The Death Penalty

[The Emo Duck]

You see the thing with him is he's really quite small and honestly not that strong. So he couldn't really hold his own with the dangerous people that he befriended. You seem to have a very different personality and you probably grew up differently than him and you don't know him personally so I don't think it's quite fair to compare him to yourself. That being said I am sorry for all the stuff you've been through.
And you aren't completely wrong some people know how to defend themselves and stand up for what they believe in. In 7th grade I had a boyfriend who grabbed my hair and tried to force me to give him a blow job, I bit his side as hard as I could and he let go. Most people wouldn't have thought of this as it was actually happening but I do really well under pressure; or at least I did then, now I have an anxiety disorder...
So yes some people have the willpower to defend themselves in situations, but those people don't make up the majority. It's been proven that if you are with a group of 2 or more other people you will do things you wouldn't normally do by yourself; hence gang violence, the kids in gangs who actually get out of them end up being perfectly respectable people, but when they are with the gang they do unspeakable things.
That's another thing that differs from your story, you alone had those thoughts because you didn't have 2 of your closest friends telling you to do something. I really don't think anyone can know exactly how he felt at the time, unless the EXACT thing happened to us.

[saiyouri]

I always didn't like the idea of putting someone to death. But thinking about it more, in some cases it is a good idea. Like the pervs out there. No matter what is done with them they will never stop. Chemical castration, prison, putting them all in their own town and never letting them out, pills, nothing works. Once a perv, they always will be.

Right now my cousins father lives across the street kiddy corner to a church and school and he molested her and her half sister while the mother of the half sister knew what was going on and nothing happened to her and she was able to keep her damn kid. Her half sister lost her virginity before she was a year old. I wished I was kidding about that, but sadly I am not. My whole family talked about this all the time and that was one thing I heard about while growing up and I never could forget it.

He spent a few years in prison and got out early and now he has contact with my cousin. Yes she is stupid as hell for talking to him herself, and she is somewhat mentally challenged, he should be forbidden to have contact with the victims.

So, he isn't monitored where he is living and he abused 2 kids for abut 10yrs, that is how old my cousin was when the state finally got off their lazy butts to stop him even though they got calls every day about what he was doing to his kids. Plus he tried to kill his son he had before he was put up for adoption so he couldn't hurt him anymore and beat my cousins mother and abused her in other ways as well.

Someone like that and the other pervs out there changed my mind about the death penatly. They deserve to be put to death. Other cases, those are something I would have to think about. Because pervs can destroy an entire family forever because of one thing they can do to someone. And no matter what is done to them, they will never stop. Because nothing can stop them except for death.

[The Emo Duck]

I agree with the fact that pervs can ruin a whole family; but most criminals can.

But I don't think death is the answer, what about life in prison with no parole? Then the victims won't have to see them again. And the sex offender laws are a little iffy in the US if you pee in public you are a sex offender; which in slang is a perv. So the law would have to apply to a certain type of sex offender but where do you draw the line, that's where it gets complicated. Just like the death penalty for minors, what makes you any different at the age of 17 and 11 months to 18; nothing. So do sex offenders who rape and abuse get the death penalty and/or offenders who just touch inappropriately but the child is young enough for it to stick with them and affect them for the rest of their life. Both are horrible crimes, but where do you draw the line, in court they would say the second one isn't as high of an offense. Usually the only cases where sex offenders are put to death is if they are serial rapists or they kill their victims as well.

My question here is really would you settle for life in prison without parole for them or do you want the death penalty still? And if you pick the death penalty where do we draw that line?

[saiyouri]

For child molestors I still think death is the best answer. My dad was supposed to be in prison longer for this and he got out early. My cousins dad should of been in longer for what he did and he got out early as well. Life in prison wouldn't do anything. They might get out somehow and they would still be able to enjoy their life. Prison isn't something hard to do, they have alot of stuff they can do there and enjoy their time. So that isn't something that sounds good to me if they can be happy while the lives of their victims are going to be tourting them forever.

[The Emo Duck]

Yes but child molesters put in prison get molested and raped themselves, and if you have life in prison without chance of parole you can't get out of jail. You're not allowed to. And when you get that you get put in maximum security prisons and in maximum security prisons child molesters are considered "wimps" by the other criminals and therefore are picked on and raped by their fellow inmates and this goes on and on as long as they are there. And prison isn't a cake walk it's hard in prison but death is an easy way out. A lot of them would rather be dead than go to prison for life. And if they changed it so child molesters got put to death do you know how much taxes would raise? people would have heart attacks, that's a good portion of people who are in jail now. And it's far cheaper to keep them there, id a law was passed putting them to death, trials would need to restart and in death penalty cases there are extra trials and lawyers and judges and so many extra people on the case and extra trials to try and prevent error and make sure the evidence is up to the standards it needs to be. And then the actually equipment that needs to be used costs so much each time they put someone to death.

