Maybe this should be in TNZ, but I feel like maybe people here can discuss this in a civilized and respectful fashion without needing the steel cage. 
And the conversation might be more useful without the trolling.
I'd keep the death penalty, but there are a lot of things I would change around. No sentences longer than 3 years for anything (any longer has been shown to encourage recidivism, and this would save A LOT of money that could more than pay for the rest of this), actual rehabilitation programs utilizing a sufficient number of well-paid professionals for people who are in prison including an end to crime in prisons being an accepted thing (no more prison rape as a joke), a swift inexpensive death penalty for anyone found guilty of three counts of violent crime or two counts of violent crimes against children under 12 (whether at once or throughout their lives), and a better system for providing aid to the dependents of people removed (to prison, or just period) by the court systems.
I used to abhor the death penalty. But then my dad asked me something that, the more I think about, the more right I have realized that he is (and that's rare enough, I'll tell you): What would you expect to happen to you? If you raped someone's wife, or killed someone's loved one just to take their money, or molested someone's kid, what would you expect? .... Then why do you hold others to a different standard?
I know some people object to putting a price on life. I do, too - but the fact is that as things sit now, reality does it for us. Tax someone to take money for the prisons, and you spend money in prisons that could be used by the state for healthcare programs that can save the lives of good people who are playing by the rules, or to buy better body armor to save the lives of people willing to serve their country, or any number of other programs that can save lives of non-criminals. UNtaxed, that money may buy things we would judge as unnecessary - a new stereo when the old one was servicable, clothes for pets, etc - but it also may go to provide a better education for the taxpayer's children, or better personal care or food for themselves, or what have you. And is it really fair to ask them (or tell them) to give any of that up - money that they earned with their own labor - because someone couldn't play by the rules and now can't be trusted to live in society and has to be babysat by the state in perpetuity?
Maybe someday we'll have unlimited or at least much less limited resources (like the Federation does) and we'll be able to provide for people who don't kill, rape, etc, AND for those who do, and we'll spend all the resources needed to try to rehabilitate for their whole lives. But until then, I know who I would choose to get those resources.
I'd want someone given the death penalty given every courtesy that they reasonably can: last rites in their religion if desired, a last honor by the state (perhaps also delivered by their clergy, perhaps by a prison official) for the sacrifice of their life for the good of society, an opportunity to apologize to their victim(s) if mutually desired, an opportunity to tell their loved ones goodbye, and a really good last meal. But at the end of all that, they should be removed as a threat to themselves and others, and as a burden on society.
In closing this post, I'd like to mention without getting into too much detail, that I have had a loved one at serious risk of being given the death penalty in the past. It is more than theory for me, but this is still how I feel.
And the conversation might be more useful without the trolling.Why do people mention this as a downside to the American justice system? In my opinion, it's worse to let someone languish in prison for life - a miserable existance that also costs the taxpayers more.
I'd keep the death penalty, but there are a lot of things I would change around. No sentences longer than 3 years for anything (any longer has been shown to encourage recidivism, and this would save A LOT of money that could more than pay for the rest of this), actual rehabilitation programs utilizing a sufficient number of well-paid professionals for people who are in prison including an end to crime in prisons being an accepted thing (no more prison rape as a joke), a swift inexpensive death penalty for anyone found guilty of three counts of violent crime or two counts of violent crimes against children under 12 (whether at once or throughout their lives), and a better system for providing aid to the dependents of people removed (to prison, or just period) by the court systems.
I used to abhor the death penalty. But then my dad asked me something that, the more I think about, the more right I have realized that he is (and that's rare enough, I'll tell you
): What would you expect to happen to you? If you raped someone's wife, or killed someone's loved one just to take their money, or molested someone's kid, what would you expect? .... Then why do you hold others to a different standard?I know some people object to putting a price on life. I do, too - but the fact is that as things sit now, reality does it for us. Tax someone to take money for the prisons, and you spend money in prisons that could be used by the state for healthcare programs that can save the lives of good people who are playing by the rules, or to buy better body armor to save the lives of people willing to serve their country, or any number of other programs that can save lives of non-criminals. UNtaxed, that money may buy things we would judge as unnecessary - a new stereo when the old one was servicable, clothes for pets, etc - but it also may go to provide a better education for the taxpayer's children, or better personal care or food for themselves, or what have you. And is it really fair to ask them (or tell them) to give any of that up - money that they earned with their own labor - because someone couldn't play by the rules and now can't be trusted to live in society and has to be babysat by the state in perpetuity?
Maybe someday we'll have unlimited or at least much less limited resources (like the Federation does) and we'll be able to provide for people who don't kill, rape, etc, AND for those who do, and we'll spend all the resources needed to try to rehabilitate for their whole lives. But until then, I know who I would choose to get those resources.
I'd want someone given the death penalty given every courtesy that they reasonably can: last rites in their religion if desired, a last honor by the state (perhaps also delivered by their clergy, perhaps by a prison official) for the sacrifice of their life for the good of society, an opportunity to apologize to their victim(s) if mutually desired, an opportunity to tell their loved ones goodbye, and a really good last meal. But at the end of all that, they should be removed as a threat to themselves and others, and as a burden on society.
In closing this post, I'd like to mention without getting into too much detail, that I have had a loved one at serious risk of being given the death penalty in the past. It is more than theory for me, but this is still how I feel.
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