If someone did something awful to you, would you want them shot dead during the incident or to serve life?

[Howallergic]

I've been watching too many crime programmes today and the goal of everyone seems to be to get them to serve jail time. I'd be more of the shoot the bastard variety I think.
Just wondering.
Not thinking about death penalty here.
Just, would you rather them killed in a cop shoot out or to go and serve life?
Say for e.g. for killing your child or something similar.

Either/neither. Doesn't undo the crime or help me heal.

I think many people pursue "justice" thinking it will help them somehow. I hope it actually does. But I suspect it would do nothing for me, just introduce yet more suffering into the world. What's the point of that.

I'd rather see the perpetrator make restitution to society somehow. E.g. say sorry publicly, apologise to me/the victims, work in crime prevention or victim support (at a distance from actual victims etc), raise funds for victim services

Definitely not a 'cop shootout'. The last thing the world needs is police becoming judge, jury & executioner.

I'd prefer the facts to be disclosed calmly in a court of law.

How I'd react if someone killed my child, I can't say. Child murder is perhaps the only crime for which I might support the death penalty.

Well US prisons are really grim, from that 60 Days In Jail documentary so prison for life there would be suffering something awful permanently . Death doesn't offer chance for rehabilitation so not in favour of that.

I'd rather they died, preferably as a result of self-defense. I suspect that most violent criminals don't really spend much time reflecting on their crimes, repenting, or rehabilitating. I'd rather they were wiped off the face of the earth, tbh.

Well the police don’t routinely carry guns in this country. They don’t want to and they don’t need to either. No right thinking person wants to go about with a deadly weapon. No right thinking person wants to be responsible for killing a human being. No right thinking person should expect someone to do that on their behalf.

They are also the police, not judge Dredd. They arrest criminals and leave the judgement to a jury. It is not the role of the police to decide who is guilty or what their punishment should be. Any decent police office would know that.

That some American police officers and their president believe that this is their role might explain the lack of esteem they are held in by their communities.

YABU. If they just assume guilt and shoot someone they want to arrest, many innocents will die. As has and is happening in the US. It all seems ideal until you’re the one having a gun pointed at you by a police officer.

I believe a gun owner (including police) is more likely to die by their own gun than another - as for the basic question there are lot of situations I know how I will feel but this until it happened I would have no idea what I would want to happen until it does

I would prefer them to be in jail. Preferably a jail like the Colorado max security.
Then they could sit in eternal boredom with nothing to do but to think about how they got there for the rest of their miserable lives.

Hmmmm I think that it might be easier to get on with your own life if they're dead. Otherwise you might not stop thinking about what they're doing or if they'll ever be released.

But I hope I'll never be in the position to find out.

I believe a gun owner (including police) is more likely to die by their own gun than another

This is true in the US for men where a gun is the #1 suicide method for them. Not true for women though. It’s why guns should be more tightly regulated similar to U.K. because the lives you’d save aren’t just those being murdered but those in mental distress who turn to a gun as a suicide method.

@PlanDeRaccordement

I believe a gun owner (including police) is more likely to die by their own gun than another

This is true in the US for men where a gun is the #1 suicide method for them. Not true for women though. It’s why guns should be more tightly regulated similar to U.K. because the lives you’d save aren’t just those being murdered but those in mental distress who turn to a gun as a suicide method.

Sorry I should have worded it better - I meant more as in 'I have a gun to protect myself and my family in case someone breaks in' there is more chance of them dying then the robber

Not saying you are not correct in what you are saying I mean something else though - but did not say it correctly

I wouldn't want them dead. I do not agree that because someone has a uniform on they should have the power to take another life. It doesn't sit right with me. There's a reason the death penalty was abolished.

Sorry, I possibly made this confusing.
I'm thinking about a dude caught in the act of for e.g. raping your dd.
Would you want him shot dead on the spot or tried and jailed.
Assuming he is guilty.

I would want him shot dead I think. The torture of prison wouldn't be enough justice for me, nor would I feel it to be any justice.

I actually don't believe in prisons really much at all! Much like a rabid dog, I think there are humans who should be put down.

I'm just interested in the programmes I'm watching (based around the US criminal justice system) and they all want 'justice' to be served in the shape of a life term or similar. Personally I think a swift bullet through the head is equal justice. If someone hurt my child, thinking of him alive in a prison would be no consolation to me. Thinking that he was dead, might be.

Perfect justice is impossible even in a society that throws all humanity overboard, and I think you'll agree we don't want to be that kind of society.

Inflicting death (without an acute self-defence need) is not how we deal with things in a civilised society.

I would want anyone who hurt me or mine to go through due process. What happened to them couldn't really console me anyway.

I'm all messed up in the head.
I don't agree with the death penalty (for fear of it being incorrect).
I don't believe in prison, as I think that's torture for a lot of people.
I don't know what justice done I would view as justice done.
I have been the victim of a crime and he's doing 9 years. At some point, he'll get out and I'll get scared all over again.
I suppose I think there shouldn't be a one size fits all punishment for criminals. In an ideal world we could maybe vote on what we thought would be the ideal punishment.

Then you get to punishment/rehabilitation. I'd aim for rehab rather than killing the baastards, but seeing as we don't have options, we're stuck with our justice system.

It's a difficult one to answer, as even I who asked the question, don't really know what I'd want.

Something that leaves them blind and crippled for life is more my way of thinking.

I would want them dead.

I hate the US gun laws and I’m completely against the death penalty but on a base level, if someone harmed my family, I would want them dead, not by trial etc. as I don’t support that but immediately so they are gone forever. My thoughts aren’t rational which is why I’m glad this country did abolish capital punishment.

Penners - coincidentally, my attacker was crippled. He was missing one leg (or more than half of it). It's why I trusted the cunt.

PurpleFlower1983 That's about where I'm at too! I hate to think of jail for someone innocent, but at the same time, I don't think jail would be enough consolation to me if something happened to my child.

As a teacher, the children you meet with the most horrendous behaviour challenges, more often than not, have hideous things going on in their lives. The system allows them to be failed repeatedly and often we are powerless to get them the help and support that they need. They go off to high school and eventually, we hear stories repeated back to us about the crowds and the trouble that they have gotten mixed up in.

These are often the people that go on to commit criminal acts.

Yes we need offenders off the street and their victims to feel safe. But we also need to give them empathy, support and rehabilitation. Very few people just randomly commit a heinous crime without a back story.

OP, by crippled I mean paralysed from the neck down

Dead. Gone.
Not breathing any more air, speaking another word.
Gone, burned, dumped at a landfill.

End their tortured lives, end to any future torture that they inflict upon others.

The death penalty shouldn’t be allowed for any reasons.

Prisons should be providing good quality rehabilitation, education etc. Most people with a criminal record have a higher than average number of ACEs, due to the UK hugely failing children and only stepping in if their life is at immediate risk we have a huge number of highly traumatised adults receiving zero support.

Penners that would mean that they would need thousands upon thousands of pounds of medical care and treatment for the rest of their lives.
Plus some poor nurse would have to wipe that arse.
No. Too much of a huge gaping financial drain.

Neither. I'd want the satisfaction of cutting their brake cables myself.