Lyion wrote:xaoshaen wrote:The death penalty doesn't work unless it's applied on a widespread, consistent, equitable basis, for all the reasons enumerated in the other death penalty threads. It needs to act as a sufficiently powerful deterrent to save more innocent lives then it takes. Applied infrequently and inconsistently, it's ineffective in this role.
That is a simple fact. If life imprison does not deter someone, is the death penalty really going to change much?
The simple fact is it is not justice. It is a barbaric stone age philosophy that inserts revenge into a system that is supposed to be unprejudiced.
Personally I veiw the death penalty not as revenge or anything remotely resembling revenge, killing someone doesnt teach them anything, it doesn't rehabilitate them in any way. It DOES however remove them from the system and keeps them from being a burden to law-abiding, tax paying citizens. My objection with life imprisonment is the fact that I am busting my ass to pay my bills and my tax money is going to feed and house some piece of shit criminal who will never be rehabilitated anyway. Prisons dont make better citizens, they make better criminals. If someone could figure out a way to have a confined criminal self sufficient and cost the state $0 then I would rather see that happen than to terminate someone's life, however that isnt going to happen, and I for one am tired of paying for a crapload of oxygen thieves.
Another point here is what exactly is the downside of prison when you live in the ghetto? Confinement? well if you are poor you arent going out very often anyway. However if you are in prison you get cable TV, a library at your disposal, nourishing meals, clothes, a place (cell) you only have to share with one other person. This isnt a punishment, this is a reward! As part of my graduate assistantship I had to go to a local prison to teach these bastards psych classes. It was the most outrageous experience of my life. Here I am working 20 hours a week to help fund my grad school, working a full time job to pay my bills, and borrowing thousands of dollars a year to fill in the difference, just for an education, these fuckers just pointed a gun into someone's face and they recieved the same education I had. Seems awfully inequitable to me. In fact, it seemed like I was the one being punished for NOT being a criminal. Most denziens of the ghetto are better fed, clothed and housed in prison than they are in their own homes. F**K three hots and a cot let them starve or fry their asses. Ok if it makes your delicate sensabilities feel better, give them herione until they stop breathing, at least then they go out with a pleasant high, but get rid of them, they are a drain on society and very few violent criminals become respectable members of society anyway, rather they say they have "found God" until they hit the streets and then they just go back to their old ways again.
A man can only live twice, once when he is born, and once when he has looked death in the eye~~~~Japanese Proverb
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