Is it justifiable to execute criminals?

[AlexOC]

It's an easy way out for criminals. I would prefer to see murderers rot in prison than escape it so easily.

[Tash.]

This is such a tricky subject, there are so many things to consider and both sides are correct in their own way.

On the one hand I think why should someone who has murdered someone or altered someones life so badly get away with completing their lives, albeit in a prison cell? Alot of these prisons have been shown to have quite comfortable living conditions too, it's not as if they're bored with nothing to do. Personally, i'd be happy for there to be no death sentence as long as the prison service was cleaned up. I don't see how criminals should get to live so comfortably. Repeat offenders don't even seem to care about going there, they're more happy in there than on the outside. That's not prison to me.

I just don't think that introducing the death penalty will help anything, it's been proven that miscarriages of justice arent that rare afterall and I for one wouldn't want to be involved in anyway with the death of an innocent person.

[GommeInc]

i don't think that execution is really justice. justice for who? the murdered? they haven't got their life back.. the family of the victim? they don't get their family member back... the murderer? they don't have a real punishment, they escape a life of imprisonment, anxiety and having to live with the guilt of it.

justice for murder can never be achieved.

Excellent post Finding justice in execution isn't plausible, yes the murderer ended someone's life, but is it justice to end theirs the same way? No, simply because they won't suffer - there life is just ended, hardly a lesson in justice, surely you'd want them to learn a lesson by living with the guilt? Why anyone would want control over someones life is beyond me, people seeking justice in capital punishment seem worse than the criminals, because they have the control over someones fate.

I'd hate to be friends with, or know someonee who felt it necessary to chant "KILL 'IM" at someone convicted of murder, these uncivilised people should be locked away just like the criminals they're convicting.

[-:Undertaker:-]

i don't think that execution is really justice. justice for who? the murdered? they haven't got their life back.. the family of the victim? they don't get their family member back... the murderer? they don't have a real punishment, they escape a life of imprisonment, anxiety and having to live with the guilt of it.

justice for murder can never be achieved.

Justice for the victim.
Justice for the family.
Justice for the friends.

Prison is a joke thanks to the European Union and New Labour with their human rights.

On the issue of 'guilt' in general - why would you feel guilt, nothing to feel guilty about. I didn't murder my mother/father/friend so i've nothing to be guilty about.

[GommeInc]

Justice for the victim.
Justice for the family.
Justice for the friends.

Prison is a joke thanks to the European Union and New Labour with their human rights.

On the issue of 'guilt' in general - why would you feel guilt, nothing to feel guilty about. I didn't murder my mother/father/friend so i've nothing to be guilty about.

None of that makes sense - how is it justice? And you've not killed anyone, so you're not guilty? Kinda goes without saying...

[Ardemax]

Undertaker that is not justice, that is us 50 years ago.

If you honestly think killing a murderer is justice, then how low are you to the crime they have commited? They might not even have commited murder, yet still get the death penalty, is that justice?

What if you got it wrong? 5 Years later you discover the real murderer and "oopsies"... you can't do anything about it.

[-:Undertaker:-]

That is justice, that person took away a life, they forfeit their right to live. Of course it's justice, its like me saying 'well how is prison justice' - it is. Ideally what I would do is hold a referendum on the issue and settle it once and for all, although i'd expect it to not pass.

[Ardemax]

Justice should be something to fit the crime, ie. a punishment. Although murder for murder sounds fair, it isn't.

What about the mad people? What about the disabilities who kill?

Killing someone else is in-humaine and unfair, I'd rather see them rot in a cell.

[-:Undertaker:-]

A execution for a murder is fair, you forfeit your right to life if you murder someone else. On 'rotting in prison' - murders dont rot in prison, even in the United States where prison is far worse than the ones we have, they feel at home, they like it there - most of them have always lived rough and been involved in gangwars, in prison its the same just that they dont have to worry about money, food or a bed at night to sleep in.

[FlyingJesus]

Ideally what I would do is hold a referendum on the issue and settle it once and for all, although i'd expect it to not pass.

The reason there isn't a referendum on it is because opinion polls show that the general public would likely vote it in on the majority

Justice should be something to fit the crime, ie. a punishment. Although murder for murder sounds fair, it isn't.

So what judgement fits murder if not losing your own life?

What about the mad people? What about the disabilities who kill?

What about them? They've still killed someone and murder is still illegal