This might be a GD question, but I’m kind of looking more for opinions here. When the death penalty comes up, I rarely hear anyone talking about the fact that I would think many people would chose execution over life imprisonment. Really, I would go so far as to say I would rather be tortured to death than spend several decades behind bars.
Can people choose to be executed when they’re sentenced instead of life in prison? Have people done this?
How about you guys; kill me now, or let me rot away in a cell?
I wouldn’t want to spend life in prison. However, to me, I’d still rather be in prison for life than the alternative. as shijinn said, there’s always hope.
If I were locked up for life, my time would be spent trying to escape. That would be my challenge, which I feel is something more worth while than dying.
The most important reason is that someone in prison for life who is later proved innocent can be released.
Next reason - the search for the real murderer can now begin.
Society can also try to reform murderers and try to find out why they did it.
I think if I was sentence either way, I would end up offing myself. No way would I want to go in a chair and get fried. Nor would I want to spend the next 20 to 40 years confind to a cell. Hanging myself from the bars on my own terms, that’d be my choice…
Tough call. I’d probably pick prison, for many of the reasons stated below, and because I fear death. If I could have books and writing materials in jail, that would make it a more appealing alternative. I’d have time to finish my novel!
My wife and I were just talking about the “Supermax” prisons last night. I don’t know what to do with the people who do the kinds of things that get them sent to a Supermax prison. But, keeping someone in a room, entirely cut off from human contact, for decades on end does seem incredibly cruel. I don’t know how long I’d be able to handle that before I’d want to die.
i still don’t see how that is more humane, but then it is my view that it’s better to shoot a bird than to keep one as a pet.
btw what’s the percentage of prisoners, who are sentenced to life in prison without parole, that are set free? discounting those released after retirement age if possible.
imo it would be more humane to allow prisoners the choice to choose between life in prison or death, that way the guilty can choose a quick death while the innocent can rot away in hell.
I agree completely. In fact, it seems absolutely bizarre to me that anyone would be opposed to a humane death penalty given that life in prison is probably much worse especially in a Supermax facility. It also seems bizarre that a new finding of innocence and then release is held in such high regard about how much damage it it offsets. If you are found guilty of murder at age 20 and declared innocent at age 65, it isn’t a “Ta da!” moment. Your life is ruined and gone either way. I am not opposed to either serious, long-term imprisonment or the death penalty but the firm distinction that many people make between them baffle me. I see them as basically the same thing although one or the other can be worse depending on individual circumstances.
Life in prison, for sure. As long as I could read and write and interact with other people, I think it would be quite possible to have a valuable and meaningful life in prison, if not exactly an enjoyable one.
Life in solitary confinement and total darkness, maybe not.
The other thing to consider is: what if you were guilty and had done something that merited a penalty of either death or life in prison. Would you still feel the same way about the choice? Maybe you would think you deserved the harsher option.
I’d much rather be locked up for life than to be killed, or put on death row. I’d do everything I could to try to find some sort of meaning or reason behind my new existence, and I’d spend my time trying to improve myself in any way I could. Reading, studying, writing, exercising, etc. Hell, with all that time I could do some really interesting things with myself.
I’d prefer solitary confinement, so long as I’m not stuck in a room with no other furnishings/utensils. Wouldn’t bother me a bit if I never saw another person, at least for a long time. The people in prison generally aren’t exactly the kind I’d like to spend my time with, anyway.
Solitude does sound appealing, but I’d choose execution over life in prison any day. Personally, a quick death by cyanide pill or lethal injection seems much better than rotting for decades. Even with access to books, mail, etc., how much of that can really do any good in the end if you’ll still be locked up? Aside from personal preferences, it would save gajillions of tax dollars to allow prisoners to chose between execution or imprisonment-- Trials and retrials for death-row inmates who don’t want to die and room, board, etc. for inmates who’d rather be dead add up in cost, and this money could be better redistributed to healthcare, education, and other services for non-criminal citizens.
You don’t see how releasing innocent people from jail rather than telling their families they were wrongly executed is more humane? :eek:
I don’t follow your analogy at all:
birds aren’t people
some animals clearly enjoy domestication
imprisoning someone is not ‘keeping them as a pet’
Why do you want innocent people to rot in hell?
What is humane about that?
If you need more to think about, consider the difference between an innocent prisoner who is told he will be executed and one who knows people are fighting to release him.