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Death Penalty in Theory

Do you support the Death Penalty


  • Total voters
    78
Right, so it's not really the death penalty that is so expensive.

Well, it's the process. The actual act is a few dollars. I'm all for charging convicted criminals a buck to pay for the bullet in the back of the head.
 
I'm relieved and pleased to see that most people are against the death penalty. :)
 
I support the DP based on ethics...
 
I'm relieved and pleased to see that most people are against the death penalty. :)

It just goes to show how many people react emotionally rather than think rationally, which is a massive problem in the world today.
 
It just goes to show how many people react emotionally rather than think rationally, which is a massive problem in the world today.

I know it! So stop reacting emotionally. Wanting to kill people is the pinnacle of being over emotional! :mrgreen:
 
There is zero evidence that prison deters anyone, why not just get rid of prisons? The fact remains, these are PUNISHMENTS, not DETERRENTS. How many times do we have to keep repeating that before you stop flogging your straw man?

This is a stupid argument. Prison in general offers a lot of security and purpose to society in general, anarchy doesn't work. However, the death penalty secures nothing for society on whole above that which the prison system itself already yields.
 
I know it! So stop reacting emotionally. Wanting to kill people is the pinnacle of being over emotional! :mrgreen:

If there is one person on here, that you will not see reacting on emotion, rather than reason, it is Cephus.
 
It just goes to show how many people react emotionally rather than think rationally, which is a massive problem in the world today.

Indeed it is. Most arguments I see in favor of the DP are rather emotional. It doesn't consider the pitfalls of the system, the cost not only in dollars but in human life, the proper constraints of government, and the necessity for the DP in our modern society.
 
I know it! So stop reacting emotionally. Wanting to kill people is the pinnacle of being over emotional! :mrgreen:

There's no emotion here, nobody is suggesting killing people at random, it's only those who, through their own actions, have proven themselves to be unworthy of continued life on this planet.
 
This is a stupid argument. Prison in general offers a lot of security and purpose to society in general, anarchy doesn't work. However, the death penalty secures nothing for society on whole above that which the prison system itself already yields.

Sure it does. It secures justice. It guarantees consequences for one's actions. I thought you libertarians were all about personal responsibility and consequences from actions.

Guess not.
 
There's no emotion here, nobody is suggesting killing people at random, it's only those who, through their own actions, have proven themselves to be unworthy of continued life on this planet.

But you're making the call of "unworthy" and exercising that through the most brutal usage of government force. I'm not convinced that is proper. And even if we said it were, given the shear amount of government force; the system must be constrained, regulated, and overseen. Not streamlined into a Chinese style execution system.

There are no benefits from the death penalty to society at large, and any "gains" a death penalty may have on the prison population itself can be accomplished through other prison reforms instead of killing people.
 
Sure it does. It secures justice. It guarantees consequences for one's actions. I thought you libertarians were all about personal responsibility and consequences from actions.

Guess not.

What justice? You're just using the word. LWOP achieves all that without having to kill anyone. Libertarians are for personal responsibility and consequence of action. I am not saying prison should be done away with. But we're also about proper and constrained use of government force. There is no greater use of government force than that against Right to Life. It's unnecessary, it's unneeded, it's ineffective in any and all metrics, it consumes innocent life. I see no rational reason for a death penalty in our modern society.
 
But you're making the call of "unworthy" and exercising that through the most brutal usage of government force. I'm not convinced that is proper. And even if we said it were, given the shear amount of government force; the system must be constrained, regulated, and overseen. Not streamlined into a Chinese style execution system.

There's that absurd libertarian view that government is some alien entity forced upon society against it's will. Nothing could be further from the truth. If the government fails, then it is the fault of the people for allowing it. People put representatives in power, people are therefore responsible for what their representatives do. Of course, libertarians, with their pathetic impact on American political life, don't like that because their ideas are rarely, if ever implemented so they have to play the "government is the enemy" card constantly.

There are no benefits from the death penalty to society at large, and any "gains" a death penalty may have on the prison population itself can be accomplished through other prison reforms instead of killing people.

Sure there are. Those people who are never getting out of prison for any reason ought to get put to death so they don't cost the taxpayer money for their upkeep. Anyone who will never get out of prison, and murderers tend to be in that category, doesn't need to be reformed because they will never be free to utilize it.
 
There's that absurd libertarian view that government is some alien entity forced upon society against it's will. Nothing could be further from the truth. If the government fails, then it is the fault of the people for allowing it. People put representatives in power, people are therefore responsible for what their representatives do. Of course, libertarians, with their pathetic impact on American political life, don't like that because their ideas are rarely, if ever implemented so they have to play the "government is the enemy" card constantly.

Sure there are. Those people who are never getting out of prison for any reason ought to get put to death so they don't cost the taxpayer money for their upkeep. Anyone who will never get out of prison, and murderers tend to be in that category, doesn't need to be reformed because they will never be free to utilize it.

