Just hang them

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Those looking for the ultimate punishment, consider this: People kept alive in prison will suffer. Dead people don't suffer. Hence, I'd rather the worst criminals were simple denied the possibility of parole rather than be executed. I don't really mind paying for that. There are other reasons against the death penalty, but instead of stacking reasons against opposition reasons this has the advantage of negating the main purpose.

I am not wholly opposed to allowing life sentence prisoners who have served a significant time, as punishment, and are still unlikely to be released anytime soon, being allowed to apply for the right to die. Defining the limits for such would be key.

Blood Red Sandman (Talk) (Contribs)20:05, 27 January 2011

I'm not looking for the ultimate punishment. As a non religious person, I don't think that having the worst criminals suffering forever (well, for the rest of their lives) is a good punishment. Getting rid of them is fair enough, removes the risk of them escaping, and saves loads of money which would be better used if they did something to prevent people from becoming murderers, rather than awarding them for it.

Ungoliant MMDCCLXIV (talk)23:10, 27 January 2011

Efforts should focus on prevention, however arguing about what the ultimate punishment is is grabbing at the wrong end of the stick. "Punishment" shouldn't even be the point of it. Punishment is just a euphemism for revenge, a hypocritical, evil and barbarous impulse unworthy of human behaviour. We've put a man on the moon and figured out DNA, We are better that that. Rather than revenge, the focus of the corrections system instead should be firstly, to keep the public safe from dangerous criminals, and secondarily to rehabilitate, or at least attempt to rehabilitate the perpetrators of heinous crimes. In all too many cases, Homicide is the result of a serious mental illness( bipolar disorder, depression, schizophrenia) or a societal one (Sociopathology resulting from lifelong exposure to violence inherent in areas of poverty). A society that sanctions the execution criminals by the state is setting a double standard that essentially vindicates homicide and vigilantism. It's sends a brutalizing message to the public that: "Yes, murder is all right and jolly, at least if approved by certain people under certain circumstances."

Note: In practice, execution actually costs the state more money than lifetime incarceration, due to the process of appeals.

67.142.172.26 (talk)08:27, 28 January 2011
 
Edited by author.
Last edit: 11:48, 23 March 2011

I'm not convinced that 'the murdererer deserves to be punished' is a very good reason: there are some psychos that won't learn, regardless of the punishment doled out. Prison is there to segregate the dangerous from the rest of the world; I feel that often fines are more appropriate for many crimes (as opposed to jail time). If someone has 'reformed' (and can be trusted to keep to that), they should be let out [although, having said that, releasing the Lockerbie bomber made me think hard about that stance].

I oppose execution on moral grounds, as well as the inexcusable execution-of-the-innocent that sometimes happens. No-one knows how much pain a condemned prisoner feels as his body shuts down, and Googling "lethal injection" comes up with some violent cock-ups. One guy was convulsing for just over an hour, fully awake and aware what was happening -- that's so fucked up in so many ways.

As for BRS's comment, I'd prefer that assisted suicide was further up the priority list. The UK needs an assisted suicide clinic that is a bit more transparent than the Assange-arrogance of Dignitas. It reeks of *ism that suicide is legal, unless you're physically unable to do so.

Having said all this, if someone decided to gun down my entire family, I'm sure I could find it quite easy to reconsider my stance.

μ 12:20, 28 January 2011 (UTC)12:20, 28 January 2011

"Having said all this, if someone decided to gun down my entire family, I'm sure I could find it quite easy to reconsider my stance."

Quite Frankly, so could I, but if someone massacred my family I'd justifiably be having a fit of rage, I wouldn't be in a position where i'd be thinking clearly. That is why we have impartial governments. Retribution is a fruitless exercise in hypocrisy. It makes perfect sense and seems just in that moment of rage, but once the smoke has cleared and you take a step back you realize that it won't do anything but cause more suffering. It won't bring your family back.

67.142.172.26 (talk)13:21, 28 January 2011