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The death penalty...your views please

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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Balddog wrote:
    No, i want you to explain to me why human life is 'sacred'...not why it is wrong to kill people...those are completely different issues..

    Of course you cant, and thats a silly analogy.....obviously I will care if someone i love is hurt..but that doesnt mean that objectively I cant see that their lives dont mean that much..
    Er... the word 'sacred' is rather loaded as well as innapropriate. There is no such thing as 'sacred', really...

    But the human race has intelligence, rationale and (theoretically at least) the ability to tell right from wrong as well as to draw lines in the sand. Killing someone in certain circumstances (in war, defending your own life) can be seen as acceptable.

    Killing someone as an act of punishment or revenge can never be acceptable by anyone who is not a barbarian or monster. As mankind evolves it (very slowly) becomes more civilised. As it becomes more civilised completely unnaceptable practices that were commonplace in the past are abandoned. The death penalty is one of them. Those countries that have ditched it should never go back to it, and those that still implement it should ditch it.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Balddog wrote:
    Isnt it?
    Death row inmates are given HUGE chances to appeal...for pretty much everything under the sun...We dont give the same things to those who have been locked up...

    Still not the point. How long did it take for the Birmingham 6 to be released? What about the case of Derek Bentley? etc

    Balddog wrote:
    You just said that if I were in their position, I would feel differently...:dunno:

    Read it again.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Youngbull wrote:
    i don't know as i said sometime i think yes sometimes no. the current system doesn't always work. then you look at the guys who get sued by the guys stealing stuff from their house for Lose of earning?!?! when they fall through a window or get in a fight with the owner.

    What are you talking about? :confused:
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    J wrote:
    Because we can't say without doubt that these people weren't in some way ill or misled. I can't believe for a minute that there isn't something wrong (mentally) with a murderer or rapist. As such they are not responsible for thier actions. Try proving to me that they are sane normal people then come back and we can talk about the death penalty.

    But aren't there people who in general aren't 'mad' but will kill or rape in a moment of madness?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Pleading on account of temporary insanity is why many killers are out there - free, not locked up!!
    If y'all don't want death penalties, the law needs to be clear and concise and consistent and without loopholes!!

    If you think that death penalties are the way to go, then introduce a fool proof system of proving guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
    Simple as...

    As for the above point of "sacred" things...
    I think a single parent is a sacred thing...
    I think our children are sacred things at their infancy and need to be given the best care in the world...
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    migpilot wrote:
    Pleading on account of temporary insanity is why many killers are out there - free, not locked up!!

    You sure about that?
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Blagsta wrote:
    You sure about that?

    Can't possibly be sure...
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I was wondering how you came to that conclusion.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    temporary insanity?

    I agree, many murderers get away with killing someone by pleading insanity. Anytime a crime of that extreme nature, and the defendant believes that they will lose, than they plead guilty. They get off easy with just having psychiatric care every day. People aren't drove to maddness to kill, you can't lose you're insanity temporarilly, angry or not. I'm not sure that it is possible to be temporarily insane. People are drove by rage to kill someone, but they aren't insane, they are just mad. And they should get murder in second degree as consequences for their actions.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I think people want to be careful assuming that because LA Law or Ally McBeal features insanity pleas doesn't mean this happens often. For starters, in the US, you can not plead guilty and plead insanity - you have to plead not guilty by reason of insanity.

    In the UK using mental illness as a defense would open up the possibility
    of sectioning, which unlike a jail term could realisitically mean that someone will be in a hospital forever, especially now the personality disorder (which was regarded as untreatable) loophole is being closed.

    I'm however at a loss to think of any recent murder cases where anyone has used an insanity plea, so I'm not sure, outside of TV shows, where the evidence is that anyone is doing this.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I cannot see how the death penalty would benefit society.

    The 'keeping them alive at the expense of the taxpayer' idea is largely nonsense, too. The exhaustive appeals are horrendously expensive.

    The justice system isn't the place for revenge.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Blagsta wrote:
    I was wondering how you came to that conclusion.

    Erm... :chin:
    I might have got my wires crossed, apologies.
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    spinks wrote:
    they aren't insane, they are just mad.

    Come again? :confused:
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    Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    spinks wrote:
    I agree, many murderers get away with killing someone by pleading insanity.

    Hardly. If they plead insanity, they get put into a mental hospital. So how exactly do they 'get way' with murder?
    Anytime a crime of that extreme nature, and the defendant believes that they will lose, than they plead guilty. They get off easy with just having psychiatric care every day. People aren't drove to maddness to kill, you can't lose you're insanity temporarilly, angry or not. I'm not sure that it is possible to be temporarily insane. People are drove by rage to kill someone, but they aren't insane, they are just mad. And they should get murder in second degree as consequences for their actions.

    Do you have any evidence to back up what you're saying here?
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