# Poll: the death penalty, and your experience with death **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 19, 2008, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-death-penalty-and-your-experience-with-death/460577 "2008-08-19T18:30:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Waenara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@Waenara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waenara)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-death-penalty-and-your-experience-with-death/460577/41 "2008-08-20T02:11:23Z")
1. Against. I’m somewhat for the death penalty in an ideal world, but in practice I’m against it because of the possibility of error in applying it. 2. I’ve fished before, but I only ever caught one fish and I had my grandfather kill and clean it for me. I have done dissections in school (cow eyeball, sheep heart, frog), and in my university gross anatomy class I dissected a human. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-death-penalty-and-your-experience-with-death/460577/42 "2008-08-20T02:46:42Z")
1. For, but I want it used sparingly. (serial killers. murderers who tortured their victims) 2. Just bugs, unless you count the possum I ran over accidentally. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-death-penalty-and-your-experience-with-death/460577/43 "2008-08-20T03:06:35Z")
1. Against. 2. Yes, I’ve killed some animals (animals attacked by other animals or injured by humans) with my hands. I’ve also been on the phone and agreed to have heroic members stopped for someone I loved very much. ---
**Author:** ![meenie7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7993a0/32.png) [@meenie7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meenie7)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-death-penalty-and-your-experience-with-death/460577/44 "2008-08-20T03:28:06Z")
1. Against. 2. I hit a porcupine with my car once, and was in the car when it hit a deer but wasn’t driving. I kill spiders because they’re Satan’s minions, not animals. ---
**Author:** ![PastAllReason](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f07891/32.png) [@PastAllReason](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastAllReason)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-death-penalty-and-your-experience-with-death/460577/45 "2008-08-20T03:51:40Z")
1. Against 2. Insects only. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-death-penalty-and-your-experience-with-death/460577/46 "2008-08-20T07:40:52Z")
1. Against - though I have no problem with people killing in the heat of the moment in defence of self, others, or property. 2. Yes. Mainly rabbits. ---
**Author:** ![katpohl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b782af/32.png) [@katpohl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/katpohl)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-death-penalty-and-your-experience-with-death/460577/47 "2008-08-20T08:52:40Z")
1. Are you FOR or AGAINST capital punishment (the death penalty)? For 2. Have you ever killed a living animal, or helped to butcher a recently-killed animal? Explain. ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-death-penalty-and-your-experience-with-death/460577/48 "2008-08-20T09:24:41Z")
1. Against 2. Well, I used to go fishing with my parents when I was a kid. I’ve caught fish, I’ve helped clean fish but I don’t think I’ve ever killed a fish (Dad used to do that). ---
**Author:** ![Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bcef8e/32.png) [@Petrobey\_Mavromihalis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Petrobey_Mavromihalis)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-death-penalty-and-your-experience-with-death/460577/49 "2008-08-20T09:25:15Z")
1. Against 2. Shot rabbits and birds. ---
**Author:** ![tesseract](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bb73d2/32.png) [@tesseract](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tesseract)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-death-penalty-and-your-experience-with-death/460577/50 "2008-08-20T09:27:54Z")
1. Against. 2. Hmm…I’ve killed some mice (that my snake did not eat when I first got her and there was nothing really left to do with them). I put each one in a bag and slammed it against the ground. I’ve fed a lot of mice to my snake. Other than that and bugs, and the stupid bird who flew under my tire when I was driving, I don’t think I’ve killed any animals. ---
**Author:** ![Lobelia\_Overhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/54ee81/32.png) [@Lobelia\_Overhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobelia_Overhill)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-death-penalty-and-your-experience-with-death/460577/51 "2008-08-20T11:38:32Z")
1. Against (I used to have nightmares about being hung for something I hadn’t done and no one would listen) 2. To the best of my memory (which is completely shonky these days) I’ve never deliberately killed anything, my cat was put to sleep against my wishes (I’d said do whatever you can for her, not destroy her), I catch spiders etc and throw them out the window. If they died from injuries from the fall, that’s not exactly my fault. ---
**Author:** ![WormTheRed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/bbe5ce/32.png) [@WormTheRed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WormTheRed)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-death-penalty-and-your-experience-with-death/460577/52 "2008-08-20T13:15:17Z")
1. Against 2. Fish, both aquarium and those I’ve caught. No mammals. I am a mass murderer of flies though, considering how the front of my car looks. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-death-penalty-and-your-experience-with-death/460577/53 "2008-08-20T13:19:33Z")
[QUOTE=clairobscur] I hope you’ll eventually explain us what you have in mind asking these questions. [/QUOTE] In truth, I was just wondering if one’s past experiences with death (most of us, I’ll wager, haven’t been present for the death of a human being, but many of us have been present for or participated in the deaths of animals) colored one’s later feelings about capital punishment. My hypothesis was that people with a more rural upbringing, more accustomed to killing/butchering as a matter of course, would be more comfortable with capital punishment. I’ll have to do an actual tally to see if that’s true at all, but at a glance, the difference doesn’t look all that statistically significant. About the “animals” question raised earlier: I had considered putting down “mammals” rather than “animals”, but that would exclude birds, and since a large part of our food supply consists of chickens and turkeys and such, that seemed like too large an animal group to exclude. I also wanted to include fish, since a lot of people would probably have fishing experience. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-death-penalty-and-your-experience-with-death/460577/54 "2008-08-20T13:28:37Z")
[QUOTE=Max Torque] 1. Are you FOR or AGAINST capital punishment (the death penalty)? [/quote] Pretty much against, given our fallible legal systems and that it doesn’t achieve anything I consider worthwhile that would not also be achieved by full-term life imprisonment. > [@](#): > > 1. Have you ever killed a living animal, or helped to butcher a recently-killed animal? Explain. Yes, lots - in the case of anything larger than a wasp, it was because I intended to eat it. I killed snails, crayfish, crabs and mussels by dropping them into boiling water. I killed fish by whacking them on the head. I’ve never actually shot game (although I would, given the chance), but I’ve skinned rabbits and gutted fish. Lately, I’ve had my eyes open for fresh, cleanly-killed roadkill (up to and including deer), but haven’t had any luck yet. ---
**Author:** ![buttonjockey308](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@buttonjockey308](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buttonjockey308)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-death-penalty-and-your-experience-with-death/460577/55 "2008-08-20T13:32:31Z")
1. For. 2. Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-death-penalty-and-your-experience-with-death/460577/56 "2008-08-20T13:39:06Z")
[QUOTE=Max Torque] 1. Are you FOR or AGAINST capital punishment (the death penalty)? [/quote] Against. > [@](#): > > 1. Have you ever killed a living animal, or helped to butcher a recently-killed animal? Explain. No, I haven’t - in fact I’m a vegetarian, although I would not say there is any connection between the two. I was against the death penalty before I became a vegetarian. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2008, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-death-penalty-and-your-experience-with-death/460577/57 "2008-08-20T15:51:06Z")
1. AGAINST 2. Yes. I’ve personally shot an antelope, boomeranged a guinea fowl, killed a snake, drowned mice caught in glue traps, euthanased a run-over squirrel and taken more fish than I could count. I’ve also held a lamb while its throat was cut by someone else, and helped butcher sheep, chickens and quail. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poll-the-death-penalty-and-your-experience-with-death/460577.md?page=2)