# Death for any felony: Let's bring it back **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 10, 2008, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-for-any-felony-lets-bring-it-back/455938 "2008-07-10T03:20:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea666f/32.png) [@Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_and_a_Half_Inches_of_Fun)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-for-any-felony-lets-bring-it-back/455938/1 "2008-07-10T03:20:10Z")
In this thread: > **[Louisiana passes law to castrate rapists](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=474944)** > > I think this is great news. Rapists need to be severely punished. Their lives should be made to be almost unbearable. It is just too bad Louisiana did not pass a law that requires physical castration on the first offense. It is nice that the judges... at least one person asked why not just kill all criminals. He was not suggesting he actually do this. I am. It is important that we do not kill persons who are innocent. So I would require an extra finding by both the judge and the jury that there was no possibility that the accused was innocent. This would be for cases where there is extensive evidence. For example, a person robs a store at gunpoint and shots a shot. The gun is then matched to the bullet, and the gun is found in the accused person’s possession. A positive ID is made. There is video of the accused. He admitted what he did to witnesses. He was dumb enough to confess on video to the police. Once he is convicted and the judge and jury make the extra finding is made, he gets one appeal. Then he is executed. There is no excuse for committing a felony. A person who shows such disrespect for society should be removed from society. This is the way things used to be, and we need to bring this back. [I do not want this to be a discussion of the perversion on the 8th amendment by the Supreme Court. Assume we get a non-activist court that will stick to the original understanding of the 8th amendment.] ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-for-any-felony-lets-bring-it-back/455938/2 "2008-07-10T03:24:53Z")
[QUOTE=Two and a Half Inches of Fun] There is no excuse for committing a felony. A person who shows such disrespect for society should be removed from society. This is the way things used to be, and we need to bring this back. [/QUOTE] You’re not really serious about this, are you? Do you actually know what constitutes a felony of all degrees in all jurisdictions? Just asking. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea666f/32.png) [@Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_and_a_Half_Inches_of_Fun)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-for-any-felony-lets-bring-it-back/455938/3 "2008-07-10T03:28:18Z")
[QUOTE=samclem] You’re not really serious about this, are you? Do you actually know what constitutes a felony of all degrees in all jurisdictions? Just asking. [/QUOTE] Maybe there are some low level felonies for which it would not be appropriate. But things like: murder, rape, robbery, drunk driving, insider trading, arson, etc. should be punished with death. I am, however, open to removing some low level felonies. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-for-any-felony-lets-bring-it-back/455938/4 "2008-07-10T03:32:18Z")
Great idea. Let’s do house-to-house searches while we’re at it. If we’re lucky we can depopulate Washington, DC by half in just a few days, not to mention Chicago, New York, etc. Of course, then we have to try them for their crimes, so we’ll just leave them in place, because living in those cities is like being in prison anyway and we don’t have enough room to add a few million to the mix. I figure by the end of the year we can beat the old genocide record if we play our cards right. Boy, won’t we be popular then! Canada will love us when the mass exodus comes in waves over the only slightly guarded border, fleeing that good ol’ American justice. … … Yeah, I thought it was a bad idea, too. Oh, wait, you were serious. God help us. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea666f/32.png) [@Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_and_a_Half_Inches_of_Fun)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-for-any-felony-lets-bring-it-back/455938/5 "2008-07-10T03:37:09Z")
[QUOTE=Airman Doors, USAF] Great idea. Let’s do house-to-house searches while we’re at it. If we’re lucky we can depopulate Washington, DC by half in just a few days, not to mention Chicago, New York, etc. Of course, then we have to try them for their crimes, so we’ll just leave them in place, because living in those cities is like being in prison anyway and we don’t have enough room to add a few million to the mix. I figure by the end of the year we can beat the old genocide record if we play our cards right. Boy, won’t we be popular then! Canada will love us when the mass exodus comes in waves over the only slightly guarded border, fleeing that good ol’ American justice. … … Yeah, I thought it was a bad idea, too. Oh, wait, you were serious. God help us. [/QUOTE] I doubt that most of the people cities would be eligible to be executed. Nor a majority. But I bet the law abiding majority would be happy to have the criminals stop ruining their communities. Not that this law could do that, but it is a step in the right direction. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-for-any-felony-lets-bring-it-back/455938/6 "2008-07-10T03:41:33Z")
[QUOTE=Two and a Half Inches of Fun] Maybe there are some low level felonies for which it would not be appropriate. [/QUOTE] Those are called misdemenors, genius. Is there an actual Great Debate here or did they create a new section for outrageous, nonsensical statements? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-for-any-felony-lets-bring-it-back/455938/7 "2008-07-10T03:41:55Z")
