Could you sentance someone to death?

[tractor]

Yes, without hesitation. It doesn't matter on the circumstances, I am an eye-for-an-eye person. You kill someone or you rape any child, you get put down. Simple as that.

[Deleted]

Apr 25, 2013 12:28:54 GMT -5 tractor said:

Yes, without hesitation. It doesn't matter on the circumstances, I am an eye-for-an-eye person. You kill someone or you rape any child, you get put down. Simple as that.

What if it was self defense?

[Lizard Queen]

My quick reply - no, I don't think so.

[Cookies Galore]

No, I don't believe in the death penalty.

[tractor]

Apr 25, 2013 12:31:31 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

Apr 25, 2013 12:28:54 GMT -5 tractor said:

Yes, without hesitation. It doesn't matter on the circumstances, I am an eye-for-an-eye person. You kill someone or you rape any child, you get put down. Simple as that.

What if it was self defense?

You typically don't get convicted if murder if it was truly self defense. Either way it doesn't change my answer. If your convicted, the sentence should be carried out quickly. I'm just a cold hearted bastard on some things, I may not be right, but I'm opinionated.

[Deleted]

Apr 25, 2013 12:45:36 GMT -5 tractor said:

Apr 25, 2013 12:31:31 GMT -5 ArchietheDragon said:

What if it was self defense?

You typically don't get convicted if murder if it was truly self defense. Either way it doesn't change my answer. If your convicted, the sentence should be carried out quickly. I'm just a cold hearted bastard on some things, I may not be right, but I'm opinionated.

So circumstance does matter.

[Deleted]

I could sentance someone to death. Some people have done things that forfeit their right to life.

ETA: I could also kill someone to protect myself.  If I am unsuccessful, I would appreciate my follow citizens finishing that for me.

[gambler]

already have, the only thing i dislike is the wait for the sentence to be carried out, the one that i vote on the dude is still waiting he so far has lived at least twice along as his victims.

[kgb18]

I could not.

What do you mean midwestJD?  They won't let people on a Jury if they have any moral qualms about the death penalty?  Why does that disqualify you? 

So the only fit for jury duty are those who are eager to execute convicted felons?  That does not seem right.

They will not seat someone who has a moral obligation against it. And it's not that that they want a jury eager to execute. It's that they don't want a jury to find someone not guilty just because they could potentially get the death penalty.

In Pennsylvania, it has to be clear that the prosecution is seeking the death penalty long before the case gets to trial. Defense attorneys have to be certified to try death penalty cases. Different experts are called in. It's a whole new ballgame once the death penalty is on the table.

If a jury finds a defendant guilty of first degree murder, then the trial goes to the death penalty phase where there is new testimony regarding whether or not the defendant should be put to death, and the jury decides that after they decide if he/she is guilty.

[wvugurl26]

For certain cases, yes, absolutely. There's no point in keeping some scumbags alive.

[Peace Of Mind]

Maybe if I could evaluate things without seeing the actual person and felt beyond a shadow of a doubt they did a crime that was against children or animals.  Or if the cruelty towards their fellow man was horrific.  If I had to look that person in the eye I don't think I could do it.  I hope I am never put in that position to have to know what I'd do.

[Miss Tequila]

Yes, I could sentence someone to death.  That said, unless it was my children involved, I could never be the person carrying out the death penalty.

[HoneyBBQ]

Yes and no. In general, I'm against the death penalty. But as people have pointed out, some particularly heinous crimes... yeah. Especially anything involving children.

If anyone is interested, "The Life of David Gale" is an EXCELLENT movie on the topic IMO.

[Miss Tequila]

For those of you against the death penalty, is that for everyone?  What about the Boston Bombers or Timothy McVeighs of the world?  Child rapists who torture and murder the children? 

[Deleted]

Apr 25, 2013 11:21:59 GMT -5 swamp said:

No, I could not.

Same here.

[Nazgul Girl]

   I could do it under certain circumstances, and doing it would be a form of meting out justice in my eyes.   If I felt that the case was shaky or there were mitigating circumstances, I wouldn't be for administration of the death sentence.

[busymom]

In Wisconsin a man recently murdered his 3 young daughters to "punish" his ex-wife.  That is a circumstance where I could vote for the death penalty.  (BTW, he tried to plead "not guilty by reason of insanity".  He was NOT found to be insane.)

[Deleted]

Apr 25, 2013 11:11:53 GMT -5 thyme4change said:

I could do it - but I see the death penalty as a little futile.  It takes so long to get from point A to point B, and it is so expensive.  It might just be better for society to keep them locked up until they die on their own.  Let them have all the cigarettes they can handle.  Maybe that will shorten their lives.

Totally agree with Thyme. I used to be for it for those folks whom I thought the crime was so horrible that a person could never be redeamed. After reading about the process it seems that the folks who truly are mentally challenged or too poor to get proper representation are the ones who are actually executed while the truly awful folks continue to game the system.

[Deleted]

Albert Levering's illustration of Mark Twain
for LIFE magazine 1905.
From the Dave Thomson collection. Meantime I have made more than 40 sea voyages & numerous land trips, & have gone clear around the globe once. This seems a hard fate. No, not seems--it was a hard fate. I made all those journeys because I could not help myself--made them with rebellion in my heart, & bitterness. Human life is maliciously planned with one principal object in view: to make you do all the different kinds of things you particularly don't want to do.
- Notes added in April 1909 to Letter to William Dean Howells of 17 November 1878

[swamp]

Apr 25, 2013 16:10:51 GMT -5 Miss Tequila said:

For those of you against the death penalty, is that for everyone?  What about the Boston Bombers or Timothy McVeighs of the world?  Child rapists who torture and murder the children? 

