Death Sentences

And also, putting TONS of people in a prison and spending lots of money on them, just to let them out to kill or rape someone else just doesn't make sense.

im.with.the.bassist:

And also, putting TONS of people in a prison and spending lots of money on them, just to let them out to kill or rape someone else just doesn't make sense.

Well, let's see, why don't we replace kill and rape with another crime. I know, vandalism.

"And also, putting TONS of people in a prison and spending lots of money on them, just to let them out to vandalise something else just doesn't make sense."

So we should kill every offender in the world, ever, because there is a chance that they won't reform?
Yeah, I see your logic there, I really do.

ABCs:

Even in the days of Hitler, etc. there was less crime among the common people. People still had a sense of honour and a conscience, which some people don't have nowadays.

I don't believe there's such a thing as a mistake. You cause whatever happens by choice, and if you did not think your choice through or seeked help if you were unsure, then it's your fault. You didn't have to do it.

I didn't say that money=happiness. I said that money making you happy is an illusion.

I still think it was choice. It's hard to believe anything scientists have to say. They used to be completely sure that the world was flat... And I don't think it's wrong to be gay. The only reason why God doesn't like gay people is because he didn't make them that way. I suppose infertility happens because God knows something we don't.

Brownshirts did abuse their power. And discriminatory crimes - racial, political, religious based - rose enormously, of course. And yeah, perhaps petty crimes went down; people were terrified. It was better to be faceless, in a crowd of people, than noticed.

Manslaughter, by definition, is a mistake, an accident. If you comitted manslaughter but were convicted of murder, you deserve a second chance, I believe; more so than someone who wilfully murders.

I meant that there are lots of people in society who believe money brings or is happiness .. not that it was a fact. You're right, it is a predominant illusion that capitalism, and our culture, brings us. We're constantly told by business, media, the government, that money will bring us happiness.

Erm, I don't really think you can compare the so called scientists of .. well, before Christ .. even back to the Ancient Greeks they knew the Earth was round. You can scarcely compare those people with the scientists of today.
Honestly, why would people choose to be something which gets them insulted and assaulted. And if God makes all things, then he did make gay people that way, right? You say maybe infertility happens because God knows something we don't - why isn't that the same for homosexuality? Maybe he knows something you don't. Maybe gays are just as much a part of his grand master plan.

It's curious the way certain sentences in all of the Bible are the central reasoning for persecution and dogma, while people are quite happy to completely disregard others.
In Leviticus, it commands that man shall not eat camels, horses, pigs, eagles, owls, mice, lizards, snails and moles. Animals that 'are not cloven footed, or did not chew the cud'. No 'carrion animals'.
And, man may not wear clothes madeth of more than one fabric. No poly-cotton, or anything.
Do you see people following those? No. Because religious people pick and choose what they would like to believe, what they would like to uphold, and what they would like to enforce onto others.

Crimes rose because of Hitler. It was all his fault.

It's an accident, not a mistake. Manslaughter shouldn't get you a heavy sentence anyways.

Sure you can. They were the smart people of their day, and they were absolutely sure that they were right, just like scientists nowadays. And in a thousand years from now -providing we haven't blown ourselves up- scientists could look back on these days and say, "My god, they were idiots, weren't they, for thinking we could never talk to animals (just an example)"

Obviously, everything that happens, and everyone in the world, is part of the master plan. Some gays may only be around to teach others tolerance, others maybe for...I don't know. To make other gay people happy, I guess.

Certain parts of the old testement /can/ be disregarded (by Christians. not Jews, I suppose) because jesus freed us from that law by saying "Love god, and love your neighbours as yourself, and that's all." Some of those laws are purely health laws, they don't have any moral connections, like the fact that people who had leprosy used to become outcasts until they were healed. And some laws were just tradition, like not having female priests or something. So, speaking for christians, it's their job to have the wisdom to know what parts of the old testement's law we are freed from, and what parts still need to be obeyed.

Well. I am totally against it...
Because you are punishing someone for killing by killing him/her? i mean what kind of example is that
besides no matter how much wrong a human did, i dont believe other humans should be allowed to decide when to end his life..
right?

I disagree with this completely.
Killing to prove killing is wrong?
What an example we set for our youth.
"An eye for an eye and the whole world would be blind.
-Ghandi

pansy3:

i dont believe other humans should be allowed to decide when to end his life..
right?

But it was okay for the murderer to decide when the victim should end his/her life?

I know that's not what you said, but that's what murderers do, why shouldn't they be punished for it? Sitting in prison with 3 meals a day, blankets, beds, pillows and books to read isn't...much of a punishment if you ask me especially when murder is involved. If you don't have a guilty conscience after killing someone, sitting in a jail cell certainly won't do anything.

