USA Death Penalty/Life sentence

[chevy88]

I know it's something I have no power to change but I have seen some disturbing videos of people baking their kids in the mircowave, and various other things that are quite disturbing. I was wandering, what are your thoughts on a different punishment for these haynis crimes?

I was talking to my dad about it on the way to shoot this weekend and personally i say we do away with Life sentences and lethal injection. I think that straping a cannon ball to someones feet and droping them in the ocean would be a better idea.

I know it's not humane but who cares, what they do/did to others wasn't humane or they wouldn't be in that situtation.

Give me some feedback on what you think.
Cya Z

 

[mhphoto]

I find no problem with the idea that murderers can be put to death by the state, and I feel no sympathy if their own death is not exactly painless. But we live in the USA, and are a nation of laws. The Constitution is the law of the land, and in it you'll find that cruel and unusual punishment is forbidden.

I know it's tempting to say an eye for an eye when it comes to capital punishment-worthy crimes, but we cannot cherry pick that issue any more than the hoplophobes can cherry pick the Second Amendment.

There's been a lot of research into various ways to carry out the death penalty, and from it a painless alternative has been found in hypoxia via nitrogen asphyxiation. It's cheap, easy to administer, doesn't depend on the inmate's participation (gas chamber), doesn't put the procedure at the mercy of potentially inexperienced medical techs (lethal injection), doesn't carry miniscule margins of error (hanging), and doesn't rely on potentially unreliable participants (firing squad).

The electric chair and gas chamber are tantamount to torture in my opinion, and, medically speaking, getting shot in the chest or having a needle go through the vein and into muscle aren't really walks in the park either.

I know it seems counterintuitive to say that murderers shouldn't receive a painful end, but like I said, if we're to be a nation of laws, we're not allowed to cherry pick the Constitution. I also feel that the death penalty shouldn't be handed out unless it's obvious beyond any inky shadow of a doubt that the person is guilty of the heinous crime.

 

[h8ns8n]

UMMMMM. i don't want a link to these videos you claim to have seen. but if you are watching them that is pretty disturbing to me

 

[CamaroMan]

UMMMMM. i don't want a link to these videos you claim to have seen. but if you are watching them that is pretty disturbing to me

Thats what I was thinking...

Why do we need all these fancy chemicals for the death penalty, just shoot 'em in the head. It's cheap, quick, easy, and honestly quite humane that way.

 

[chevy88]

They came up in recommended videos on youtube. I was watching videos of the nba and weird stuff pops up so i watched. And to mhphoto thats good i wasn't aware of any cruel punishment rules well that destroys my dreams...oh well thanks though.

 

[mhphoto]

They came up in recommended videos on youtube. I was watching videos of the nba and weird stuff pops up so i watched. And to mhphoto thats good i wasn't aware of any cruel punishment rules well that destroys my dreams...oh well thanks though.

Well, with all that said, I'm not exactly heartbroken if they do feel pain. It's just on a ethical/legal basis that I can't advocate it.

 

[BadgeBunny]

You really don't want to know what I think about what should happen to certain people. People just think they want to know. Then I make the mistake of telling them. No good will come from it.

 

[Blinocac200sx]

I think alot of people get carried away with the whole "Nothing Cruel or Unusual" thing. Nobody stops to think what was considered cruel and unusual at the time of the framing. This was a society not super far removed from medieval Europe. You can bet they had an entirely different definition of cruel and unusual than some namby pamby in California.

 

[Blinocac200sx]

You really don't want to know what I think about what should happen to certain people. People just think they want to know. Then I make the mistake of telling them. No good will come from it.

I have a few ideas myself, but it's far too graphic to post here.

 

[NikatKimber]

Cruel and unusual punishment would be drawing and quartering, decapitation, or other forms of gruesome mutilation that *eventually* leads to death.

I agree that the electric chair is too much. Having been hit with 110v a few times, electric shock is the second to last way I'd want to go. Getting body parts cut off until you either sever the spinal cord or bleed to death being the last.

Umm.. add starvation to that. That would top the list.

But cruel and unusual *DOESN'T* say that it has to be painless, or "humane", or God forbid: politically correct. You put a suffering dog that was a faithful family pet down in a "humane" way. You execute a convict in a way that is both quick, and effective as a demonstration to those that would consider the same crime. Passing peacefully into a permanent sleep is not the only way to meet the not "cruel and unusual" requirement.