Everyone. 

[Deleted]

Apr 25, 2013 16:10:51 GMT -5 Miss Tequila said:

For those of you against the death penalty, is that for everyone?  What about the Boston Bombers or Timothy McVeighs of the world?  Child rapists who torture and murder the children? 

I oppose the death penalty.  For me, it is not because I think those people deserve to live, but because I don't think the jurors, judges and jailers deserve that burden.

If I were on a jury, my problem wouldn't be sentencing someone to death, but living with myself afterwards.  I don't want to be a killer - even of those who deserve killing.

[Apple]

Yes, I could.  I think part of the reason execution is so expensive is because it is not carried out often enough.

My dad had to witness an execution.  He was quiet for a few days, and even though the guy deserved it, and my dad believed in it, it still was a little rough.  This guy had killed people in the 70s, told everyone that if he was released from prison he'd kill again.  They let him out anyway and he killed a few more people before he was caught again.  Even he said the only way to stop him was to kill him (he did not plead guilty and he didn't want to appeal, but they applealed for him anyway ).

I'm not a "death penalty hungry" person, but I think it has its place.

[Sum Dum Gai]

Fuck yeah.  The older I get the less respect I have for human life.  I wouldn't even need a particularly heinous crime.  Murder is murder.  If it was premeditated I'd be fine with a death sentence whether the person they murdered was a child, an adult, the town drunk, or a hooker.

I'm actually against the death penalty because it takes forever and costs more than a sentence of life in prison.  If we'd overhaul the system a bit so we could execute somebody in less than 30 years, and we didn't have to spend a fucking fortune incarcerating them in separate population in the meantime, I'd be all for it.

Some people aren't fixable.  Some people are just too damn dangerous to ever allow back into society.  Might as well put a bullet in their heads, it's cheaper than locking them all up together and paying for the medical when they beat the shit out of and rape each other.

[Deleted]

Apr 25, 2013 20:39:47 GMT -5 Sum Dum Gai said:

Fuck yeah.  The older I get the less respect I have for human life. 

I like you too much to let it pass what you are saying.Dark

What are you talking about! Just think about what you just said.
Good night!

[Sum Dum Gai]

When I was a kid I truly believed that everyone was basically a good person at heart.  Then life slapped me upside the head for a while.  Now I realize that most people are basically good people at heart.  They might screw up here and there, but they're basically good.  That's most though, not all.  Some people are truly evil.  They don't give a shit about me, you, or anyone else.  They'd stab their own mother for $50 and the thrill of having that much power over another human being.  That's all they get off on, dominating and hurting people.  Why should I feel bad about putting somebody like that down?  I'd not only be ok sentencing them, I'll flip the switch once they're strapped into the chair, or volunteer to shoulder a rifle as part of the firing squad.  Somebody's gotta do it, and if the rest of you are too squeamish, I'll shoulder the burden.

[Pants]

I was absolutely against the death penalty...
And then I had a kid.

I realize it's not rational. And again, highly situational and dependent.

[Nazgul Girl]

   Our state doesn't have thedeath penalty.   I am more conservative about advocating for the death penalty than some of the posters above, but there have been some cases in the past few years that make me wish that we had capital punishment here.      Our legislature and governor are pretty conservative, and it may make its way back into our state's laws.

[Deleted]

Apr 26, 2013 7:39:54 GMT -5 @wrongsideof30 said:

In a case like this, not I only would I be able to vote for the death penalty, I'd volunteer to administer the poison:

worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/26/17923647-baby-girl-sacrificed-on-bonfire-after-sect-leader-says-tot-is-the-antichrist-chile-cops-say#comments

"SANTIAGO, Chile -- Chilean police on Thursday arrested four people accused of burning a baby alive in a ritual because the leader of the sect believed that the end of the world was near and that the child was the Antichrist.The 3-day-old baby was taken to a hill in the town of Colliguay near the Chilean port of Valparaiso on Nov. 21 and was thrown into a bonfire. The baby's mother, 25-year-old Natalia Guerra, had allegedly approved the sacrifice and was among those arrested."The baby was naked. They strapped tape around her mouth to keep her from screaming. Then they placed her on a board. After calling on the spirits they threw her on the bonfire alive," said Miguel Ampuero, of the Police investigative Unit, Chile's equivalent of the FBI."

Wrongside... I would be right there with you.

Fuck poison, throw them in a bonfire like they did the baby so they know how it feels.

We got some sick people in this world!

[kgb18]

We got some sick people in this world!

We do. And it's scary and disturbing. But I worry that when we advocate for someone's death, even a horrible person, or we advocate doing to them what they did to someone else, we become no better than them.

[Sam_2.0]

Too bad these people get to sit in prison for years being treated better than their victims were. Living in climate-controlled environments with all meals provided, healthcare when needed, and even opportunities for education and recreation. If prison here were more like 3rd world countries, maybe it would be more of a deterrant. There they don't have to sentence them to death. Just going to prison pretty much ensures it.