To ask what you think of the death penalty? (Don’t open if you don’t like talking about death and crime)

[Chancewouldbeafinethlng]

I listened to Adam Buxtons newest podcast episode and found it very interesting.
I’m not sure how I feel about it. On the one hand there are some criminals who I would not piss on if they were on fire, I think they really deserve to die. But then there is always going to be a person who’s job it is to kill that person.
Also there is the risk that someone has been falsely accused and maybe not had a fair trial. How would you ever know?

The episode touched on the method used currently for the death penalty. The woman who was talking was saying how unreliable it is and is basically torture if it doesn’t work. What other methods could be used though?

Sorry I know it’s a very morbid subject but I would be interested in hearing other people’s opinions.

Does anyone like talking about death and crime?

Unless its Death from Discworld or maybe his DGD Susan?

I think it is utterly barbaric and not fit for the 21st century. So pleased we don’t have it in Britain.

And the Death of rats, who is quite cool.

Erm, all the true crime podcasts I listen to like talking about it
I find it interesting.

It's wrong. Even if they deserve to die we don't deserve to kill them.

Like you OP, there are certain criminals who are so rotten and evil i would certainly not lose sleep over them dying painful or peaceful. However, for me, the death penalty is revenge, not justice, and therefore i cannot really support it.
Flipping the coin again, i know if someone murdered one of my children or something horrific i would want them dead, but again, it would be revenge.

I don't believe it's of any benefit to society for someone to be murdered in a state sanctioned operation.

I'm very much against the death penalty.

I hold our justice system in high regard, but you can not always be 100% sure someone is guilty.
There is something barbaric about it.

Two reasons against: (1) miscarriages of justice; (2) it's inherently barbaric. If you think taking a life is wrong, it's wrong when the state does it.

On a visceral, emotional level of course there are particular criminals I'd happily see hang. But on an intellectual and moral level, I know we're all better off collectively living in a civilised society which doesn't have the death penalty.

Its just horrific and there is no way it should still take place.

If you look at the places that still have the death penalty, it's not good company the USA is keeping.

What do you mean, the method currently used? We don't have the death penalty in this country.
Personally I think as you say there are some people who don't deserve to live...but killing them makes killers of the rest of us, and that's worse. And the justice system is not infallible, as has been proved many times. And finally, it's supposed to be the ultimate deterrent, but countries with the death penalty generally have higher crime rates than those without, so it clearly doesn't work.

Yep, what Blooper said, OP

It pisses me off that taxpayers pick up the bill for the incarceration of the Ian Brady's of this country, of course - but this whole lex talionis stuff is vengeance and not justice. What makes us superior to them, in societal terms, is that we enact justice, rather than taking revenge and executing them instead.

I don't support the death penalty. At all!

I don't agree with the death penalty.

But- I used to be passionately against it, found stories about executions upsetting to read etc. As I've got older, had kids I've become a bit more hardened in my views about violent crime. I'm sick of reading about yet another woman brutally murdered, or senseless knifings, and the woeful sentences that are often handed out. So whilst I still disagree with the death penalty as a principle I find my reaction to hearing about some awful evil killers being executed is now a bit of a shrug.

I agree with apileof - if murder is wrong (and I think it is) then it doesn't become right because the state (AKA a braying mob) does it.

But prisoners cost a fortune, and the cold hearted part of me thinks why are we paying for murders to have a roof over their head and food? Never mind all the rumours about having PlayStations, access to drugs, riots and abuse towards the guards.

Here is a quote of how much it cost to keep one prison open for a year
Overall, it cost £34.3m to run HMP Nottingham in 2017/18

Taken from this article

I really like the idea of the death penalty on a purely emotional level but I couldn’t never support it-the state has no right to take life from its citizens.

I don't agree with the death penalty under any circumstances but I would like to see proper sentences given. So, life to mean life etc.

The death penalty doesn't work as a deterrent and it's barbaric as a punishment, murder is murder regardless of whether it is state sanctioned or not.

Executioners throughout history have eventually turned against the death penalty, they've gone on record as saying they don't believe it's a deterrent and that it's wrong. Given that they were on the front line of delivering this "justice" I think they'd know best.

Does someone who commits a murder care whether they live or die?

Is death a greater punishment than a lifetime in prison? I'm not convinced it is.

Also it seems hypocritical. You can't be euthanised when you're chronically ill, yet you can be if you commit a crime. I'd rather we had the first option than the second.

If we did the death penalty like they do in the US with a billion appeals etc and people on death row for years and years, I doubt we'd save much. Maybe we could do what they have done some more and get crappy private companies to run the prisons if you want to save cash.

Chancewouldbeafinethlng
But prisoners cost a fortune, and the cold hearted part of me thinks why are we paying for murders to have a roof over their head and food?

would you want to live in a country that didn't?

Its called being civilised and taking the high ground. (I know that you are playing devils advocate so no tone intended)

I meant the method used in the areas the woman on the podcast was talking about.
They use a cocktail of drugs, one to put to sleep, one to paralyse and the final one that is basically acid coursing through the veins. Some get it from dubious sources.
I can’t think of another way of performing the death penalty that would remove the persons who’s job it is. It must be a very traumatic job.

I agree the death penalty is barbaric and doesn't belong in a civilised society. There are those people who have committed vile crimes but I believe it would be wrong to execute them.
I heard it mentioned once when the same question was doing the rounds in the news cycle, that the government would never hold a referendum on the death penalty as poles suggested it would receive a lot, if not a majority of support from the public. whereas Parliament was against it. let's hope they take their own advice......

It’s something I struggle with because I don’t necessarily see that death is the right way forwards but on the flip side, some crimes committed are so horrendous that I’m not sure it’s in anyone’s interest to keep that person alive.

The other issue is you can’t always be 100% sure that the offender did actually commit the crime.

The current death by lethal injection in America really isn’t fit for the job though as it’s not always instant. I’m sure I read that some states in America struggle to get the drugs used as the pharmacy won’t sell it to them as it’s not fit to be used to kill someone. I’m not sure of a better method though, I would think a lethal dose of something like heroin would kill you quicker (although again I wouldn’t know).