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The Death Penalty More Inhumane Than Life Sentence?

rhinefire

rhinefire

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I favor the death penalty but I listened to someone put a different slant on the choice between life sentences vs. death. First, to those that favor life in prison for moral reasons, is life in a cage until death more moral? What could be more immoral than to put a 20 year old in a cage for 70 years for a split second of crime? I know life is precious but personally after much thought if my sentence stated I will never be released until I am dead I think the execution would be better for me. The girl recently found guilty of stabbing her lover to death said she hopes for the death sentence because she is healthy, never smoked, etc. and fears a long, healthy life in a cage. Think also of the type of people you would be associating with including the guards for every remaining day of your life. Where would you find things like joy, peace of mind, comfort, trust, and just plain happiness? Aren't these the basic elements of life only to be denied?
 
Who I think should get the death penalty are people who are just too dangerous to keep alive. Psychopaths the have kill lots of people, leaders of terrorist groups.
 
I work around prisoners everyday. Those who don't have an end of sentence date simply look at prison as their new home. They still find all those things you described but in different ways. Just because you lock someone up doesn't mean you control how they think about things, how they respond to things, or how they intend to live their lives. Prison in the United States is far from a concentration camp. In some ways, prisoners are pampered because everything is given to them, albeit it is often not what they want, as evidenced by their tattered prison uniforms, stained mattresses, and inefficient health care. What prisoners lose is time. Time with their loved ones. Time working on a career and investing. Time going through the natural stages of life.
 
rhinefire said:
I favor the death penalty but I listened to someone put a different slant on the choice between life sentences vs. death. First, to those that favor life in prison for moral reasons, is life in a cage until death more moral? What could be more immoral than to put a 20 year old in a cage for 70 years for a split second of crime? I know life is precious but personally after much thought if my sentence stated I will never be released until I am dead I think the execution would be better for me. The girl recently found guilty of stabbing her lover to death said she hopes for the death sentence because she is healthy, never smoked, etc. and fears a long, healthy life in a cage. Think also of the type of people you would be associating with including the guards for every remaining day of your life. Where would you find things like joy, peace of mind, comfort, trust, and just plain happiness? Aren't these the basic elements of life only to be denied?
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The reason why life in prison is preferable to a death sentence is because a death sentence is final while a sentence of life in prison can be revoked. This is important in cases when those tried and found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt happen to be innocent but are convicted anyways.

Also, in many states with death penalties, the procedures involved make it more likely that a death sentence will be handed rather than not, making it an unfair penalty in those states.
 
rhinefire said:
I favor the death penalty but I listened to someone put a different slant on the choice between life sentences vs. death. First, to those that favor life in prison for moral reasons, is life in a cage until death more moral? What could be more immoral than to put a 20 year old in a cage for 70 years for a split second of crime? I know life is precious but personally after much thought if my sentence stated I will never be released until I am dead I think the execution would be better for me. The girl recently found guilty of stabbing her lover to death said she hopes for the death sentence because she is healthy, never smoked, etc. and fears a long, healthy life in a cage. Think also of the type of people you would be associating with including the guards for every remaining day of your life. Where would you find things like joy, peace of mind, comfort, trust, and just plain happiness? Aren't these the basic elements of life only to be denied?
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No. Death is the worst fate.

“‘Where was it,’ Raskolnikov thought as he walked on, ‘where was it that I read about a man condemned to death saying or thinking, an hour before his death, that if he had to live somewhere high up on a cliffside, on a ledge so narrow that there was room only for his two feet--and with the abyss, the ocean, eternal darkness, eternal solitude, eternal storm all around him--and had to stay like that, on a square foot of space, an entire lifetime, a thousand years, an eternity--it would be better to live so than to die right now! Only to live, to live, to live! To live, no matter how--only to live!’”


Edit: I still advocate the death penalty.
 
I do not find life imprisonment to be less humane than the death penalty, but I find it considerably less moral. The death penalty is more expensive and more drastic, but it serves a legitimate purpose. Temporary imprisonment serves a legitimate purpose. Locking a man in a cage for forty years, until he dies of natural causes? Doesn't serve a purpose. Ain't no sense in it.
 
