# What Crimes Should Be Punishable By the Death Penalty **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 28, 2011, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-crimes-should-be-punishable-by-the-death-penalty/590577 "2011-07-28T02:02:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-crimes-should-be-punishable-by-the-death-penalty/590577/281 "2011-08-03T16:59:04Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > He had a long history as an ex-con when he was convicted the last time-no problems with violence in that history. You didn’t actually answer any of my questions. ---
**Author:** ![Zyanthia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Zyanthia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyanthia)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-crimes-should-be-punishable-by-the-death-penalty/590577/282 "2011-08-03T17:22:32Z")
I used to be pro death penalty. I always thought of the people who did these “horrible crimes” as nothing more than rabid dogs. Then a friend of mine challenged me to research a person called Joyce Gilchrist. Sometimes what appears to be a rabid dog is just a cute puppy someone had fun photo-shopping. I no longer support the death penalty, so I have to join the ‘none’ crowd, although it took me a while to get there. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-crimes-should-be-punishable-by-the-death-penalty/590577/283 "2011-08-03T17:34:29Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > Would you have been comfortable with him 39 years ago when he was convicted? If I were a fellow inmate, there would probably be scores of others I would probably be less comfortable with. He’s just never been that much of a threat to other inmates. > [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > If not, what do we do with convicted killers? Now that would depend on their individual cases, wouldn’t it? Put some in prison, put some in prison for life, and put those that need it in solitary confinement. “Killer” isn’t a separate race with standard characteristics, y’know. > [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > Can we isolate all of them to protect the rest of the prison population? Do all of them _need_ to be isolated from the rest of the prison population? Again I ask, are there any stats that show that those convicted of murder are more prone to violence against other inmates than the rest ofthe general population? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-crimes-should-be-punishable-by-the-death-penalty/590577/284 "2011-08-03T17:36:34Z")
Might I suggest that y’all go with an example other than Chucklin’ Charlie? He is notorious, but apparently not for the reason some of you think he is. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-crimes-should-be-punishable-by-the-death-penalty/590577/285 "2011-08-03T20:00:13Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > If I were a fellow inmate, there would probably be scores of others I would probably be less comfortable with. He’s just never been that much of a threat to other inmates. I guess I’m just a bigger fraidy cat than you. If 39 years ago you’d have told me that I was going to be sharing a cell with Manson, I would have been scared to death. Justifiable or not, I think that would have been a fairly understandable position. > [@Czarcasm](#): > > Do all of them _need_ to be isolated from the rest of the prison population? Again I ask, are there any stats that show that those convicted of murder are more prone to violence against other inmates than the rest ofthe general population? I don’t know if there are or aren’t. I do know that if I were headed to prison that a lack of statistics wouldn’t keep me from preferring a check kiter to a murderer as a cellmate. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-crimes-should-be-punishable-by-the-death-penalty/590577/286 "2011-08-03T20:21:46Z")
One of the rotating ads at the top of the page is a message to try to stop the execution of Troy Davis. [http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/cases/usa-troy-davis](http://www.amnestyusa.org/our-work/cases/usa-troy-davis) > [@](#): > > The case against him consisted entirely of witness testimony which contained inconsistencies even at the time of the trial. Since then, all but two of the state’s non-police witnesses from the trial have recanted or contradicted their testimony. > > _One of the two witnesses who has not recanted his testimony is Sylvester “Red” Coles — the principle alternative suspect, according to the defense, against whom there is new evidence implicating him as the gunman. Nine individuals have signed affidavits implicating Sylvester Coles_ See the what the witnesses say now here:[http://www.amnestyusa.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/affadavits.pdf](http://www.amnestyusa.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/affadavits.pdf) This is the “evidence” the State of Georgia uses to execute a person. