QOTD

Soon2BMrsSikes · January 2011

How do you feel about the death penalty?

futuremrsofficer · January 2011

For me it depends on a lot of things. In my opinion I would need to take the emotion of the crime out of it. I can't say 100% yes or no, because the cost of putting someone to death can be just as costly as keeping them in jail. Also some crimes are so heinous that I find myself saying this person doesn't deserve to be alive.

Yup non committal answer here.

sushisamba · January 2011

futuremrsofficer:

Yup non committal answer here.

I think I fit in the non-commital camp as well. I hate the thought of putting someone to death especially when there have been so many cases of people being wrongly convicted. But there are cases that just make we think that person doesn't deserve to live, has absolutely no chance of reform, and doesn't deserve for us to be paying for him to live in prison for the rest of their days.

kaesha · January 2011

Coming from a country that has long banned it, I'm very much against it. We've had enough cases of people spending 30 years in jail only to be found innocent after the fact for me to be comfortable with the thought of executing anyone. I also think that death is the easy way out, so it's a double fail for me.

SusiOT · January 2011

I'm not for it in the sense that I just feel uncomfortable with the idea of deciding who lives and who dies. Are some crimes terribly heinous? Of course. And some people incapable of rehabilitation? Definitely. But with witness testimony so unreliable, with innocent people being set free after years of imprisonment (sometimes on death row), and the circus atmosphere that surrounds executions, I can't stomach it. I think removal from society is a harsh punishment in itself.

snoopy3319 · January 2011

I'm against it. I think the world needs to come up with a better plan than the current jail system. My friends and I talk about a deserted island somewhere to just drop them and leave them. Let them kill each other off and fend for themselves. This whole TV time and 3 meals a day is garbage. There are people not committing crimes and living in the real world with even worse lifestyles than those in prison. It just doesn't seem right. There have been problems of people actually becoming criminals just to get off the streets, because they know that the lifestyle would be better. Seems like there's something wrong with the system.

NeptoonGrl1 · January 2011

I'm definitely on the fence. I agree with what everyone said in terms choosing who lives and dies, and that people are found innocent after 30 years, etc. It makes me super uncomfortable. But at the same time, prisons are very expensive, and the tax dollars could go towards something more beneficial for society. Honestly, I don't have any answers here.

rxbeth · January 2011

I agree with my fellow Canadian 100%

Soon2BMrsSikes · January 2011

I'm on the fence as well. Emotionally, I totally support it. Why should you get to kill someone and then go to prison, be supported, and possibly even get out and do it again? Why do our tax dollars go to giving these people food and a place to live? I just don't get why someone who commits a crime should get any sympathy.

That being said, I realize that practically it doesn't make as much sense. There are people who are wrongly convicted. People stay on death row for decades. So I wouldn't necessarily support it in real life

abarber340 · January 2011

I'm another person who is on the fence. While I wouldn't want to be the person determining who lives and who dies, it is very expensive to keep someone in the jail system for life. And, as snoopy said, many times these people in jail have committed very serious (and unthinkable) crimes are living better lives than people who are barely able to get by out in the real world.

Auguri · January 2011

Has anyone seen "The Life of David Gale"? Great movie with Kevin Spacey and Kate Winslet that touches on the topic. I highly recommend it.

If there was a way to be 100% sure of someone's guilt and the crime was absolutely heinous, then I would say yes. But since those don't seem to be the people that I see being executed or on death row, I find it hard to support. Also, the chance that an innocent person could be put to death, scares me. Too many people have been in prison for years, only to later be found innocent, for me to support it 100%.

thecarrotflower · January 2011

kaesha:
Coming from a country that has long banned it, I'm very much against it. We've had enough cases of people spending 30 years in jail only to be found innocent after the fact for me to be comfortable with the thought of executing anyone. I also think that death is the easy way out, so it's a double fail for me.

I totally agree with the whole thing but, especially that death seems like an easy way out.

rebaann · January 2011

I'm against it. As others have said, I am not comfortable deciding who lives and dies and there have been too many cases of people wrongly convicted being vindicated later.

There are crimes so heinous that the perpetrator should never see the light of day again, but as a matter of practicality, society does a terrible job with the prison system in the U.S. (with overcrowding and everything that comes with it) and an even worse job of rehabilitation for minor offenders, that I don't see the death penalty going away anytime soon.

cortneyloo · January 2011

I'm against it for two reasons. For one (as others have said), if someone is convicted and sentenced to death and then later found to have been wrongfully convicted, there is no way to rectify the situation. I wouldn't wish that guilt upon anyone. For two, there are worse kinds of punishment than death that go on in some prisons, and if someone has committed unthinkable crimes they deserve to be present for every day of those punishments rather than get to take "the easy way out" so to speak

Leo713 · January 2011

I'm on the fence as well, I don't think it's a very black and white issue. I agree that the prison system needs some reform and it's sad that prisoners are leading cushier lives than some upstanding citizens - maybe I'd be more against it if I felt that prison was a harsh enough penalty.

However, after the triple murder in my hometown a couple of years ago, I have to admit I was so happy to hear that the first defendant was recently sentenced to death. It hit really close to home, especially because these guys broke into my neighbor's house the night before the murders. I have to imagine it brought peace to the father to know that the men who raped and murdered his wife and teenage daughters and beat him within an inch of his life were being prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

blenderdance · January 2011

I wouldn't want to have to make the decision.

I could argue both sides...I think there are some crimes that are so horribly heinous that life in prison doesn't seem to be a fair trade--three meals a day and a place to sleep is too good for example, for people who rape and murder children--though death seems like the easy way out too. I don't know if there is any appropriate "humane" punishment that would fit crimes like that.

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