This was pretty much my idea too....

[Alondro]

Shoot em all and let God sort em out!

It'll work!   

[Reese Tora]

also of note is psychologists have determined there IS such a thing as a criminal mind. the difference being a normal person would freak "aiieee! death scentance! twenty five years to life! no way im doing that!" whereas a 'criminal mind' person could care less of the severity of the crime and are only concerned with the chance of being caught

perhaps we should reduce the number of troops, and increase the number of cops. seriously, a ten percent cut in the 'defense' budget could probably triple the law enforcement budget, the big cesspool of Milwaukee in my area just had a scandal that the police department was raking in enough overtime they could double the number of officers hired for the money they give in overtime pay.

of course, the problem there is that one's paid for by state or municiple funds, and the other by federal funds, and the different levels don't necessarily like to play nice...

[Rakala]

The fact that they(convicted innocents) exist isn't enough?

I'll be the first that wopuld agree that the current system of incarceration does not lead to rehabilitation for many, but you need to design a system towards both effectiveness and accuracy(or the ability to restore what is damaged or lost by inaccuracy), not just effectiveness.

Our current system is innefective on so many levels. For one part jailing in general, they aren't monitered as well as they should be. They work out, meet other criminals, and find new ways to say, smuggle weapons into their cell. It's making them bigger, meaner, and smarter. Does anybody here know the rate of crimminals that come back from jail rehabilitated? 3% is what I heard. And while it is excellent that the 3% is making an effort to change, the other 97 are going to leave and be back within the year.

The other issue is our death penalty system. There are people who are on death row for years and will never actually be executed because there are criminals that commited more serious offenses going ahead of them. I think you should have 3 days to live once you've been sentenced to death. The first day you get to spend with any family or friends you have. The second you get to enjoy yourself and the third should be spent making peace with yourself. Also I think anybody found guilty of murder or pedophilia should be executed. Sure there are people wrongly accused, but think about the outweighing benefits of killing a few innocents when you're also killing hundreds, maybe thousands of guilty people. And if you go into they had no choice but to do it, there are court regulations as far as that goes. Self defense, defense of a third person, being blackmailed or scared into it, you've gotta think that if you didn't do it most of the time a jury or judge would notice that. I know what I say sounds terrible but think of the consequences if we don't act somehow? I mean I've done my best to act on my opinions instead of just posting them here.

[Tapewolf]

I think you should have 3 days to live once you've been sentenced to death. The first day you get to spend with any family or friends you have. The second you get to enjoy yourself and the third should be spent making peace with yourself. Also I think anybody found guilty of murder or pedophilia should be executed. Sure there are people wrongly accused, but think about the outweighing benefits of killing a few innocents when you're also killing hundreds, maybe thousands of guilty people.

A couple of points to throw into the pot:

Firstly, in most countries and IIRC the USA is no exception, the biggest cause of death is road accidents.  Since speed is basically what makes road crashes deadly, the penalty for speeding should, logically, be one of execution.  After all, if the driver is taken on to the roadside and shot, only he or she will be dead, and not the passenger, the people in the other car or the innocent pedestrian.

Since most people who drive also speed, I have to ask... would you still have the same cavalier attitude to the death penalty if you were the one to be executed?  Or if not you, your parents?  Your brother?  Son?  What if they weren't guilty?

On a slightly different note, I've often thought that an interesting caveat would be that if the accused is executed and later found to be innocent, the jury and judge should be executed themselves since they have, for all practical purposes, committed murder and/or accessory to murder.  If nothing else, it would make people think very carefully during sentencing.

[Brunhidden]

in response to the wolfmaster

you could now put regulators in cars that know what the speed limit is and now allow your car to exceed that speed. the technology is beyond readily available, you could probably do it with a trip to radio shack and the car companies could do one better and have one that sends an alert to police if some gearhead decides to remove theirs.

however the technology to make a judgebot and jurybot would probably be a good idea but is still in the future regardless that we would probably need it more then cars incapable of speeding. so often are we faced with problems that really have no solution, but we most often do exceptionally well considering how fallible our methods are.

[Alondro]

Frankly, if I went around killing people for whatever reason, I would expect to be given the death penalty.

In NJ, now that they no longer have it, I could just sit back and laugh at the jury, "HAH HA!  I killed 10,000 people!  And yoouuuuuu can't hurt me!"  I'd mock them, and mock society, and tell them how much I enjoyed snuffing out the lives, and that the best they've got is to put me in jail... where I will then try to kill as many inmates as possible before they can kill me.

Is that monsterous enough to deserve the death penalty?  If not, I can do better! 

There are people who deserve it, simply because it is the only punishment that fits some crimes.

The death penalty's biggest problem is that it has never been applied properly.  It should never even be an option in a case relying on circumstantial evidence.

The two biggest criteria that must be met in my opinion are solid physical evidence directly implicating the suspect, and proof of premeditation:  the suspect must be shown to have planned the killing and not done it on a spur of the moment rage (which would then be 25-life in prison).

This then would omit the vehicular manslaughter cases because when one is speeding, one does not do so with the intent to kill someone.  It isn't premeditated.   In fact, if you did plan to kill someone with your car and went through with it, then that would in fact be first-degree murder and you could be given the death penalty in states that use it as the law stands.

[Brunhidden]

as much as it frightens me i agree with Al

like i said before, many of these more 'severe' crimes should only be applied to those who plead guilty, admit they knowingly broke this law, and know what the penalty is.

i myself would probably not really care if i was in prison for life, but theres many out there who would just say 'just fry me and get it over with before i get bored'. and who knows, i myself if faced with sixty some years rotting in prison may even choose to remove the burden of myself from the world after twenty years or so... then again with prisons they are today its like living in a hotel with a gym, spa, cable, and a book trolley to deliver your favorite titles right to your bed.

seriously, prison is supposed to be punishment. the only one that gets the idea is one prison out in the desert that feeds inmates bologna sandwiches, has no AC, and inmates who misbehave are given fuzzy pink pajamas to wear. many inmates even voulenteer for hard labor to reduce their time, and get a taste for what work really is.