YOUR thoughts on the death penalty.

[Saitek]

It might sound corny but what is this world coming to?

Nobody knows!

[Hagar]

Nobody knows!

Maybe it's time somebody made it their business to find out.

[Saitek]

I think the Falconer (the Lord Chancellor) should appoint you to the position Doug...

[Papa9571]

Then why cant we get together and find a common, acceptable solution to the sentencing parts of the law?

The sad part of  'Life' sentenaces is unless they attatch the phrase "without parole" you could be eligible for parole after the minimum sentace is carried out. To me that really sucks.

As far as teenagers go I am torn on that issue. I cant bring my self to have a youg kid, 17 or under, face the death penalty.  Do you sentance the kid instead to "life" in an adult setting or still place them in a juvenile facility?
And the other side of the coin....if you committed murder as a teenager and didnt get caught until many years later do you face trial as a juvenile because you were at the time of the crime or do you face trial as an adult?




Maybe thats a flaw on my part but I do know that kids that spend a lot of time in juvenile hall end up usually end up in prison as adults.

[commoner]

...mmmm.....the trouble with sentencing youngsters convicted of heinous crimes such as this one to 20 or 30 years is IMO that when they are paroled or whatever you like to call it, they will be only 45 or so years old...so the threat of them reoffending remains, with us as potential victims, for maybe another 30 or so years. In fact remains until they actually die because until that point they can still be a threat. At the rate we are going there will literally be hundreds  (thousands?) of these people around. Not only that. but most will have been given new identities to go with their new freedom so we won't even know who they are until.......well need I state the obvious....?

  As Papa says...you don't want to go down the road of killing them so is "without parole" the answer......

  Oh dear.." I feel we are going round in circles with this one......

[ATI_7500]

Maybe it's time somebody made it their business to find out.

Maybe the world is better off without us.

[Hagar]

Oh dear.." I feel we are going round in circles with this one......

I think this is a perfect example of the predicament we're in. Far greater minds than mine have pondered over this for decades if not centuries & nobody has come up with a definite solution. Experts on the subject are as divided as we are. The law is by no means perfect but it's the best we have. Democracy isn't perfect either but for it to work we must abide by the majority decision whether we agree with it or not.

At the risk of getting political again I think it's wrong that sentencing is influenced by the availabilty of space in prisons. If we decide that prison is the best way of dealing with some criminals we should build enough prisons to keep them in.

At the rate we are going there will literally be hundreds  (thousands?) of these people around. Not only that. but most will have been given new identities to go with their new freedom so we won't even know who they are until.......well need I state the obvious....?

I tend to agree but sincerely hope this an exaggeration. This impression is given by the media but I wonder if it's as bad as they make out.

[Smoke2much]

The major problem is sentencing.  A life sentence means in real terms (in the UK) 15 years.  For good behaviour it is reduced to 10 years.  Public feeling is beginning to sway in the direction that this is just not enough.

I have just heard on the news that the man responsible for an 18 year old lad burning to death has received 9 months.

This was through negligence but that is the climate in which we live.

Enough to make you sick.

Will

[Papa9571]

So we agree to build more prisons. That currently is a 100 Billion dollar a year industry over here. I personally have been involved in 27 prisons over the years, and have observed that they are full as fast as they are built. I shudder to think of the costs of housing criminals in some of these facilities but a fair average would be $45 a day per prisoner.

That said, and while pondering the question in the "library" I have an idea. Not to radical but a solution that I think might work and both sides could be happy with.

Why should the taxpaying public have to foot this bill?
Why not sentance them to "Life without the remotest possibility of parole", then set up a program wherby the prisoner would work at the prison to pay off his lodging bill.

I am not talking License plates but somethinbg useful and of a benefit to the community that could be done in the confines of the facility and "exported".

Comments?

[Hagar]

That said, and while pondering the question in the "library" I have an idea. Not to radical but a solution that I think might work and both sides could be happy with.

Why should the taxpaying public have to foot this bill?
Why not sentance them to "Life without the remotest possibility of parole", then set up a program wherby the prisoner would work at the prison to pay off his lodging bill.

I am not talking License plates but somethinbg useful and of a benefit to the community that could be done in the confines of the facility and "exported".

Comments?

I've always thought that this is a good idea. Everyone has to pay their way so why not criminals? Believe it or not, there are people over here seriously suggesting that prisoners should be entitled to vote in elections. As far as I'm concerned they gave up all rights to that when they contravened society's laws. They can't have it both ways & there's too much talk of prisoners' human rights these days. What about the human rights of their victims for once...............!

So we agree to build more prisons. That currently is a 100 Billion dollar a year industry over here. I personally have been involved in 27 prisons over the years, and have observed that they are full as fast as they are built. I shudder to think of the costs of housing criminals in some of these facilities but a fair average would be $45 a day per prisoner.

If what you say is true (which I don't doubt) & the prison population is escalating faster than we can keep up with it, surely someone should be asking themselves why. It's quite obvious to me that the people claiming that prison is not the answer are right.