Is it time that the USA banned the death penalty?

Wintermint

Wintermint

Member
Given the recent spate of executions (not to mention the torture involved in sudden temporary stays) isn't it time that the USA jouined most of the civilised world in banning the death penalty? Some comments in the news today. The BBC web site: The

"United Nations' human rights office said it was "deeply troubled" that Arkansas had executed four men in eight days after a 12-year moratorium on the death penalty.Spokeswoman Liz Throssell told reporters in Geneva that "rushing executions" can violate prisoners' rights by denying them the opportunity to seek clemency.
"Our concern is really the fact that these executions were scheduled because of the expiration date of the drug, and you are absolutely right that adds to the arbitrariness and cruelty of the whole process," said Ms Throssell, in response to a reporter's question".

The European Union also condemned the execution as "an unacceptable denial of human rights".

The idea of strapping a human being to a trolley and pumping him full of lethal drugs just makes me personally cringe at the horror of it. Executing murderers didn't ever bring one victim back and it is doubtful if capital punishment ever deterred one single murder either.
 

I've always been and will continue to be pro death penalty.

If the criminal admitted his guilt or was found guilty in a court of law and the crime was horrendous enough for the jury to recommend the death penalty then the sentence needs to be carried out immediately and not have the proven guilty criminal spend the next twenty years in prison filing various appeals which would cost the tax payers millions when figuring in also how much it would cost to feed, clothe and provide medical and dental care for the known guilty criminal during that period........by contrast I believe I read that according to the state of Texas it only costs on average of $83.55 for the three drugs to execute someone that was proven guilty and sentenced to death.
 

I do not approve of any state committing murder on my behalf. Yes it is time for it to be banned nationwide.
 
Life without parole, HARD labor, no amenities besides food, medication and a roof. The old 3 Hots and a cot. Do they need internet, tv, or anything like that, probably not for major crimes. I can live with giving them books, that is about it. I figure a murderer never gave his victim a chance to appeal...so let them live with what they did. Sounds stupid, but plaster their cell with pictures of the victims and their families.
 
The death penalty doesn't seem to do much good and IMO we should look at the the whole idea of prison, punishment, etc... The current system doesn't seem to be much of a deterrent, it costs the taxpayers a fortune not only to incarcerate a person but also in many cases to support other members of the immediate family on public assistance or in the foster care system and it does little or nothing to prepare an individual to rejoin society at some point.
 
The Constitution has left it up to the individual states.

It would take a miracle to take that right away from the states.

I'm not in favor of the death penalty.

At one time hanging in Canada was the method used. How crude can you get.?

No death penalty in Canada now no matter how horrendous the crime.

The reason Arkansas rushed was because their access to legal drugs for executions will run out on Sunday.

You will see a long moratorium after these executions.
 
IKE said:
I've always been and will continue to be pro death penalty.

If the criminal admitted his guilt or was found guilty in a court of law and the crime was horrendous enough for the jury to recommend the death penalty then the sentence needs to be carried out immediately and not have the proven guilty criminal spend the next twenty years in prison filing various appeals which would cost the tax payers millions when figuring in also how much it would cost to feed, clothe and provide medical and dental care for the known guilty criminal during that period........by contrast I believe I read that according to the state of Texas it only costs on average of $83.55 for the three drugs to execute someone that was proven guilty and sentenced to death.
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I'm with you buddy if they're proven guilty of the crime usually savage rape torture and murder of another human being then they should die too as soon as possible. 84 bucks is worth the price of eliminating the trash to give them cable tv good food and health care for years on end is BS. What special privileges did their victims get?
 
If an individual is found guilty of a murder, and if that individual readily admits his guilt, and there are credible witnesses or security camera evidence, etc., Why should society be on the hook for millions of dollars to keep such a misfit in prison for decades? Those huge sums of money would be better used to help support responsible members of our populace. Mental illness is NOT a valid defense, IMO...anyone who commits such an act is Obviously imbalanced. Our present prison system is hardly any deterrent to future crimes being committed...over 85% of prisoners are repeat offenders. The Only prison system that has shown a decrease in repeat offenders is the one in Arizona that has been run by Joe Arpaio...and he was removed by the bleeding hearts.

There are very few things in Sharia Law that I can agree with...but their treatment of killers makes sense....hold the trial on Monday, and schedule the execution for Tuesday.
 
