Why are liberals suddenly so pro death penalty?

Post Reply New Topic

OK, let's accept that, fine.

What about life imprisonment? As I see it, there are two significant advantages to life imprisonment ahead of the death penalty:

1) Life imprisonment is reversible. If you execute an innocent person, you can't undo that. If you imprison an innocent person, you can give them a whopping great sum of money in compensation and beg for mercy. You can also release a reformed character, a possibility which the death penalty does not allow for.
2) Having to spend 40-60 years in prison thinking about your crimes has to be a worse punishment than death, and is no more tolerant - the imprisoned is just as surely cut off from society.

why are there so many people so bereft of imagination, that they consider death the worst possible punishment?

The US is advanced ? Are you serious ? I think George Carlin would disagree...

I would prefer life in prison to death. Some prisons are pretty cushy.

What is often left out of the equation is that people who are willing to kill sometimes don't actually care about their own life *(and in fact don't WANT to live). Most mass shooters and terrorists for example plan on killing themselves.

I don't have the mind of a criminal so it's a difficult question for me to answer. All I know is that is for a fact barbaric to kill someone when it is not self-defense. This is obvious and doesn't really need an explanation.

As to whether death peantly is a DETERRANT, I'm not sure. From what I have read, I'm not sure that it is. Maybe someone can provide proof that it actually IS a deterrant to deadly crime.

sociopathic types generally don't have the fear response to punishment the way normal folk do. that is a big reason why recidivism is a thing. and I would wager there are no "cushy" American prisons, unless one's definition of "cushy" is perverse.

Would you say you're somewhat of an authoritarian liberal?

I think when they say "cushy", they mean it falls short of being a concentration camp.

or worse.

Why? I'm only expressing an opinion.

I agree with you to an extent.

We had this skinhead here who was on trial for something (probably murder, I forget) who managed to take a gun off a bailiff and killed a few people in open court, including his defense attorney.

There's no question that this guy is a murderer. I mean if the judge at your own trial saw you do it in the courtroom, i dunno how you're gonna plead innocent. Plus the video surveillance from multiple angles, testimony of 12 jurors, various bailiffs, etc.

He is human filth and does not deserve to draw breath.

My bleeding heart liberal objection, however, is that we don't deserve to have to bloody our hands with his execution. I'm sure there are plenty of people who are fine with it, but we're talking about state sponsored murder here, which means that the whole state is a party to it.

Also, in almost all death penalty cases, there are people who care about the accused who are blameless. Most often siblings, children, or parents, who don't deserve to lose their worthless piece of crap person that they care about for some stupid reason they can't shake.

For those two reasons alone, I don't think the death penalty is worth it.

When you look at the financial aspects of prosecuting a death penalty case, and the real costs of execution in a 1st world nation, it's clearly not worth it.

there are many punishments worse than death. it just takes a little bit of imagination, a little creativity, is all.

Shot his own defense attorney? What a simpleton.

a good punishment for that dude would be to lock him up in a room, then throw the room away.

For lack of a better term I'd describe myself as liberal or at least progressive....lol. But I am really starting to wish for a world like Game of Thrones, i mean there is plenty of corruption and what not that goes to the same level...but how cool would it be if modern technology was ended and we had to go back to swords and witchcraft. But that aside, I wish if someone f****d with you, you could seek revenge/vengance and do what needs to be done...of course in modern society how could this happen? But seriously there is a f*** who hurt someone close to me sexually, I am supposed to talk to a police investigator to help get him put away, why can't I kill him? I guess getting him put away is the next best thing...but I would love to kill him.

yet I would consider myself closest to a liberal or progressive, I don't like state mandated death penalty the way it goes...but I am not opposed to the killing of those who would continuously harm others. If it was my way, someone could rape your kid or put someone you love very close to death and you could retaliate without any legal penalties put upon you based on the basis you had a normal human reaction.

I would not survive one minute in an anarchy.

You and me, brother. I suspect that many of the libertarians who look forward to such a thing wouldn't either.