If a person is unquestionably 100% guilty of murder, then that person should be worm food within 30 days of conviction.

Hassan and the DC Sniper are both 100% unquestionably guilty of murder. Put them under.

Cases that are less clear as to guilt can go through more processes to determine the outcome.

Seems simple enough to me.

 

I find it interesting that you bring up the point of saving money, keeping these guys alive and supporting them the rest of their lives will cost us way way way more than any number of appeals...

Also want to point out that with the amazing forensics we have nowadays.... its probably far less than .1% that are wrongly sentenced to death... You have to factor in that most muderers get off with Life without parole the death penalty is rare even in murder cases. So the odds of someone getting the DP are small and the odds of that person being trully innocent are even smaller....well tremendously smaller. We dont tend to pick up just any johnny nobody for crimes...they actually investigate and have reasonable evidence before even going to trial.

There are alot of opinions floating about this but when it gets down to the dirty truth, the DP (if used correctly and consistantly) will ultimately lower the ammount of crimes commited that are punished by the DP but the key here is used consistantly, we cant have this 30+ year delay with appeals.

Timeline:

Trial > Guilty > Deathpenalty > Buried within 30-days end of story.

This ofcourse is dependent on being 100% sure of the person you are killing, but lets be logical, there are very very very few innocent people that are sentenced to death.

 

One innocent person sentenced to death is one too many. That is great that you think our justice system is so perfect, but mistakes are made. Although forensics are great these days, mistakes are made too. My mom actually worked in genetics and has performed many DNA tests. DNA can usually be matched between 94 and 99%. I know of one case where a man who was released from prison because it turned out he fell in that unlucky 1-6% range.

I also understand that they don’t just pick up some random person off the street, but just because there is enough evidence to arrest them and charge them, there isn’t always enough to convict them. And when they do get convicted, they get the right to appeal because the justice system is not 100% accurate.

Although it may seem like keeping someone in prison for the entire life is more expensive than killing them, it turns out the death penalty usually does cost more money than life in prison. In California, the current death penalty system costs $137 million a year. If they were to put all those sentenced to death to life in prison, it would cost $11.5 million a year. That is a big difference. The only way to reduce the cost would be to eliminate the appeal process, and that would be completely unconstitutional. I am glad that you are a pilot and not involved in our legal system, because giving the government the ability to kill someone based on one trial is insane.

Also, the fact that people commit murders in states that permit the death penalty proves that the possibility of being sentenced to death is not a deterrent for crimes.

I don’t want anyone to believe that this is a critical issue for me. I feel completely comfortable that John Allen Muhammad was executed. It does not bother me and it makes me feel a little satisfied, but not all cases are like this. Juan Roberto Melendez-Colon and a few others would be very eager to tell you that.

I don’t think many people spend too much time thinking about this topic before they draw a conclusion. I do agree that it makes me sick that someone I believe is guilty gets to spend years working the system to delay his death, but it is a something our society must grant before we take a life because no legal system can ever be 100% accurate, so we will never be able to determine if someone is 100% guilty.

 

Texas was doing something similar to that a year or so ago. The way it worked was if there was 3 or more credible witnesses to a crime then the amount of appeals you got was lower. I love how most states are moving to get rid of the death penalty and Texas is putting in an express line LOL

 

Kasserine -

You keep saying:
You are incorrect - if you would like to talk in absolutes.
Knowing that if I murdered someone that I might get the death penalty - definitely is one of many factors in my decision NOT to murder anybody.
So.....guess there IS some deterrence factor. YMMV.

MAYBE, just MAYBE, is wouldn't matter to a some people - but then again - some people are just evil and none of your ideas of justice would make a dent in their behvaior either.

You are obviously anti-death penalty. That is fine - but for every anti- death opinion you would cite, quote, believe in, and spout - a person who believes in the death penalty could find an opposite opinion. PLENTY of proff out there to support that view in MANY different issues in our great country.

USMCFLYR

 

So are you saying that if the death penalty was taken off the table you would kill people? When I say that the death penalty is not a deterrent, I am talking about that small part of the population that is actually contemplating murder. But you are right, in absolutes, there may be some people who think about murder, but then decide not to because they don’t want the death penalty.

I agree that there are arguments for both sides. I was just trying to show that the death penalty issue is not as simple as convict them and then kill them as quickly as possible. In most states, the death penalty costs more, the possibility of being sentenced to death may deter some, but it defiantly does not deter all, and some families of the victims feel satisfied with the death penalty and some are not.

And also, I don’t consider myself anti death penalty, because it defiantly makes me feel good when someone who obviously killed is sentenced to death and I can see the fear in their eyes. I just think that this is a power the government and the people should use with much thought.

 

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Kill people - or murder people? There is a difference you know.
Now - as for what you were really asking; if that is what you truly took out of my statement then there isn't much else to explain. I stated that the death penalty is a deterent to me. You can take my statement in any manner that you please - but the fact remains - it has some effect as a deterent.

Quote:

When I say that the death penalty is not a deterrent, I am talking about that small part of the population that is actually contemplating murder.

When I last took a criminology class - most murders were actually NOT contemplated. Statistically they were spontaneous acts/random acts of violence. There might be that small part of the population would comtemplate (or even carry out) premeditated murder no matter what punishment there might be imposed. No one wants an innocent person sentenced to death - and much less the penalty carried out - and at the same time I'm not shure how you can PROVE that something doesn't not prevent an action. In many ways it could be like safety. Nothing happens when it is working - but things can spiral out of control if it isn't!

Quote:

I agree that there are arguments for both sides. I was just trying to show that the death penalty issue is not as simple as convict them and then kill them as quickly as possible. In most states, the death penalty costs more, the possibility of being sentenced to death may deter some, but it defiantly does not deter all, and some families of the victims feel satisfied with the death penalty and some are not.

You are absolutely right - it is not that simple. costs? You might be right - as it is now applied - but some people on here are talking about changing the system - and with it changed you don't know what the price may be in monetary terms. It shouldn't be up to the victims though to determine the punishment.

Quote:

And also, I don’t consider myself anti death penalty, because it defiantly makes me feel good when someone who obviously killed is sentenced to death and I can see the fear in their eyes. I just think that this is a power the government and the people should use with much thought.

[/QUOTE]
It would certainly be dealt out in a different way if I was ruler of the world

 

Too bad the DC sniper's victims didn't have an appeal or even time to tell their loved ones that they were departing life.

Some people are simply evil, it isn't a perfect world we have.... but one thing we can come together on is the need for justice. Is a life-sentence justice for multiple murders?

Of course if I had my way it'd end in a .45 and a shovel.... or maybe even a little "Law-abiding Citizen" style.

Should we not fight wars for our Country and her people's sake because an innocent civilian may die?

 

CORRECT. We SHOULD not fight wars in OTHER countries.

 

The death penalty may not be, in some folks opinion, a deterrent to crime, but it assures that they won`t be any repeat offenders.