Is it time that the USA banned the death penalty?
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How would that work? Constitutional amendment? If so, that will never happen.

The death penalty is not a deterrent , does not really provide 'closure' like most would hope, for the victim's family.

The death penalty is expensive, the appeals take decades of legal expense to the state.

However, there are cases that are so horrendous, that anything less than the death penalty would just be unacceptable.

One such case was that of Timothy McVeigh,responsible for the attack that killed 168 people and injured over 600, in the Oklahoma City bombing.

Once convicted and condemned to death, the Government didn't mess around, a little over 4 years after convection, McVeigh was executed.
 
tnthomas, I agree with you. Here in New Mexico, in which the death penalty was abolished in 2009, we still have two inmates on death row, and the matter of whether or not they can be executed because their crimes (both of them committed horrific murders, one of them involving a child, and the other the deaths of four women at different times, seemingly for the fun of it) were committed and they were sentenced before the death penalty was abolished, is still being litigated here.

There has lately been a call for the death penalty to be reinstituted, primarily because New Mexico's "life" sentences do not really mean life at all. For a while, inmates serving life were eligible for parole after only 10 years, and now I believe it is 30 years. In cases of multiple murders, some judges have solved the problem by sentencing offenders to consecutive terms of life, one for each victim. However, this, of course cannot be used in cases of single murders, no matter how heinous the crime or the age of the victim.

There are certainly cases in which I do not believe the perpetrator should EVER be let go to mingle with the public again. I am not sure the death penalty is the solution, but I strongly believe that if we do not have the death penalty, we certainly need life sentences which really mean life until death, not life until the capricious legislature decides they should be set free -- unless, of course we would like to see someone who drags random women out from their homes and beats them either to death or near death and then sets fire to them or rapes and tortures children to death move in next door to us. I, for one, do not.
 
When people commit crimes that can only be described as inhuman surely that indicates that the person is suffering from a severe mental illness and in that case is it right to murder a sick person? It's not even as if it was infectious or contagious.

Take them out from 'normal' society, yes.

For ever, probably.

But murder them? No.
 
Our prison system is a mess. The whole thing needs to be re-evaluated and adjusted to the world we currently live in. Besides the issue with the death penalty, those that "pay there dues" and are released are forever labeled such that it is way too hard for them to make it in the world we live in... contributing in so many of them ending up back in the prison system.
 
We (in the UK) have a 'life means life' sentence for crimes deemed worthy of it. There is no option for parole and the prisoner will remain in prison until they die. That seems fitting to me for some crimes. Taking a life as punishment or 'justice' just demeans the society that imposes such a barbaric punishment in my view.
 
Don M. said:
If an individual is found guilty of a murder, and if that individual readily admits his guilt, and there are credible witnesses or security camera evidence, etc., Why should society be on the hook for millions of dollars to keep such a misfit in prison for decades? Those huge sums of money would be better used to help support responsible members of our populace. Mental illness is NOT a valid defense, IMO...anyone who commits such an act is Obviously imbalanced. Our present prison system is hardly any deterrent to future crimes being committed...over 85% of prisoners are repeat offenders. The Only prison system that has shown a decrease in repeat offenders is the one in Arizona that has been run by Joe Arpaio...and he was removed by the bleeding hearts.
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Plus $1,000,000 from George Soros.
 
Two wrongs do not make a right as the saying goes and state sanctioned execution is murder - pure and simple. It's barbaric; the whole process is outrageously cruel. And that's not the worst part. Our legal system, being composed of flawed human beings is also flawed. Too many innocents are put to death for various unsavory reasons - particularly if they are non-white; they are also overwhelmingly poor or near poor. The rich rarely are subjected to the death penalty(and often not even convicted due to the hiring of expensive, slippery lawyers) . Even if they are later proven to be innocent, it's a bit hard to exonerate someone you have already killed. I think the U.S. should join the rest of the civilized world and banish the death penalty. The latest performance by Arkansas was disgusting.
 
I was picked for Jury duty many years ago. A man was on trial for rape, incest and corrupting the morals of a minor. He had abused and raped 2 of his daughters for years and the wife was aware of it. It was convicted and given a prison term of 10 yrs. Believe me the trial was heartbreaking and if he had to be executed I would have been thrilled. Why should he get the benefits in prison free even health care when he ruined the lives of his two daughters from when they were little girls. I believe in the death penalty.
 
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