Terrapin Tables

The notion that the death penalty discourages murder is tenuous as best. This argument is bypassed by those who say that there is a death penalty because the murderer deserves it, not as a deterrent. The US is the only industrialized western nation to practice the death penalty. There have been studies that argue that the cost of cases involving the death penalty, including litigation exceed those cases involving life without parole by 1 million dollars. I have no idea how verifiable this is. I guess the death penalty is institutionalized vengence. The death penalty is a penalty where the exact consequences are unknown, for those suffering it and those committing it. I guess you are never going to define death. What would I think if it became an issue that affected me personally? I don't know.

I'm for the death penalty in cases where:

- life wthout parole would be sentenced, and
- a third-party group handled sentencing, like a bunch of lawyers or judges who were not involved in the original trial could weigh the evidence and details of the case and came to a decision that guilt was certain so as to preclude wrongful executions. Things like DNA, video, and racial profiling are helpful here. Please know that last part was a joke.

Why put someone in a cell until they die? If it is culturally acceptable to remove a person from civilization for the rest of their existence as punishment for a heinous act, than to me it is appropriate to remove them from existence entirely. It's not important to me that we don't know the nature of death - it's enough that we know death means no more time on Earth. I am not exaggerating when I say I would personally, with no regret or hesitation, throw the switch, pull the trigger, or depress the plunger on Dahmer, the DC snipers, or a million other rapists and murderers.

Kill lifers, send the money to schools. Kids are sharing textbooks and sitting in filthy schools while mass murderers are watching cable and eating 3 hots.

The idea of the death penalty as a financially prudent act is suspect. From an North Carolina study "the death penalty costs North Carolina $2.16 million more per execution than the a non-death penalty murder case with a sentence of life imprisonment," from this site while biased, cites independently conducted studies & newspapers. Here is a government site as well.
Given the option, should a prisoner sentenced to life without parole choose to be executed rather than serve their term, that would be fine by me.

I'd rather have murders die by my tax dollars then live by my tax dollars.

Ugh, so much bloodlust, so little thought for the greater good.

Please enlighten me. What is the greater good?

...and I don't mean that to sound snippy...I'm really interested in the different points of view about it. I'm just not very compassionate.

POSTY, POSTY!!

I don't like using financial arguments against the death penalty. If you really are a supporter of capital punishment, your counter argument would be to streamline the system, not do away with it.

That being said, I don't agree with the death penalty. From a moral point of view, I just don't think that it's right to take someone else's life, no matter what that person's done. Would the person be killed for vengeance, deterrance, or just to keep them from hurting other people? If your main concern is keeping them away from society so that they can't harm people, then lock them up for life. If your main goal is vengeance, then I think your values are a bit warped. If your main goal is deterrance, then the death penalty isn't where to focus your efforts. I seem to remember seeing a study somewhere (though I can't find it, now), that said something to the effect that criminals based committing crimes more on the chance of being caught than on the punishment if they were caught. Granted, if the only punishment's a slap on the wrist, that won't be much of a deterrant at all, but I think going from life imprisonment to capital punishment probably isn't going to affect crime rate very much.

Give me a case of miller lite and an axe -- and I can take care of all your executions. Cheaply. Of course, it would probably involve me wiping out the entire population of Durham, NC -- or cutting my own leg off. You know, either way.

The greater good is a relatively simple notion. Do you think that 2 million dollars could be spent in better ways than on a court case? If you can't come up with any, well, that is a shame. And frankly, this discussion is going on amongst a bunch of "haves." I wouldn't say any of us are rich, but none of us would likely be the beneficiaries of the money being spent elsewhere. Whatever decision is rendered will have relatively little impact upon any of us. Until I kill Nathan.

Speaking of the death penalty...

Nate, where the FUCK is my Madden disc? It's been like 7 weeks. I miss hitting Heap over the middle for the first, especially when he's wearing that sweet, slimming black uniform. It makes me feel kinda warm, you know, "down there."

I mailed Madden 2 weeks ago!!

I like how this is an argument about the death penalty, instead of whether or not it's is prudent for minors to be treated as adults in capital punishment cases. Veering back to the latter point, I don't have a problem treating younger criminals different that older ones. A 10 year old stealing someone's bike should be treated differently than an adult stealing someone else's car stereo.

What makes the argument suspicious here is both the severity of the crime, and the possible loss “childhood innocence” (or whatever you want to call it) of the criminal, since we could be talking about 17 year olds. But then we get to line-drawing, where we would have to say "Its okay for a [x to y] year old to commit the crimes of [types]." The Supreme Court seems to support keeping it simple by saying that criminals under 18 are given some leniency for crimes, regardless of the nature.

Regarding the morality of the death penalty, all I can say is I wish I was more compassionate, but I'm still unsure of the issue. I know if I saw someone do something as horrible as murder a family member, and I had the means to do so, I would kill that person right then and there. So I know I'm vengeful in the regard. If this imaginary person were brought to trial and sentenced, I might be more forgiving since I know a life in prison is still no picnic, but I don't really know.

But Rick, what do you think of the Madden circumstance?

We say we're going to cut the Madden disc in two, and give half to each person. Then wait for one of them to be all like: "Nooo! I love it too much to see it destroyed!" And then declare him a pansy, and sell it on eBay.

Brilliant! Though I am not sure Chris would be down for that. And here is some instant impact regarding today's decision.

See, that's what I mean - that motherfucker needs to die. I'd do it myself, if that wouldn't mean that, by my own rationale, I too must die.

And, the Madden is a) Mine, 2) not here, and d) to remain in one piece, because I couldn't imagine it sawed in two. Yo Nate, to which address did you send it?

123 Fake St.