And the supposed benefits of this return to medieval attitudes towards crime and punishment would be…? ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-for-any-felony-lets-bring-it-back/455938/8 "2008-07-10T03:43:16Z")
You think so? I’ll bet you that 2 in 5 have an illegal firearm, usually a handgun, possession of which is a felony in Chicago and DC. All of those people are destined for the needle. And since there is a logical problem in working out who the weapon belongs to, everybody in the house dies _en masse_. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-for-any-felony-lets-bring-it-back/455938/9 "2008-07-10T03:43:33Z")
[QUOTE=El\_Kabong] And the supposed benefits of this return to medieval attitudes towards crime and punishment would be…? [/QUOTE] An end to the debate about whether the US has killed any innocent persons since the death penalty was reinstated in the 70s? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-for-any-felony-lets-bring-it-back/455938/10 "2008-07-10T03:51:04Z")
[QUOTE=OtakuLoki] An end to the debate about whether the US has killed any innocent persons since the death penalty was reinstated in the 70s? [/QUOTE] Yeah. Maybe just for completeness we could shoot 'em and charge the family of the executed criminal for the bullet, the way they supposedly do in China. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-for-any-felony-lets-bring-it-back/455938/11 "2008-07-10T03:51:09Z")
What kind of jury will convict for Grand Theft Auto when the penalty is death? ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-for-any-felony-lets-bring-it-back/455938/12 "2008-07-10T03:55:08Z")
[QUOTE=Two and a Half Inches of Fun] . . . insider trading . . . [/QUOTE] Well, thank goodness Martha Stewart has already served her sentence . . . or are you planning on making this retroactive? Will her execution be televised, just to set an example to anyone else who profits from a tip by her broker? ---
**Author:** ![Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea666f/32.png) [@Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_and_a_Half_Inches_of_Fun)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-for-any-felony-lets-bring-it-back/455938/13 "2008-07-10T03:58:07Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator] What kind of jury will convict for Grand Theft Auto when the penalty is death? [/QUOTE] The extra finding comes after the conviction. ---
**Author:** ![2nd\_Law](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/f475e1/32.png) [@2nd\_Law](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/2nd_Law)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-for-any-felony-lets-bring-it-back/455938/14 "2008-07-10T03:58:09Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator] What kind of jury will convict for Grand Theft Auto when the penalty is death? [/QUOTE] Or drug possession. Or DUI. Or damn near anything. Unless we make this a Larry Niven future and the method of execution becomes organ donation. Then we might have the death penalty for second offenders on false advertising charges, or for running multiple red lights. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-for-any-felony-lets-bring-it-back/455938/15 "2008-07-10T03:59:17Z")
> [@](#): > > You’re not really serious about this, are you? I don’t think he’s been serious yet. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-for-any-felony-lets-bring-it-back/455938/16 "2008-07-10T03:59:45Z")
[QUOTE=Panache] ..Well, thank goodness Martha Stewart has already served her sentence… [/QUOTE] Well, maybe we do it to Stewart and everybody sees how awful it is, and they turn against it! I mean, could be a good thing… ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-for-any-felony-lets-bring-it-back/455938/17 "2008-07-10T04:00:25Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] Well, thank goodness Martha Stewart has already served her sentence . . . or are you planning on making this retroactive? Will her execution be televised, just to set an example to anyone else who profits from a tip by her broker? [/QUOTE] Just to be safe, I say we execute Cookie Monster as well. After all, [we have solid evidence](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Orxd5L5qFLI) that he’s been consorting with a known felon… ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-for-any-felony-lets-bring-it-back/455938/18 "2008-07-10T04:03:27Z")
I like this a lot better than chemical castration for convicted rapists, actually. Sure, why not? Fuck 'em. ---
**Author:** ![Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ea666f/32.png) [@Two\_and\_a\_Half\_Inches\_of\_Fun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Two_and_a_Half_Inches_of_Fun)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-for-any-felony-lets-bring-it-back/455938/19 "2008-07-10T04:05:06Z")
[QUOTE=Mosier] I like this a lot better than chemical castration for convicted rapists, actually. Sure, why not? Fuck 'em. [/QUOTE] Thank you. Now, that I have convinced another rational person of the wisdom of this approach, can we stop with all the “are you serious” comments? Yes, I am serious. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2008, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-for-any-felony-lets-bring-it-back/455938/20 "2008-07-10T04:06:26Z")
[QUOTE=Mosier] Sure, why not? Fuck 'em. [/QUOTE] Wait, I though we were debating whether or not to kill 'em. Now I’m all confused. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-for-any-felony-lets-bring-it-back/455938.md?page=2)