Should capital punishment be abolished?

[NM]

Hi hubbers! Just thought of opening this thread to discuss the issue of "Capital punishment - death penalty".

Last week, drug trafficker Van Nguyen, was hanged in Singapore and this led to a wide media coverage on the death sentence for drug trafficking. Australia abolished capital punishment about 30+ years ago. As we know, death penalty exists in Singapore, Malaysia and many Asian countries and in 38 states in the USA.

Should the death penalty be abolished? Or, do you think it should remain for certain crimes such as Murder, terrorism and Rape? What are your views on Capital punishment - death penalty?

[Sandeep]

Retribution.

Execution is a very real punishment rather than some form of "rehabilitative" treatment, the criminal is made to suffer in proportion to the offence. Although whether there is a place in a modern society for the old fashioned principal of "lex talens" (an eye for an eye) is a matter of personal opinion. Retribution to the victim or their family seen by many as an acceptable reason for the death penalty.

Deterrence.

Does the death penalty deter? It is hard to prove one way or the other because in most retentionist countries the number of people actually executed per year (as compared to those sentenced to death) is usually a very small proportion. It would however seem that in those countries (e.g. Singapore) which almost always carry out death sentences there is generally far less serious crime. This tends to indicate that the death penalty is a deterrent, but only where execution is an absolute certainty.

Cost.

Jail terms are ment to act as rehabilitation centers which allow a person to THINK. But what about serious criminals who continue to be a serious threat to society (repeat child molesters, serial killers). These people need to be permanents kept out of public, so do we provide free housing and food for performing a crime !

[Querida]

This may sound cold-hearted but the only qualm i have about the capital punishment is the death of an innocent person.....this is springing from anger more based on our lax joke of a system we have here than anywhere else....where you got to offend twice (and get caught of course :roll: ) to even ask for one's dna sample...

[Lambretta]

Earlier I wud feel tat capital punishments shud be meted out to atleast men like rapists/sex racketeers as they sound like ppl. who truly deserve it! Even among murderers there r those who commit such a crime out of impulse/emotion or even self-defence. As for drug dealers, I suspect many of them do wat they do bcos of maybe sum circumstances/compulsions.......so do thieves/burglars etc.....so tat wudn't be serious enuff to amount to death penalty.....but men who rape women or force them into all sorts of crimes r those who do it w/ out ne compulsion, ie. purely out of their own free will.....they otherwise cudn't possibly hav ne reason for doing so, hence I felt tat they r the only one who deserve capital punishment.
However, in our corruption-infested country w/ our equally lax joke of a system, there's always a chance of the wrong person getting caught for such a crime! So I now feel tat in such a scenario it'd turn out to be a sheer case of justice at its blindness!

[nilavupriyan]

according to me there are two ways to view it

1)is capital punishment severe than lifelong imprisonment?

no.lifelong imprisonment is more severe than capital punushment.

2)will a person doing murder will think abt the capital punishment or any other punishment while he is doing mistake(may be ,murder)

no....may be sometimes if it is done for pleasure(rape and killing)he may be aware of it....but if it is done for revenge or something, he will not think abt the punishment!

imho....making a person wait for his day is not a human behaviour.!

further if a person is found to be innocent...after the capital punishment is finished...its very serious!

after all noone have rights to kill anyone!