Death Penalty Poll - In Brief

[Koolpc]

For. All 100% proven murderers, rapists, pedos etc.

[directhex]

plus its a good detterent.

countries with capital punishment are crime-free?

[JPreston]

For. All 100% proven murderers, rapists, pedos etc.

OK so the idea is not to challenge others but through the medium of funky colouring there is highlighted three separate glaring fallacies of simple pro-death penalty statements.

[floppybootstomp]

For - but only where guilt is proved 100%

Google Hanratty and see why.

Edit: Blimey - new evidence shows he was almost certainly guilty. Oh well...

[HSK]

I don't believe the death penalty acts as a deterrent but has the exact opposite effect.

I'll use Joe as an example. Joe shoots and kills his boss, he knows damn well what's going to happen to his neck if he gets caught, so he has nothing to loose...

A man with nothing to loose means everyone who stands in his way has everything to loose, the people who attempt to resuscitate his boss, an innocent pedestrian crossing the road, the police officers who try to arrest him.

This is one of the many reasons why I oppose the death sentence, the others have been covered above.

What about thugs and yobs running the streets, shooting and stabbing others for little or no reason, would a death sentance make them think twice before mindless activity?

[HSK]

countries with capital punishment are crime-free?

Nuhuh, who said it would stop crime, and countries would become crime free. But i'm sure there is a percentage of people would at least think twice.

I think alot of these people don't think twice is because prison, means nothing them. life doesn't mean life.

[Saracen]

For certain extreme categories of offence, and with a pretty stringent set of criteria, and certainly in principle ..... for. If anyone wants my actual reasoning, I suggest utilising the Search button, because I've been through it at length a couple of times at least, and I don't think I can face getting into it all again.

[shadowmaster]

For, proof has to be 100%

Would not mind shipping them on the some unknown island in the middle of the ocean and leaving them there, but I'd rather not have two countries capable of whooping us in the ashes

[SiM]

No proof is 100%. Sometimes even confessions are fake... The best that can be legally proven is "beyond reasonable doubt"

[shadowmaster]

No proof is 100%. Sometimes even confessions are fake... The best that can be legally proven is "beyond reasonable doubt"

What about video evidence, and lots of witnesses?

Then again they can be forged, I see your point.

[Saracen]

No proof is 100%. Sometimes even confessions are fake... The best that can be legally proven is "beyond reasonable doubt"

Hmmm.

The trouble there is that in and of itself, that is a deliberately vague term. How much doubt is "reasonable"?

Proof can, in my opinion, and in one case for which which I was on the jury, go WAY above that, with that just being the minimum standard necessary for conviction.

[Lucio]

Personally I'm against the death penalty, because quite frankly, it's about getting revenge on the people who commit terrible crimes. It's also an "easy" way out for criminals, instead of spending 40+ years locked in a prison they get killed and it doesn't matter.

Finally, it's also bloody expensive to run, with all the appeals and the like the cost for the legal aid can run to hundreds of thousands of pounds. A Quick google shows that an execution can cost up to $3m per prisoner.

[0iD]

Lifers can expect a reasonable quality of life in prison, they get schooling, great helthcare, earn a (minimal) wage. Not Like it's hard labour. Now my best friend from school is 7 years in and has about 20 to do & it's no drama to him. He's just become institutionalised & now lives a comfortable life & wants for very little. Like he said recently, he has no stress about fuel prices, no mortgage worries, no job, no fear of losing his job etc. UK prisons, for the most part (not all, not by a long chalk), are soft.

[menthel]

Against. We should be above revenge.

[shaithis]

For.

They would need to make it punishable by death to falsify evidence in a court case where the defendant is facing the death penalty though.

IMO, there are way too many crimes and they are dealt with way too leniently these days. Something needs to be done to keep prison numbers down, the prospect of death for a violent crime could be a good deterrent and for those that flaunt the law still, we won't need to feed/cloth/heat them for 15-20 years.

[pollaxe]

Against for the reasons put forward by Splash and Menthel.