The country can't afford to put more people to death than it does now; death penalty is only offered in murder cases and most of the time not used because of the cost or because of lack of solid evidence.

I'm not saying that what child molesters and sex offenders do isn't wrong; it's horrible, I just think that to have equal punishment they should be in a maximum security prison for life. I don't even think the death penalty is equal punishment in murders cases, or serial killers and rapists because many are sexual sadists which means they tortured their victims first to get sexual satisfaction and many sadists strangle their victims. The amount of pain they go through before death cannot be immolated (I believe that's the correct word, pardon me if it isn't) by the national government because that would go against the 8th amendment causing the punishment to be cruel and unusual. But to strangle someone it takes at least 3-4 minutes, sometimes up to 8 or even 10. Imagining the pain someone must be going through during that or during torture or during a rape is unimaginable. But think about what the lethal injection does... it's as humane as they can make it because they aren't allowed to step past that line. They go as peacefully as the government can make it in a controlled area, not fighting for their life or their safety. I don't think the punishment fits the crime. At least in prison they get crappy food and beat on by other inmates and sometimes the guards whack them too. I just feel like if they are going to be punished we should actually punish them and not let them out of their pain and misery.

[Platypus]

I'm just going to go with murderers here. If the death was not intentional (ie. manslaughter), I don't think the death penalty should apply.

But if someone killed a person with malicious intent, then of course the killer deserves to have their life taken away too. A life for a life, I suppose.

Otherwise, people who've committed lesser crimes should just be chucked in prison. Child molesters/rapists get hell in there, since even the convicts themselves usually hate them.

I reckon they should bring back the electric chair, that'd fix the 'humane' aspect of death penalties. Lol.

[terrapin]

I am totally against the death penalty. I don't believe in the whole "life for a life" concept, to me that's just childish. If murder is the worst crime possible, how come you're allowed to take the criminal's life so easily?
Besides, it's been proved it doesn't prevent crime.
And BESIDES, there have been cases where innocent people were executed, which is horrible.
I think the death penalty isn't democratic and should be abolished.

[The Emo Duck]

[terrapin]

[The Emo Duck]

There have been people who claim that certain people were innocent but they haven't been proven with evidence. I'm sure most of those stories are correct, they just haven't been proven.

[terrapin]

[quote="The Emo Duck"]There have been people who claim that certain people were innocent but they haven't been proven with evidence. I'm sure most of those stories are correct, they just haven't been proven.[/quot
e]
Oh OK then.

[ecco]

Mostly it just bothers me when countries take the guilty-until-proven-innocent stance. thats just wrong, as far as im concerned. its not just at all.

[The Emo Duck]

Terrapin: Yeup : )

Ecco: I totally agree. Especially when they do end up being innocent. Although I know that juries are supposed to go by the innocent until proven guilty and so are people but I feel like once you are charged with a crime and on trial for it, even if you didn't do it people think you have. And that's why many people charged with a crime and not convicted, who really are innocent, move once they get off trial because their neighbors treat them differently.
I think it's horrible.
And as I said before, I met the guy who killed my friend and I treated him like a completely normal person, because that's what he was. I didn't run in yelling at him; he's already in jail serving for it why make the situation worse for him. And I just wanted to know what made him do it; I wasn't able to attend the trial because I live in a different state now. But even when guilty I think until you know why they did it you can't fully comprehend who they are.

Sorry...I keep writing books as responses...haha

[ecco]

yea, tell me about it. i know a couple of guys who have been acused of raping a girl before... and its clearly not true, but the rumours tend to follow, you know? its quite sad. i feel bad for them.

i really like the way you think about things. you seem to have a very mature and logical mind. emotion can cloud peoples judgement, in fact it does so on a daily basis, if you think about it. did you find out why he did it, in the end?

[The Emo Duck]

I know, very sad.

Thanks <3 That means a lot.

Yeah we did. He was involved with the wrong group of people. He was made fun of a lot during his high school years, to the point he didn't really have any friends. And finally he thought he had 2 friends but they convinced him to kill for them because he didn't want to loose the only 2 people who seemed to care about him. He had family issues and he had suffered with depression. So I honestly felt bad for him and I gave him my sympathy and I told him I forgave him.