The death penalty for evil crimes

[SamClemensMT]

I just read a thread about a lady who was burned to death down in Mississippi. It occurs to me that such cases should result in the death penalty. I have a list of what I feel should be automatic capital crimes once convicted. Here it is:

• setting a human on fire with an accelerant resulting in death
• gouging out both eyes of a human resulting in permanent blindness
• disfiguring a human by throwing sulfuric acid at their face
• mutilating the genitalia of a human being

Feel free to add to my list.

 

[downsouth]

ALways a controversial subject. There are some horrible evil people out there but what if they have a mental issue or some screws loose in their brain ? Then again I do believe there are people that are truly evil and sane and carry out brutal murders or rapes.

 

[downsouth]

I could add 100 to your list. I rather not contemplate on horrible acts that deserve the death penalty though.

 

[SamClemensMT]

I just think it's better to have a preset protocol. First of all it may deter someone with evil intentions, and secondly we can save time and money by going straight to the gallows. There is no closure in such cases. There is only pain, and destroyed lives.

 

[downsouth]

I mean you hear about things that happen around the world sometimes and you wonder if the attacker really was of sound mind or mentally insane. But even if the person were mentally ill, if they were capable of such violent or atrocious acts then wouldn't society be better off without them ? Rather than as Sam said spending time and money on them wasting away in prison or some mental institution.

 

[wameyo]

I mean you hear about things that happen around the world sometimes and you wonder if the attacker really was of sound mind or mentally insane. But even if the person were mentally ill, if they were capable of such violent or atrocious acts then wouldn't society be better off without them ? Rather than as Sam said spending time and money on them wasting away in prison or some mental institution.

Totally agree with you here. Prisons run on taxpayers money and there's no need of keeping someone who has been convicted of murder alive. I think prisons are there to rehabilitate people who have done other crimes other than taking someone's life.

 

[GlacialDoom]

I think that death penalty is a delicate subject, and I think that your idea is very good. Having a list of specific actions needed for death penalty is fair. I also think that in the cases of people that will get locked up for life, they should be given a choice -- either live your life in jail or get the lethal injection.

 

[Kamarsun1]

I'm not sure if I agree with the concept of any eye for an eye. To me it doesn't solve anything and it doesn't even bring peace to the family of the victims (for the most part). Maybe it's just me but I think we need to look and the psychological mind set of the people who commit these evil crimes.

 

[rga1999]

The Death Penalty should definitely be around for evil crimes. I believe there should be some type of protocol based off of the crimes that occur at the most grotesque rate. People on death row currently spend so much time on death row. 20+ years sometimes.

 

[stevesxs9]

I've always thought that the punishment should fit the crime committed. Eye for an eye so to speak. The victim and their families are still haunted, years after the crime is perpetrated on them. If it's not accidental or defending your life or the life of someone, then you have no business taking a life.

 

[Onionman]

I still struggle with the death penalty. I've always been brought up to not embrace the eye for an eye principle. That being said, I have increasingly been swayed by hearing about certain atrocities, notably violent murders of children and certain acts of terror. I'm somewhere in the middle with my views.

 

[SamClemensMT]

I do understand the spirit of your response. However, for the sake of people who might be victims of such evil in the future, we owe it to ourselves to discourage such barbarism. I'm not asking you to be the executioner. They'll be plenty of us available for the job.

 

[Rocky55119]

Hm...... I feel as if one of those crimes were convicted to me I would like the offender to die.

However is it really worth it? I mean most of those injuries could heal, I feel a more probable cause of penalties would be stuff like child abduction, torturing of people, etc.

 

[Patrick]

The death penalty is a very delicate subject, it does have some arguably positive effects as a deterrant, and a means of closure for families of the victim. However it must be crystal clear that the convicted person is guilty of performing the evil crime without a trace of doubt, the evidence must be overwhelming and insurmountable. We cannot send an innocent man to the gallows.

 

[SamClemensMT]

I agree with you. Frankly I don't see how this ever happens without some breakdown in the process. Either the judge isn't properly instructing the jury. Or, the prosecution and the police have framed the accused. Or, the most likely, the defense attorney sucks.

Otherwise, I don't see how the innocent wind up on death row.

 

[primalclaws1974]

The death penalty is not a deterrent, no matter how you want to nitpick on the details of heinous crimes. People who are going to mutilate someone's genitals is not going to stop and think, "Oh, I am in a state (or country) that will put me to death for doing this, so I better not". Murder and violence is committed (usually) in the heat of the moment, and if the person is determined to do harm to another person, it is going to happen no matter what laws are in effect in the area.

 

[Sarz]

I do agree that some people are truly evil and so are their crimes and for that they deserve to pay with their lives but on the other hand. I think that perhaps death is the easy way out and that they should suffer as their victims did when they were carrying out their horrific crimes. Except here in England for the most part prison seems to be a holiday as opposed to a punishment these days and those such as paedophiles get pretty good treatment. Being separated from prisoners wishing to cause them harm and having television, game consoles and so forth.

 

[Rainman]

The death penalty is an easy way out for the offender. Back in time when they had harsher forms of execution like boiling, flaying alive and that kind of thing the death penalty got people to think twice before committing certain vile crimes. These days since no such barbaric execution methods can be used to balance the scales, such criminals should be cast into prison fed only enough food to keep them alive and provide some free labor for the State for as long as they live. In addition to that whipping them each evening would also be a great way to remind them that they are in prison for a reason.

 

[SamClemensMT]

Would you feel this way if it involved a friend or family member. I don't know your friends or your family, however I am proud to defend them against such acts of evil by supporting the death penalty as a deterrent. Why are we so willing to stand for the rights of the perpetrators. The victims deserve our support ten times more than these scumbags.

 

[weepforsweep]

People should be in jail for violent crimes but not the death penalty. There isn't a 100% way of finding out somebody did the crime.