I've had this discussion with several people professionally. There are many, many factors that contribute to violent crime rates, the least relevent of which is the death penalty. In many cases, it is cultural.

Not to mention - most murderers end up spending life in prison anyway. The issue then becomes is the expedience of termination before nature the proper option? But thats another question entirely.

The Lance Corporal gets it. :salute:

I would be for that... the problem here is that most judges would rather the criminals had cable TV and ping pong tables and weight sets and libraries and movie night and similar luxuries.

:nope:

when you are sentenced life in prison, you should be placed in an 8x8 white room with concrete walls, floor, and ceiling, no window.

your first day on the grounds you will dig a hole using a regular garden shovel.

the hole will measure 7 feet long by 3 feet wide by 6feet deep.

you are allowed 30 minutes per day in a 20x20 exercise room which is equipped with a treadmill.

your food will be your choice of white or wheat bread, a single serving of vegetable, and a single serving of "mystery meat" served with room temp water.

you are allowed to bring 5 books for entertainment ... make them good ones.

your cell will be equipped with a single cotton sheet and a seat with a small hole for defication.

your only chore will be to clean out the sewage trap beneath this hole once per week equipped with rubber gloves, a single sponge and a regular garden hose.

when you die of old age, you will be placed into a pine box and thrown into the hole you dug on day one

I have no problem with, rather than the death penalty, making prison life damned near unbearable. But sadly, that's not what we have. If we were to put into place the systems that most of us agree upon, ultra left groups would go nuts. I seem to remember that a few years ago there was a politician in Europe that claimed that a prison without a chance of escape leaves the prisoners no hope, and, as such, is inhumane.

As such, there are indeed some offenders that should just be put to death I believe.

An interesting related incident: http://www.jsonline.com/news/crime/47730062.html

Note: I do not know why this perp was in prison in the first place, but I'm just saying...

Here's another interesting case for examination: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steven_Avery