Capital Punishment

[Canary42]

I'm against Capital Punishment in principle, but sometimes .........

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2970362/Ex-policeman-lover-plotted-conceive-baby-abuse-share-paedophiles.html

..... it might be for the best.

[DaisyNonna]

If I am not prepared to put a noose around another human being's neck, press the button for the electric chair, administer the lethal injection or turn on the gas chamber, then no, I am not in favour of capital punishment.
If push came to shove I might kill to save myself, a family member or a stranger if they were in danger of being killed. Defence, not punishment.
Does that make me illogical?

[mikey4444]

No Daisy...it most certainly doesn't ! In fact you are highly logical !

[retrocop]

I must confess, as someone who supports the death penalty, I find the figures in this link quite amazing ( provided they are accurate).
I do not find the high murder rate in the US surprising compared with the UK given the availability of firearms to almost any nutter that wants one but I would imagine that the banning of handguns to responsible and vetted owners in the UK has not lessened the amount of gun related murders in this country but that is another topic.

[retrocop]

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/deterrence-states-without-death-penalty-have-had-consistently-lower-murder-rates


Sorry.Pressed submit button to soon. This link goes with above post.

[Zacs-Master]

Strange correlation of highest murder rates with highest AfAm populations:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_African-American_population

[Peter Pedant]

// ANOTHEOLDGIT, do have any evidence that capital punishment does act as a deterrent? If it is a deterrent, should the death penalty be introduced for all crimes or would that be a daft suggestion?//

the first part was described by dear old AOG as "daft"
and all I can say is one man's daft comment is another one's criminology essay.

as for death penalty for everything
it's been done befooooooore !
( o God I am gonna get Andy H down my throat for fruitless analogies)
Draco suggested exactly this ( laws of Sparta I think ) and gives us the word Draconian

[Jackdaw33]

Athens, not Sparta.

[Zacs-Master]

Attica. Probably.

[andy-hughes]

An interesting debate.

I am against CP, and as NewJudge has confirmed, it is not possible to be 'against' a concept on a sliding scale of merit - with the most deserving being executed, and the less deserving spared.

I am against it, not because of potential miscarriages of justice,that is a powerful argument, but rather that legalised murder has no place in a civilised society.

Capital punishment can never be anything other than revenge, and that does not belong in a civilised society either.

The notion of saving money by executing criminals is facile – if we are to incarcerate them for life, then preserving that life is a necessary part of the punishment.

Any sentient being reading the example set in the OP must feel the urge to destroy the perpetrators, possibly with as much pain and suffering as possible – that is human nature.

But sometimes human nature has to be subjugated for the good of society as a whole, where meeting violence with violence is a concept we are trying to eradicate, and controlled situations like the legal system are the best place to start.