People who say “I don’t believe in the death penalty, but in this case I’ll make an exception” actually DO believe in the death penalty.
They believe that for certain crimes, people should be put to death.
So stop fucking saying it!
(i’ve seen it on these boards a few times, but can’t search, but this was spurred on because i heard it in person TWICE today!)
I’m sure you’re not talking about me since I know I haven’t said anything remotely like that since I started reposting, and I don’t think I’ve ever said that in quite that way, but I understand the sentiment.
From my point of view, the death penalty is a very imperfect thing. Too many innocent people get executed (if one does, that’s too many) and too many guilty people skate from it.
So, the sentiment that I have is that I shed no tears when someone like that creepy fucker in Florida who buried that little girl alive after raping her for three days chews on some juice. However, if the death penalty was not an option, I would be fine with him rotting in jail until he dies too.
So for me it’s not the death I’m morally opposed to, it’s the penalty.
I sincerely believe that the death penalty (aka killing) is wrong and I don’t support it.
That doesn’t stop me from feeling like I want the child killer du jour to die.
But my feeling like someone needs killing isn’t and shouldn’t be the basis for a law permitting it (or lack of a law proscribing it).
I have no trouble recognizing this distinction, but I’m afraid I’m in the minority.
The death penalty diminishes us all. it should be stopped in every case. Life in prison works fine.
I believe in the death penalty and given official sanction there are criminals I’d gladly execute myself, but I’m opposed to its return to Canada on purely practical grounds.
Agreed wholeheartedly.
The death penalty is already the “exceptional” sentence, not the norm.
I think I ranted here a few years back on the same thing.
Not always.
No. There are some that need to be removed from existance.
My only objection to the death penalty is being absolutely certain you have the right person. Too many times you see unsafe convictions quashed and people released from prison for me to be happy with such a final solution. Once you’ve hung,posioned,shot,electrocuted someoen it’s too damn late to go back.
This is the sentiment that causes me some trouble, and I know it’s usually spoken hyperbolically (I’m really not attacking Bryan Ekers - just latching onto a jumping off point), but … where is the morality in wanting to kill someone? Even if he’s creepy/evil/fucking guilty/monstrous/etc.
If you put me in a room with Osama Bin Laden and gave me a choice to turn him over to the authorities, or shoot him in the head with a shotgun, I’d turn him over to the authorities, becauase I don’t want to be a man who shot someone in the head with a shotgun. I don’t give a fuck who he is? I give a fuck who I am.
I just don’t understand the glee in calling for violence on someone, because they’ve done something violent. It’s like two sides of the same coin if you ask me.
I’ve also ranted about this in the past.
I don’t view it as a gleeful/moral issue, myself, but more as pest control.
Feeling bad over killing somebody like Ted Bundy or Albert Fish would be like feeling bad over killing a cancerous tumor. Just by continuing to exist, they are a drain on the body of society and a danger to it.
Wanting someone to die for their crimes isn’t the same thing as wanting the government to have the ability to put someone to death for their crimes.
I think that some crimes are heinous enough that death is a suitable penalty, however I do not trust our justice system to mete out that punishment appropriately.
Duty. You can’t call for an execution unless you are willing to do it yourself. Well, I guess you can, but it would make you a pussy.
I feel this way as well. I don’t support the death penalty, but if I caught some joker raping my wife, well, chances are good that I would lose it. It seems wrong to call for people to be killed if you’re not willing to get your hands dirty.
The point is that people believe either
A) People should never be put to death
or
B) People should sometimes be put to death.
I think in general people are just too quick to choose one side and wish for another.
I don’t agree with “if you think they should die, you should do it yourself”.
Do people also agree with “If you think they should be sentenced to lock up for 20 years, you should supervise”?
This is an idiotic statement. However; in your defense, you may very well be an idiot.
This sounds like so much Chuck Norris philosophy to me. Duty, my ass.
Is it my duty to write parking tickets too?
Not the same thing. Shooting someone isn’t a full time job.
No ,not ever. Of course you feel qualified to make that decision for us? I am just not that vengeful. Lock the psychos up and run tests on them. Lets learn what we can.
Are you kill fans in favor of executing the executives who ignored the laws and safety rules that caused Bhopal. They killed off a lot of innocent people. Shouldn’t they be wiped out too.