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[JudgeN]

Death offers a quick escape from jail and the atrocities of the crimes these people have committed. Spending the rest of your life behind bars, with no hope of release, is a just punishment in my opinion. To whither away with no hope for the future sounds terrible.

My problem with this is prison life isn't a dark dungeon. They got a warm bed,food,medical attention when sick, entertainment, etc all on tax payer dime. Is it really that much of a punishment? I can see why some people think we should speed up the process. Its kind of sad prison life treats the prisoner better then he did the victim of the crime.

 

[John Dunbar]

My problem with this is prison life isn't a dark dungeon. They got a warm bed,food,medical attention when sick, entertainment, etc all on tax payer dime. Is it really that much of a punishment? I can see why some people think we should speed up the process. Its kind of sad prison life treats the prisoner better then he did the victim of the crime.

today on fox news: is life in prison really a punishment? studies show 99.8% of inmates receive food.

 

[Akainu]

Good.

My problem with this is prison life isn't a dark dungeon. They got a warm bed,food,medical attention when sick, entertainment, etc all on tax payer dime. Is it really that much of a punishment? I can see why some people think we should speed up the process. Its kind of sad prison life treats the prisoner better then he did the victim of the crime.

today on fox news: is life in prison really a punishment? studies show 99.8% of inmates receive food.

Right? It's like people want to treat horrible people even worse and still pretend to hold the moral high ground.

 

[Kano on the Phone]

My problem with this is prison life isn't a dark dungeon. They got a warm bed,food,medical attention when sick, entertainment, etc all on tax payer dime. Is it really that much of a punishment? I can see why some people think we should speed up the process. Its kind of sad prison life treats the prisoner better then he did the victim of the crime.

Well yeah, we damn well should act better than the people we're punishing.

A place to sleep, food, and medical attention are basic human needs (I don't think there's as much entertainment as you imagine there is). Supplying basic human needs to even the shittiest people is the mark of a decent society.

 

[Cyan]

My problem with this is prison life isn't a dark dungeon.

Why would this be a problem at all? The punishment isn't physical and mental discomfort. The punishment is removal from society.

 

[charlequin]

My problem with this is prison life isn't a dark dungeon. They got a warm bed,food,medical attention when sick, entertainment, etc all on tax payer dime. Is it really that much of a punishment?

Well, I guess we could send you there for a crime you didn't commit, and you could let us know in a few years whether you feel punished or not?

 

[Mammoth Jones]

It is revenge if the goal is removal and the punishment goes beyond mere removal, which can be accomplished by incarceration.

An execution is cheaper than food/healthcare/shelter. Just a matter of cost effectiveness.

Unfortunately w/ appeals as lengthy as they are it's just cheaper to lock em up for the rest of their lives.

Like I said....in theory....

 

[GungHo]

It's funny, because if you disagree with this decision, you might say 'the courts got it wrong.' but, if the courts can get it wrong from time to time, then how can you trust them to get it right when it comes to the lives of the accused?

This is my primary issue with it. If you wrongly convict someone and gave them a life sentence, you can release them. No, it wasn't a good thing, and yes they should be well compensated for the time lost. Yes, they're probably fucked up mentally, but you can at least try to help. But, if you kill that person? There's no take backs. There's no one to compensate. There's no helping someone past the horror. They're dead. And the state has little interest in ever clearing their name until well after all parties have expired.

 

[Mammoth Jones]

This is my primary issue with it. If you wrongly convict someone and gave them a life sentence, you can release them. No, it wasn't a good thing, and yes they should be well compensated for the time lost. Yes, they're probably fucked up mentally, but you can at least try to help. But, if you kill that person? There's no take backs. There's no one to compensate. There's no helping someone past the horror. They're dead. And the state has little interest in ever clearing their name until well after all parties have expired.

Yep. This is reality. It's fantasy to think that each and every death row inmate is absolutely guilty. Especially w/ the innocence project showing time and time again how flawed the legal process can be.

 

[Cyan]

Unfortunately w/ appeals as lengthy as they are it's just cheaper to lock em up for the rest of their lives.

Well:

Yep. This is reality. It's fantasy to think that each and every death row inmate is absolutely guilty. Especially w/ the innocence project showing time and time again how flawed the legal process can be.

This is why appeals should be lengthy. In general, we assume that if we act to lower one type of error (in this case, executing innocents), we will simultaneously increase the other type of error (not executing the guilty). The way out of this trade-off is to spend more time, effort, and money on our filtering process, which in this case is the judicial system.

Fundamentally, if we care about not executing innocents, execution is necessarily going to be expensive and lengthy.

 

[Daft Bird]

I want GAFs opinion on this. How would you guys feel if the prisoners were given the option for death after a certain amount of years passed. Like they are sentenced to prison for life, or 20 years of prison then they can opt to choose death.

Spoiler

I'm against the death penalty when issued by the state. Just as an fyi

 

[Mammoth Jones]

Well:


This is why appeals should be lengthy. In general, we assume that if we act to lower one type of error (in this case, executing innocents), we will simultaneously increase the other type of error (not executing the guilty). The way out of this trade-off is to spend more time, effort, and money on our filtering process, which in this case is the judicial system.

Fundamentally, if we care about not executing innocents, execution is necessarily going to be expensive and lengthy.

Yep. I agree with you on this. Hence my supporting it in theory but in reality I really don't at this point. Just not feasible. If we do death penalty appeals quickly then you're going to get alot of innocent people put down. If we draw it out and take years and years it's just cheaper to lock em up.

So I don't support the death penalty as it's currently implemented. Do I think it'll ever get to a state where I'd support it? I don't think it's possible.