Maybe it should be optional. Let the prisoner choose.
 
specklebang said:
Maybe it should be optional. Let the prisoner choose.
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I believe in some cases they've allowed the victim's family to decide to 'reduce' the sentence to life. I don't see why the convicted should have this choice.
 
rhinefire said:
I favor the death penalty but I listened to someone put a different slant on the choice between life sentences vs. death. First, to those that favor life in prison for moral reasons, is life in a cage until death more moral? What could be more immoral than to put a 20 year old in a cage for 70 years for a split second of crime? I know life is precious but personally after much thought if my sentence stated I will never be released until I am dead I think the execution would be better for me. The girl recently found guilty of stabbing her lover to death said she hopes for the death sentence because she is healthy, never smoked, etc. and fears a long, healthy life in a cage. Think also of the type of people you would be associating with including the guards for every remaining day of your life. Where would you find things like joy, peace of mind, comfort, trust, and just plain happiness? Aren't these the basic elements of life only to be denied?
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The wishes of the condemned are NOT our concern. And I don't think anyone can make that call either, because it all depends on the person.
 
rhinefire said:
The girl recently found guilty of stabbing her lover to death said she hopes for the death sentence because she is healthy, never smoked, etc. and fears a long, healthy life in a cage.
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Yes, she said that...but she is also getting her lawyers to argue for life in prison rather than the death penalty, which is obviously telling...and that speaks to the point: ultimately, almost everyone prefers life in prison to death. I take your point about the comparison, but the will to life is so strong that very few prefer death....including those, like the young woman in question, who profess it.

Think also of the type of people you would be associating with including the guards for every remaining day of your life. Where would you find things like joy, peace of mind, comfort, trust, and just plain happiness? Aren't these the basic elements of life only to be denied?[/QUOTE]
 
Are we supposed to feel sorry for the murderer or something because he/she would have a hard life behind bars? Good God! :roll:

My concern are with accidental executions of innocent people, the high cost of the appeals process related to the death penalty and the fact that IMO it is wrong for a state to kill it's citizens when they can lock them up and separate them from society.

And don't EVEN bring prison guards into this. They voluntarily take that risk when they take the job as a prison guard.
 
ChrisL said:
My concern are with accidental executions of innocent people, the high cost of the appeals process related to the death penalty and the fact that IMO it is wrong for a state to kill it's citizens when they can lock them up and separate them from society.
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Yes, this is the crux of the matter for me too.

It's not about whether someone "deserves" to die; while I consider the question to be a profoundly difficult philosophical and moral issue, it may well be true; maybe some people really do "deserve" to die.

But to make the state the arbiter of this biggest of all big decisions is as profoundly statist as you can get. It's giving the ultimate authority to the state.

I'm still amazed that people who think taxes are tyranny will openly support (and even adore) the most explicit and far-reaching form of tyranny possible.

And don't EVEN bring prison guards into this. They voluntarily take that risk when they take the job as a prison guard.[/QUOTE]
 
CriticalThought said:
I work around prisoners everyday. Those who don't have an end of sentence date simply look at prison as their new home. They still find all those things you described but in different ways. Just because you lock someone up doesn't mean you control how they think about things, how they respond to things, or how they intend to live their lives. Prison in the United States is far from a concentration camp. In some ways, prisoners are pampered because everything is given to them, albeit it is often not what they want, as evidenced by their tattered prison uniforms, stained mattresses, and inefficient health care. What prisoners lose is time. Time with their loved ones. Time working on a career and investing. Time going through the natural stages of life.
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Do you believe one reason prisons are full is many fine their new home more pleasant or is being locked in a cage intolerable for the vast majority?
Are the prisons too nice?
If prison is so bad why do so many risk being returned once they get out?
To me, I feel certain I would kill my self should I be sentenced to life. Do many feel that way going in and do they over time, change and accept it?
 
ChrisL said:
Are we supposed to feel sorry for the murderer or something because he/she would have a hard life behind bars? Good God! :roll:

My concern are with accidental executions of innocent people, the high cost of the appeals process related to the death penalty and the fact that IMO it is wrong for a state to kill it's citizens when they can lock them up and separate them from society.

And don't EVEN bring prison guards into this. They voluntarily take that risk when they take the job as a prison guard.
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Seeing the documentarys on prison guards there is not enough money to make me take that job. The first time a prisoner threw his sh#t on me I would be tried for murder one.
 
rhinefire said:
Seeing the documentarys on prison guards there is not enough money to make me take that job. The first time a prisoner threw his sh#t on me I would be tried for murder one.
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I've watched some documentaries about prison guards before, and it's an extremely tough job on an emotional level, and a lot of them end up just quitting within the first few weeks. You have to be able to project a certain kind of persona while keeping your cool at the same time. Not easy.
 
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