!! (rip damar)

[the_paul]

He is right, Money. It is cheaper to keep them in jail for life than to administer the death penalty. It sounds weird but it really is true.

[Pressure Drop]

I’m also against the death penalty, in saying that I wouldn’t be very forgiving if anyone ever murdered my sister for example and I would personally want vengeance on them but that is fuelled by emotion and that’s understandable.

But that sort of retribution shouldn’t really be for the government to decide. Indeed a government and prisons should be more about protecting its citizens than dealing punishment. Prisons should be in the majority of cases more like compulsory rehabilitation and education centres about how their acts affect the greater society and resulted with them being removed from it to protect those they have harmed, so hopefully those that get released back into society will not become a repeat offender.

For the very serious crimes some of which are such reprehensible acts you question how a human could ever do such a thing, it is more important to find out more about why individuals commit these acts to try and identify a solution and identify others that would be off danger to the public. Life time imprisonment with access too psychiatric researchers would benefit society more so than simply killing the person. Measuring their brain function, blood tests, hormone levels DNA analysis etc … could lead to a pattern emerging and even if it doesn’t they have been removed from society and pose no more risk.

I was reading the other day that they have identified abnormal cortisol (stress hormone) response to a frustrating task in adolescents that are routinely police cautioned for bad behaviour. Studies like that can yield positive results in the future, perhaps with more research they will be to able to give simple drug much that keeps a better balance and more normal response to hormonal triggers in check.


Weird how it’s the bible bashing states of America that are so into their death penalties, kinda absurd as surely to them it is up to god to give judgement and not the court judge banging his gavel and saying Death!!!

[FarScape]

I’m also against the death penalty, in saying that I wouldn’t be very forgiving if anyone ever murdered my sister for example and I would personally want vengeance on them but that is fuelled by emotion and that’s understandable.

But that sort of retribution shouldn’t really be for the government to decide. Indeed a government and prisons should be more about protecting its citizens than dealing punishment. Prisons should be in the majority of cases more like compulsory rehabilitation and education centres about how their acts affect the greater society and resulted with them being removed from it to protect those they have harmed, so hopefully those that get released back into society will not become a repeat offender.

For the very serious crimes some of which are such reprehensible acts you question how a human could ever do such a thing, it is more important to find out more about why individuals commit these acts to try and identify a solution and identify others that would be off danger to the public. Life time imprisonment with access too psychiatric researchers would benefit society more so than simply killing the person. Measuring their brain function, blood tests, hormone levels DNA analysis etc … could lead to a pattern emerging and even if it doesn’t they have been removed from society and pose no more risk.

I was reading the other day that they have identified abnormal cortisol (stress hormone) response to a frustrating task in adolescents that are routinely police cautioned for bad behaviour. Studies like that can yield positive results in the future, perhaps with more research they will be to able to give simple drug much that keeps a better balance and more normal response to hormonal triggers in check.


Weird how it’s the bible bashing states of America that are so into their death penalties, kinda absurd as surely to them it is up to god to give judgement and not the court judge banging his gavel and saying Death!!!

Well PD, there are a lot of criminals in jail to study on. If you murder two and sit for 50 years, its the same as you murder 3 and judged to death.

Although sometimes everyone have this feeling "oh man, that murderer deserve to die", There are two reasons in my opinion why death penalty shouldn't be implement:

1) some people just don't care to die after their act. In fact, after some murders people suicide, so in a country where there is a death penalty, people who are going to murder might not really fear from death penalty.

2) I think rotting in jail and mostly, losing the freedom, is the worst punishment someone can take. (tho, some people are feeling good to be fed by the prison system, since they think they wont have better life outside).

[megaman89]

give his cellmate Bubba a few packs of cigs and let him finish em off. Save so much more time and money when will people learn

[Stompa]

Well I am 100% against the death penalty in every case, so that.

I agree. Also, since watching Prison Break I have become much more learned on the topic of death penalty; you could call me an expert.

[Mr. 420]

WE DON'T NEED NO WATER, LET THE MOTHERFUCKER BURN!

BURN MOTHERFUCKER! BURN!


I'm all for the death penalty. Eye for an eye bitch.

[Stompa]

WE DON'T NEED NO WATER, LET THE MOTHERFUCKER BURN!

BURN MOTHERFUCKER! BURN!


I'm all for the death penalty. Eye for an eye bitch.

I have to weigh my anti-death penalty beliefs with my severe misanthropy and its a crappy conflict of interests.

[Vehicle]

I'm surprised no one mentioned this yet, but the Supreme Court in the USA decided today (5-4 decision with Souter being the swinger) that no one can be executed unless they commit murder. Somewhere in the South, I don't remember where, they were trying to kill a guy for raping his 7 year old step-daughter.

Just thought it was worth mentioning as it is applicable to this discussion.

My personal opinion: the death penalty shouldn't even be discussed until we fix the prison system.

What we have in place now is by no means rehabilitory. Most prisons in the country are overcrowded leading to more violent crime. Most offenders who go to prison will be back within a year. There's very little effort to rehabilitate these people with anything other than perscription medicine. Overall: we're simply holding these people who are unfit for society (whether because they're murderers, rapists, whatever,) but the places we put them are hot beds of violence which, as logic would argue, only increases the likelyhood that they will commit another violent act once out of prison.

The shit's fucked up, the death penalty is fucked up, but when there's a prison in Texas made completely out of tents because there is no where else to put these people: what the fuck do you expect?

[Money]

solution to overcrowded prisons and jails: decriminalize marijuana

NOT LEGALIZE.

[DankNuggets]

It's definitely cheaper to put an immate in jail for life than to go through the appeals proccess for a death penalty case -- even in Texas, where i'm sure they push them along pretty quickly. That said, it'll still take 10+ years for them to see the death chamber.


I'm for the death penalty in extreme cases. We have WAYYY better tools to figure out whether people actually committed crimes. We don't just go on forced confessions for capital crimes anymore. DNA has exonerated many many people from death row, so I'm inclined to believe that even though innocent people do get on death row, it doesn't happen anymore (and plus, like many have said life in prison might be worse than death, even for an innocent person).

Still, I'd only like to see it used in extremely bad crimes. Crimes that involve kidnapping/rape/murder/children/serial killers. some times it might be worth it to the state or the victims to spend the extra million dollars to kill an immate.