This is Why I Support the Death Penalty

[Stealth Hunter]

Originally Posted by UnderseaLcpl

I just can't understand this whole "death-penalty" bent. It seems inefficient and silly to me.

Why?

Originally Posted by UnderseaLcpl

How does the death penalty repair the damage done to people and families and society?

It doesn't replace the person lost, but it removes the person who took their life and can at least put the minds of the family to rest with the knowledge that the murderer no longer lives. And death is the ultimatum because of the fear it inflicts upon the criminal in most cases. It MAKES them sorry.

Originally Posted by UnderseaLcpl

Where is the penance?

The criminal's fear.

Originally Posted by UnderseaLcpl

For the most heinous crimes, in which the defendant is proven guilty by irrefutable evidence, life in a labor camp holds a lot more punitive potential.

Depends on what type of labor camp you're referencing. If you mean a Communist-Russian labor camp with no hygienic stations, horrid food, and terrible conditions, then I would agree. It has plenty of ups to it. Taxpayers wouldn't have to pour money into the system to support these bastards (as we do now) and the nation as a whole would benefit from their work more than it would suffer (somewhat like the penal system the French had set up during the 19th and 20th centuries; you've seen Papillon, I assume).

Unfortunately, labor camps will never be established for political reasons. We'd look like demons to the outside world.

Originally Posted by UnderseaLcpl

Of course, this must be done properly in order to ensure effectiveness. For starters, it needs to be in a suitably harsh climate, way too hot or way too cold.

Is it really a labor camp then? I mean, they normally exist where the country needs them (where resources exist and can be harvested by the prisoners, for example).

Originally Posted by UnderseaLcpl

Next, it would need to produce goods that could actually generate a profit, or at least offset state expenses so that reimbursements could be paid to the victims. Something labor-intensive, though, like making highway barriers manually.

Disregard my last paragraph. Glad to hear it would still fit the definition of a labor camp.

Originally Posted by UnderseaLcpl

Then, it would need to have an organizational structure similar to Marine boot camp; hardly a moment of peace, bad food (minimum calorie intake, preferably in the form of tasteless paste), little sleep, constant surveillance, stiff penalties for any infraction. It's good enough for our troops, so it should be good enough for our worst criminals, right?

I agree here. There would also need to be places where discipline could be carried out, preferably a public area. If a prisoner was caught say trying to escape, he should be taken up onto a stage-like area in front of all the prisoners and have his legs broken, or be beaten severely and denied medical care.

If one caused trouble in general, they should be thrown into a small building and locked in for days on end, denied of all the basics (save for half a loaf a bread per day, a bottle of water per week, and no proper furnishings, such as beds or toilets; rations could also be determined by the camp's warden and could be based off the severity of the infraction). If one assaulted a guard, that same stage area should be the location to shoot the assailant.

It's harsh, intimidating, and effective.

Originally Posted by UnderseaLcpl

Finally, no amenities. No tobacco, no visitation, no parcels, no internet, no TV, no radio, no newspapers, no anything. And 7-day workweeks, 8 hrs a day (more might be considered cruel and unusual).

Agreed here. Perhaps make it 12 hours a day on the working time to make even higher profits and the prisoners more miserable, but 8 is just as good.

Do you think the possession of amenities should be made an offense punishable by time in "the hole"?

Originally Posted by UnderseaLcpl

After a few years in that grinder they'll wish they were dead, and they will be, after a miserable life.

Or better yet they WILL die in the camps. We might be able to find something to do with the bodies as well. Perhaps donate them to science.

Originally Posted by UnderseaLcpl

What does the death penalty do, anyway?

Liquidates criminals, lol.

Originally Posted by UnderseaLcpl

If there is a hell and evil people are sent to it, burning for eternity is going to be just as miserable and endless at the end of a life in the camp. If there is no afterlife, the death penalty just grants the criminal painless oblivion, whereas their victims live with a lifetime of pain. What kind of justice is that?

The justice is that they will feel a fear no one innocent can ever possibly feel when it comes time for them to die, and society will be rid of another trouble maker for good. They will have regret for what they've done, they will wish things could be different, and they will have to suffer from the pain of not knowing what will happen to them. Not only that, but it intimidates people on the outside to obey the law or face death for their actions.

If there's a hell, then good. They burn forever in it.

I personally don't think there is, and because I'm a down-to-Earth person and don't think about what is not a certainty, I think they should be executed because I KNOW the last things they'll feel forever will be too terrible to conceive for we citizens in good standing. That is the very substance of the death penalty. Fright, anger, helplessness, and remorse; I'm aware of that much. But what it would feel like to actually experience these things all at once and not just examine the words and ponder their meanings and what it would be like to feel them all at once is something I shall never go through.

Originally Posted by UnderseaLcpl

Best of all, if they are later exonerated, they could be paid a healthy compensation for their wrongful imprisonment by the state, and we can get the money for that by simply saving the money it would have cost to execute them in the present system.

Agreed on the exoneration part (I think they should be given a little more than money for their time wrongfully served), but not so much on the execution part.

In my opinion on what should happen after a person is convicted of murder and sentenced to death, they should spend one day in their jail cell. The next day, they are to be taken out into either a courtyard with either concrete walls or a special sand mound or a concrete room and will be shot. It's cheap, it doesn't take a lot of time, and it's effective.

Originally Posted by UnderseaLcpl

Naturally, this is almost completely implausible in the U.S. due to the number of judgements and rulings that would have to be overturned,

Not only that, but there would be a backlash from the rest of the world on it. It would not be a healthy political thing to do.

Originally Posted by UnderseaLcpl

but I still think it's a good idea.

So do I.

Unfortunately, people aren't as strict as they used to be anymore and seem to have weaker stomachs for crueler punishments. The justice system of the United States anymore seems to focus more on rehabilitation rather than punishment.