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death penalty


myduwigd

What do you believe is right?  

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[quote name='Ash Wednesday' date='Mar 21 2005, 07:55 PM'] But you didn't BOLD it. Shame on you!

*lash with a wet noodle*


;) [/quote]
:lol: :P

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shelly_freak

Murder the murderer, therefor making yourself a murderer who then needs to be murdered. It's a vicious cycle.

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one of my pet pieves is when people try to put the death of a murderer on par with the death of an innocent who has not even breathed yet. There is a tremendous difference between these two.

I'm not saying that people who are callous destroyers of what is good in our society don't deserve respect; i'm saying they aren't among my first priorities. They ceased to be my first priority when they decided it was time to violate another person.

That said, i'm not a big supporter of the death penalty as an 'early and often' type of punishment. Would it deter? Of course! But it greatly increases the number of potential mistakes, and mistakes in these lines are bad. What i would prefer would be to limit the death penalty to a few people every decade . . . maybe even less. But I certainly wouldn't ban it entirely . . . that would be shear idiocy. It would be like saying, "I'm omniscient, and there's no possible situation in the future that could ever make the death penalty reasonable." and "I can predict the future, and all the bad people behave in jail, so we don't need it anymore."

There *are* people who need to be destroyed to protect society, and thanks to modern technology these people are more dangerous than ever before. A prime example of this would be a mob boss; we can lock them up, but if they gain access to a telephone they are no less dangerous to their enemies than they were before they were locked up.

It would be foolish to eliminate the death penalty, but it would be bloodthirsty to encourage it much more than it is . . . besides, it's politically correct to cry for an end to the death penalty . . . that alone is reason enough for me to lend *some* support to it.

Peace,
Joe :)

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[quote name='shelly_freak' date='Mar 21 2005, 10:39 PM'] Murder the murderer, therefor making yourself a murderer who then needs to be murdered. It's a vicious cycle. [/quote]
No, actually it doesn't, because you don't "murder the murderer" you "kill the murderer" there's a difference.

A murderer is someone who kills someone unjustly. That's wrong. A killer may be killing someone justly, that's *not* wrong. It's a subtle, yet critically important difference.

Peace,
Joe :)

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allis-challmers

I don't think that the death penalty solves anything all that you get out of it is revenge. You can't bring anyone back from the dead if you kill the man that killed him. If you give him a 50 to 100 year sentece is much better. we also end up spending more on this person because of the extra security and all of the apeals that they get. the exicution date allways gets pushed back and it would be better just to sentice the killer to a very very long time in prison.

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the thing i always wonder about is that do people really feel justice has been served when the murderer of their loved one is executed? :unsure: i can't imagine it...

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[quote name='Lil Red' date='Mar 21 2005, 10:57 PM'] the thing i always wonder about is that do people really feel justice has been served when the murderer of their loved one is executed? :unsure: i can't imagine it... [/quote]
well . . . technically it is a just execution . . . but . . . yeah, i've wondered the same thing. I mean . . . basically you're just allowing the murderer to have control over your whole family when you thirst for vengeance.

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well, personally speaking, if someone murdered someone i love (hubby, parents, siblings) i would want them to do hard labor until they die naturally than let them get a "get out of jail free card" by getting executed.

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[quote name='Lil Red' date='Mar 21 2005, 11:16 PM'] well, personally speaking, if someone murdered someone i love (hubby, parents, siblings) i would want them to do hard labor until they die naturally than let them get a "get out of jail free card" by getting executed. [/quote]
Actually, many prisoners embrace prison life. Of course, they have lost their freedom, but prison life can actually be appealing to some. Many who have spent most of their lives in prison are released back into society and don't like it so they break their parole and go back in jail. And often, prison involves anything but doing hard labour.

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[quote name='MagiDragon' date='Mar 21 2005, 11:06 PM'] well . . . technically it is a just execution . . . but . . . yeah, i've wondered the same thing. I mean . . . basically you're just allowing the murderer to have control over your whole family when you thirst for vengeance. [/quote]
If someone murders your family, you would want retribution for that crime. Just because you would want that person to pay the ultimate penalty for what they did doesn't mean you want bloodthirsty revenge.

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[quote name='Phazzan' date='Mar 21 2005, 09:44 PM'] Actually, many prisoners embrace prison life. Of course, they have lost their freedom, but prison life can actually be appealing to some. Many who have spent most of their lives in prison are released back into society and don't like it so they break their parole and go back in jail. And often, prison involves anything but doing hard labour. [/quote]
well, that's why i want to go to a system that requires it :P ya, i know, wishful thinking :rolleyes:

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Guest Eremite

A man gets a last meal (whatever he wants), is walked down a hallway, gently injected with drugs, and goes to sleep.

Some retribution.

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precisely, this is not revenge- this is giving to him what by the natural law is DUE to him. whosoever shed a man's blood by man shall his blood be shed. this is not about making him suffer or anything, this is giving him what is due to him. you have just proven the point that this is not some big revenge thing, which when analyzing this from a Catholic point of view is actually a PLUS for the death penalty.

many a man has been brought to repentence when facing death. The Church has long held it as extremely virtuous to repent and accept the execution that you deserve for the crime you committed. the death penalty has probably brought more people to conversion than life imprisonment.

anyway, I see a big contradiction in the anti-dp ideas. On one hand you say that it's so bad because we're seeking revenge. then you're saying the revenge isn't enough.

we are ending the person's life. it is more vengeful to want them to suffer than to civilly separate their body from the soul and commend them to God's Justice.

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as far as politics goes--it costs less to keep someone in life imprisonment than it does to use the death penalty.

and the whole thing with the prisoners "liking" prison life--it's not that they like it, but it's like i think plato's cave--people want to go back to what they're used to because the dangers are familiar, and so will forsake the sunlight, which is the unknown, for the darkness, which is familiar to them. the criminals know how prison works; they might've been out of society for so long that they're completely unfamiliar with it.

on the one hand...since it's justified killing i'm not against it. however, first of all there's the off chance that one might repent and do good in their lives (case in point: st. alejandro, who was st maria goretti's murderer/rapist). there's the fact that a lot of times people on death row are wrongly convicted--why take that chance? and also, like i said the fact that death penalty costs more...i think DP should only be used when absolutely necessary--when someone is such a menace to society that keeping him locked up would do virtually nothing.

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[quote name='Phazzan' date='Mar 21 2005, 11:47 PM'] If someone murders your family, you would want retribution for that crime. Just because you would want that person to pay the ultimate penalty for what they did doesn't mean you want bloodthirsty revenge. [/quote]
Actually, i think that's exactly what it means, since you put is so succinctly. I wouldn't *want* a person who had killed my loved one to die . . . but if they were a threat to others then i would want the to defused . . . which could well mean execution.

Peace,
Joe :)

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