Martian:

But it was okay for the murderer to decide when the victim should end his/her life?

I know that's not what you said, but that's what murderers do, why shouldn't they be punished for it? Sitting in prison with 3 meals a day, blankets, beds, pillows and books to read isn't...much of a punishment if you ask me especially when murder is involved. If you don't have a guilty conscience after killing someone, sitting in a jail cell certainly won't do anything.

So you're saying that the government should be able to say "an eye for an eye"?
Just because the murderer does something wrong, it doesn't mean that the government suddenly has the right to do the same.

Leonore Paisley:

So you're saying that the government should be able to say "an eye for an eye"?
Just because the murderer does something wrong, it doesn't mean that the government suddenly has the right to do the same.

Murder isn't something small, it's huge. They just killed an innocent person (in most cases). I do think the government has the right to do the same. How is it right that someone who just killed a person gets free meals, room and board and warmth. They don't deserve it. At all. I've never lost someone to a murder but I already know that I wouldn't want the person who killed someone close to me be able to live a happy life. I wouldn't want them to live. That may make me a bad person but it's my opinion. I do believe in eye for an eye. If someone punches me, I'm going to punch back.

Sometimes jail is the best option. Wouldn't it be more of a punishment for a serial killer to live out the rest of his days in prison, thinking about what he did, why he's there and - possibly - feeling a little bit of remorse?

I dunno, being given the death sentence could be seen as an 'easy' way out for some.

Martian:

I do believe in eye for an eye.

I guess we'll have to agree to disagree, then. I didn't ignore the rest of your post, I just wanted to make a point with that specific statement.

The Brightside.:

Sometimes jail is the best option. Wouldn't it be more of a punishment for a serial killer to live out the rest of his days in prison, thinking about what he did, why he's there and - possibly - feeling a little bit of remorse?

I dunno, being given the death sentence could be seen as an 'easy' way out for some.

I pretty much agree with that.

The Brightside.:

Sometimes jail is the best option. Wouldn't it be more of a punishment for a serial killer to live out the rest of his days in prison, thinking about what he did, why he's there and - possibly - feeling a little bit of remorse?

I dunno, being given the death sentence could be seen as an 'easy' way out for some.

Sociopaths and sadistic killers don't feel remorse. Living out a life sentence in prison isn't going to change that.

In Canada, "life in prison" is maximum 25 years. And like Dru said, sociopaths and sadistic killers don't feel remorse. Just look at Charles Manson, he ran a cult, controlled people, brainwashed them into killing, he's in prison and doesn't feel bad for anything he did. Why should someone like that be allowed to live?

I don't think that the ban of the death sentence is important just because jail is a better option, or a better kind of punishment; not having a death sentence is also a way of showing that we have evolved enough as a society to not believe in violence and fear anymore, but to believe in reeducation and change.

Lovesick.:

I don't think that the ban of the death sentence is important just because jail is a better option, or a better kind of punishment; not having a death sentence is also a way of showing that we have evolved enough as a society to not believe in violence and fear anymore, but to believe in reeducation and change.

But someone who feels no remorse for what they did will never change. If you have no conscience, you're not going to feel guilty about doing something bad.

Lovesick.:

I don't think that the ban of the death sentence is important just because jail is a better option, or a better kind of punishment; not having a death sentence is also a way of showing that we have evolved enough as a society to not believe in violence and fear anymore, but to believe in reeducation and change.

That would be a pretty gilded image to promote though, seeing as how we still have people in our society with no respect for others and no concern for anyone but themselves, enough to the point where they feel murder is ok. Society hasn't evolved near as much as the western world likes to think.

Martian:

But someone who feels no remorse for what they did will never change. If you have no conscience, you're not going to feel guilty about doing something bad.

And should we let ourselves be defined as a society by those people ?
I think it's wrong to say that all humanity is cruel and can't feel remorse just because some members of it can't. And we all agree that those members are not completely normal, even if normal isn't the perfect word to express it, not in adequacy with our view on revenge. The opinion of just some individuals, who again are regarded as not normal, shouldn't influence our view as a whole.
And by making something like the death sentence okay we just show that we as a whole believe in it and we as a society feel that violence and murder is necessary to inspire fear.

Anyway I've heard that UN wants to make an universal ban of it.

But after their sentence, they're let back out on the streets and if they don't see anything wrong with what they did, they'll just go back out and do it. I didn't say all of humanity either, I said "someone who feels no remorse".

I don't think that anyone who can get the death sentence would get anything bellow life imprisonment in a country where death sentence is banned.

But life in prison isn't actually you're entire life.

Like I said, there is no death sentence in Canada but life imprisonment is only maximum 25 years. Yeah, it's a good chunk of your life but you're not in prison for the rest of your life.