People are generally not informed enough to vote...
 
People are generally not informed enough to vote...

Then that's a problem that needs to be addressed, that doesn't change the reality any.
 
Then that's a problem that needs to be addressed, that doesn't change the reality any.

Reality is what has been created over the last hundred or so years, but it doesn't mean it is what is best for the country. If one is not informed, an informed decision cannot be made. If one depends on another for their support, that's where their vote will most likely go...
 
Reality is what has been created over the last hundred or so years, but it doesn't mean it is what is best for the country. If one is not informed, an informed decision cannot be made. If one depends on another for their support, that's where their vote will most likely go...

That's why the left has worked so hard to make people dependent on the government, so they're more likely to get votes. Certainly, there need to be massive and sweeping changes across the board to return this country to the way it was originally intended to be. Unfortunately, we've managed to put people in charge who benefit directly from keeping things the way they are.
 
There's that absurd libertarian view that government is some alien entity forced upon society against it's will. Nothing could be further from the truth. If the government fails, then it is the fault of the people for allowing it. People put representatives in power, people are therefore responsible for what their representatives do. Of course, libertarians, with their pathetic impact on American political life, don't like that because their ideas are rarely, if ever implemented so they have to play the "government is the enemy" card constantly.

If the government fails it CAN be the fault of the People, it could be the fault of the government as well. But this is neither here nor there, this is a deflectionary argument aimed at attacking the messenger...not the message. Stay on target please.

Sure there are. Those people who are never getting out of prison for any reason ought to get put to death so they don't cost the taxpayer money for their upkeep. Anyone who will never get out of prison, and murderers tend to be in that category, doesn't need to be reformed because they will never be free to utilize it.

It costs way more money to kill someone than to keep him alive. So you're really just making us spend more money.
 
If the government fails it CAN be the fault of the People, it could be the fault of the government as well. But this is neither here nor there, this is a deflectionary argument aimed at attacking the messenger...not the message. Stay on target please.



It costs way more money to kill someone than to keep him alive. So you're really just making us spend more money.

It only costs more due to the appellate process that has gotten way out of control...
 
It only costs more due to the appellate process that has gotten way out of control...

Yes, checks and balances cost money. And when you're dealing with the ultimate use of government force, you need the ultimate use of check and balance.
 
If the government fails it CAN be the fault of the People, it could be the fault of the government as well. But this is neither here nor there, this is a deflectionary argument aimed at attacking the messenger...not the message. Stay on target please.

The government exists at the discretion of the people. If people don't like what the government is doing, they have the ability, at the ballot box, to remove any who offend them. Whether they do or not is largely irrelevant, it is their power and it is their responsibility to exercise that power.

It costs way more money to kill someone than to keep him alive. So you're really just making us spend more money.

No it doesn't. The legal wrangling costs more, not the sentence. The only reason it costs more is because liberal asshats have allowed convicted murderers to file appeal after appeal after appeal, based not on claims of their factual innocence, but because they don't want to die. Stop them from doing that, limit their appeals past the first mandatory one to those which purport their innocence, and the death penalty will be positively cheap.
 
That's why the left has worked so hard to make people dependent on the government, so they're more likely to get votes. Certainly, there need to be massive and sweeping changes across the board to return this country to the way it was originally intended to be. Unfortunately, we've managed to put people in charge who benefit directly from keeping things the way they are.

Instead of nobility one might be born into, we have managed to make that nobility our elected representatives...
 
There's no emotion here, nobody is suggesting killing people at random, it's only those who, through their own actions, have proven themselves to be unworthy of continued life on this planet.

We are all just humans, and not one of us should be able to the judge the worthiness of another human's life or taking another human's life. That makes you a murderer and not one bit better or more just than the murderer you are killing.
 
Instead of nobility one might be born into, we have managed to make that nobility our elected representatives...

Which is certainly a massive problem, but not one to be solved in this particular thread. :)
 
The government exists at the discretion of the people. If people don't like what the government is doing, they have the ability, at the ballot box, to remove any who offend them. Whether they do or not is largely irrelevant, it is their power and it is their responsibility to exercise that power.

blah blah blah, not relevant. Stay on target.

No it doesn't. The legal wrangling costs more, not the sentence. The only reason it costs more is because liberal asshats have allowed convicted murderers to file appeal after appeal after appeal, based not on claims of their factual innocence, but because they don't want to die. Stop them from doing that, limit their appeals past the first mandatory one to those which purport their innocence, and the death penalty will be positively cheap.

Well excuse me if we need to make damned sure that the guy you want to put a bullet through is guilty of the crime you claim him to be guilty of. Oh the travesty!

This is the ultimate use of government force, you do not get to use it on whim.
 
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