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2011, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-crimes-should-be-punishable-by-the-death-penalty/590577/287 "2011-08-04T01:22:50Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Keep in mind that this only makes crimes punishable by the death penalty not necessarilly make it have to be punished by death. > > I would think the death penalty should be eligible for: > First-Degree Murder > Treason > Espionage > Desertion During Wartime None of them. The death penalty is wrong, always and everywhere (I could have _sworn_ I’ve already pointed that out to you, several times. Did you forget, or have you just not been paying attention?). ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2011, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-crimes-should-be-punishable-by-the-death-penalty/590577/288 "2011-08-04T01:23:35Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > None of them. > > The death penalty is wrong, always and everywhere (I could have _sworn_ I’ve already pointed that out to you, several times. Did you forget, or have you just not been paying attention?). I simply disagree. ---
**Author:** ![Mgalindo13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea5d25/32.png) [@Mgalindo13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mgalindo13)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-crimes-should-be-punishable-by-the-death-penalty/590577/289 "2011-08-05T00:44:48Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > So let me ask you, are you willing to be that one person wrongly executed? :dubious: > (And it’s a lot more than one) > “Tis better to let ten guilty men go free than to execute one innocent man.” Considering the amount of rape, assault, disease and poor TV programming, given the choice, I would much rather be executed than spend the rest of my life in prison. The problem your quote addresses is wrongful conviction, not the punishment after conviction. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-crimes-should-be-punishable-by-the-death-penalty/590577/290 "2011-08-05T01:04:08Z")
> [@Mgalindo13](#): > > Considering the amount of rape, assault, disease and poor TV programming, given the choice, I would much rather be executed than spend the rest of my life in prison. > > The problem your quote addresses is wrongful conviction, not the punishment after conviction. But if you DO have a wrongful conviction, and it’s overturned, what then? Someone has life in prison, they can be released. If the’re executed…well? You really can’t do anything there, can you? ---
**Author:** ![Mgalindo13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ea5d25/32.png) [@Mgalindo13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mgalindo13)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-crimes-should-be-punishable-by-the-death-penalty/590577/291 "2011-08-05T01:23:59Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > But if you DO have a wrongful conviction, and it’s overturned, what then? Someone has life in prison, they can be released. If the’re executed…well? You really can’t do anything there, can you? If I were wrongly convicted of murder, I don’t know that I would rather spend 5 (or 10 or 20) years fighting the conviction as opposed to getting a needle in my arm. The issue that really needs to be addressed is the legal system and it’s wrongful conviction rate. Currently the Innocence Project touts 273 post-conviction DNA exonerations since 1989. That seems like a lot, but when you consider that there are more than 1.4 million people in prison today (and that’s not even close to the number of criminal court cases since '89 that were either correct verdicts or the person walked free) that still a statistically insignificant number. Does that make those peoples ordeal any less awful? Absolutely not. Should we strive for perfection? Of course. Will we ever achieve it? Unfortunately, no. There will always be a rate of failure, just as there is for everything else in the world. I find it deplorable that anyone would be punished (in any way) for a crime they didn’t commit, but that’s not a reason to oppose the death penalty. ---
**Author:** ![zephyr9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/9fc348/32.png) [@zephyr9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zephyr9)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2011, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-crimes-should-be-punishable-by-the-death-penalty/590577/292 "2011-08-05T02:59:06Z")
> [@Zyanthia](#): > > I used to be pro death penalty. I always thought of the people who did these “horrible crimes” as nothing more than rabid dogs. Then a friend of mine challenged me to research a person called Joyce Gilchrist. > > Sometimes what appears to be a rabid dog is just a cute puppy someone had fun photo-shopping. > > I no longer support the death penalty, so I have to join the ‘none’ crowd, although it took me a while to get there. Not quite there (anti) yet, but I concede that my knowlege is incomplete. It also helped that my son came and read over my shoulder while I was in the throes of outrage over this thread, and said, “Mom, an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind. I have to agree with the other posters.” I asked my SO whether he supported the death penalty, and first he said, “Oh, I don’t know.” Then he said, “No, because they can screw up court cases too much.” (Am finding what I came here (SDMB) for.) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-crimes-should-be-punishable-by-the-death-penalty/590577.md?page=14)