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Death Penalty Revisited

Death Penalty Revisited

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Originally posted by amannion
I never said the government should be involved in those decisions. Rather I think the judiciary should be involved - an independent judiciary as part of an independent judicial system.
a judiciary is a subset of a government.

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Originally posted by zeeblebot
a judiciary is a subset of a government.
Not in te UK where the judges regularly show Toniblair and his 'Ministers', that you cannot sign up to loony-left legislation such as the 'Human Rights' charter and then pretend to get tough by deporting immigrant criminals.
But then, Blair's wife is making a fortune out of successfully defending such deportees by appealing to that very legislation. Don't blame the judges.

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Originally posted by scottishinnz
Weren't you all up for killing home invaders too? Man, you'd have yourself killed for murdering the guy that breaks into your house - too cool!

Seriously though, are you suggesting the detah penalty only for murder? What about manslaughter? How about people convicted of death by dangerous driving?
No, I'm not up for killing home invaders, unless of course they are threatening you or anyone else on your property. I am in favour of taking reasonable measures to deter property invaders, killing them is only reasonable if they are placing you in danger. Executing someone for murder is also perfectly reasonable, I have yet to hear a reasonable argument to the contrary.

[Edit] Yeah, just murder. Manslaughter is poorly defined these days, if you are fighting with someone and kill them, although you were only intending to, say hospitalise them, is, in my view, deliberate killing as it is done out of malice.

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Originally posted by Nargaguna
Not in te UK where the judges regularly show Toniblair and his 'Ministers', that you cannot sign up to loony-left legislation such as the 'Human Rights' charter and then pretend to get tough by deporting immigrant criminals.
But then, Blair's wife is making a fortune out of successfully defending such deportees by appealing to that very legislation. Don't blame the judges.
the point was that people that wouldn't stomach having strangers making decisions about any aspect of their lives, suddenly think the government should decide what happens with murderers.

(maybe "government"/"judiciary" has a different connotation over there.)

the Arab world seems an improvement, apparently in some areas judges leave the sentence to the discretion of the victim's family.

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Originally posted by zeeblebot
the Arab world seems an improvement, apparently in some areas judges leave the sentence to the discretion of the victim's family.
Yeah, that might work out OK in some cases, but in other it would not. Sounds fairly similar to the ancient Greek system whereby the condemned was allowed to suggest their own punishment.

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Ya know what, just screw it, execute all murderers AND habitual repeat offenders, they're a lost cause. That's what every nation on earth did up until 200 years ago, when we became too civilized to axe all the jerkwads that did nothing but hurt other people. The concept of putting them in cages to punish them is a new idea. Before 1800 or so, they'd get flogged, beaten, branded, or hung if they did something really atrocious.
Rehabilitation does not work because we don't know how to do it, if we could, we would.

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Originally posted by scottishinnz
yes, I'd also need a bloddy big cage to keep them in until they were suitably rehabilitated. having someone else in my house always bugs me anyway, so i think they;d get on my nerves a bit.
If I let a convict live in a cage in my home, could I torture him for my amusement?

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Originally posted by AThousandYoung
If I let a convict live in a cage in my home, could I torture him for my amusement?
Sorry, no. You gotta treat them properly. Most people who actually perpetrate these crimes are, how shall we say, mentally deficient. Not something I'd have someone killed for, although Zeeb seems to think it's sufficient reason.

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Originally posted by Dixon Bainbridge
That scottishinnz sure has a head on his shoulders.

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Originally posted by zeeblebot
I sure do. (I hope)

[edit; and it apparently looks like VI Lenin!!!]

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Originally posted by zeeblebot
try looking at that idea a bit closer.
Now that's good.

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Originally posted by General Putzer
Ya know what, just screw it, execute all murderers AND habitual repeat offenders, they're a lost cause. That's what every nation on earth did up until 200 years ago, when we became too civilized to axe all the jerkwads that did nothing but hurt other people. The concept of putting them in cages to punish them is a new idea. Before 1800 or so, they'd ...[text shortened]...
Rehabilitation does not work because we don't know how to do it, if we could, we would.
Well that takes us back a couple thousand years, that was the usual punishment in ancient rome and other places, they didn't have the idea of confinement except for temporary holding cells for prisoners to be ex'd or political detainees, held for ransom.

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Originally posted by princeoforange
No, I'm not up for killing home invaders, unless of course they are threatening you or anyone else on your property. I am in favour of taking reasonable measures to deter property invaders, killing them is only reasonable if they are placing you in danger. Executing someone for murder is also perfectly reasonable, I have yet to hear a reasonable arg ...[text shortened]... nding to, say hospitalise them, is, in my view, deliberate killing as it is done out of malice.
Here's my attempts at some arguments against the death penalty:

1. The risk of killing an innocent person.
2. Revenge is an emotional response that should be avoided placing into an advanced civilisation's punishment repertoire - we should work towards complete respect for human life: including those who have not shown the same.
3. The arbitrary nature of the decision - depending on the ability of defendents to afford quality counsel, the race of the defendent, where the defendent lives or committed the crime, etc.
4. The evidence suggests that the death penalty is no more of a deterence than life in prison.

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Originally posted by sonhouse
Well that takes us back a couple thousand years, that was the usual punishment in ancient rome and other places, they didn't have the idea of confinement except for temporary holding cells for prisoners to be ex'd or political detainees, held for ransom.
yes, the Romans were a lot more advanced than us, in many ways.

(not on topic, but might be interesting to compare Thucydides' account of the Athenian prisoners imprisoned in the Syracusan quarry with the historical-fiction account of the Union prisoners in "Andersonville".)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thucydides
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/7142
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peloponnesian_War
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicilian_expedition

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andersonville_%28novel%29

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Originally posted by zeeblebot
yes, the Romans were a lot more advanced than us, in many ways.

(not on topic, but might be interesting to compare Thucydides' account of the Athenian prisoners imprisoned in the Syracusan quarry with the historical-fiction account of the Union prisoners in "Andersonville".)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thucydides
http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/7142 ...[text shortened]... ipedia.org/wiki/Sicilian_expedition

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andersonville_%28novel%29
Oh Lord, save us from the google regurgitators!