| Death penalty, abolished or not? | |
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| Oct 30, 2007 03:50 | #31   |
 | Compensation can not bring back one's youth. Those judges are also humans so that they will make mistakes. However, their mistakes will let other people suffer a lot. If you were the unlucky guy who was sent into prison wrongly, what would you do, accepting the compensation or doing anything else? |
| Oct 31, 2007 02:54 | #32 |
| In England: In 1722, you could be hung for stealing a rabbit, destroying garden trees or setting fire to haystacks. In 1833, a 9 year old was sentenced to death for stealing paint worth 2 1/2 pence.. 60% of countries still have the death sentence. The death penalty was abolished in the UK in 1969. Question: What are the reasons why we as a society punish people for their crimes? There are 4 main reasons: 1 Retribution - receiving what they deserve for doing wrong. 2 Deterrence - discouraging the wrongdoer from repeating the crime. 3 Reformation - making the wrongdoer into a better person. 4 Protection - protecting society from the wrongdoer. Murderers are classified by the law in two ways: a) Those who act due to a disturbed mind. b) Those who act knowing what they are doing. The existing law of imprisonment has failed in two ways: a) It has failed to deter. b) It has failed to reflect society's outrage. Since hanging was abolished approximately 35 years ago, murder has doubled from 6.3 per million of the population to 12.5 per million. This means that from 359 people murdered in the 1960/70's there are now 712 people murdered on average each year. (Based on a population of 57 million in the UK.) More than 70 convicted murderers who have been released have killed again. The last time the murder rate was this high was in the 1870's. You could say that there was capital punishment then but it still meant the murder rate was high so why should bringing back capital punishment now make any difference? One of the problems is that you can never be absolutely sure that you have made the right decision. Could there be some evidence that someone has missed or misrepresented? God only knows. |
| Oct 31, 2007 06:58 | #33 |
| Crikey Ghost that took must have taken some research! I agree it's very important the evidence water tight before a person should face execution, having said that I think something to deter Murder should be brought in, prison doesn't work. Alan. |
| Oct 31, 2007 09:28 | #34 |
| Nah, I cheated... did a lesson on it a while back so just dug up my notes! Just wanted to balance out the simplistic answer of "execute!". |
| Oct 31, 2007 11:03 | #35 |
| Thats very honest of you Ghost, you could have said it took you hours. Fair play to you mate. Alan. |
| Oct 31, 2007 14:11 | #36 |
| Thank you for your effort, GHOST. >>>wanted to balance out the simplistic answer of "execute!". In the case of hardened criminals, instinct provides the proper response: reason is not only irrelevant, but obfuscating. |
| Oct 31, 2007 21:31 | #37 |
| Quote: One of the problems is that you can never be absolutely sure that you have made the right decision. Could there be some evidence that someone has missed or misrepresented? God only knows. It seems that those judges play the role of God to decide if the criminal should be executed. Hope they can play the role very well. I would not like to see someone was sentenced to death wrongly as the guy mentioned in the news. |
| Nov 1, 2007 23:23 | #38 |
| Quote: If you've ever sat on a jury (as I have) you will know how easy good rhetoric and persuasion can lead people to make decisions, based not on fact, but on feelings. Yes, Ghost. Some lawyers are really good at these skills. In some cases, they could help the accused free from punishments if the accused has enough money. |
| Dec 20, 2007 08:05 | #39 |
| GUEST36226 | What if it was someone who was really close to you, would you be thinking differently? |
| Dec 21, 2007 17:38 | #40 |
| It would not change my thinking, GUEST36226. If a child of mine committed such a heinous crime execution would be the punishment they earned. It would be painful for me, but necessary. A child has a responsibility to not shame their parents; if I did not feel that way, there might be quite a few people taking dirt naps. ;-) If executions were performed without due diligence and due process - that would make a difference. We have had periods when justice was not just in the US. However, on balance our legal system has been too lenient on capital offenders. So long as the justice system makes its best effort to provide justice for the well-being of the community that is the most people can ask. |
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