Florida lawmaker wants to bring back electric chair, firing squad

I'm not sure how much more data we need to show that the death penalty is NOT a deterrent to violent crime before we get rid of it like most civilized nations. The US is in the top 5 in the world in number of executions per year, up there with countries in the Middle East and Asia. Is that where we want to be?

 

theoretically i support the death penalty, but have no faith in the government to carry it out humanely or without killing innocent people. it's not worth it to kill even one innocent person if you can kill 1,000 murders. i agree with you there.

 

I am unconditionally opposed to the death penalty. It's pure bloodlust and does no good for society.

 

Just like how Life Without Parole for juveniles is cruel and unusual.

 

Pretty much this, especially the last sentiment. I seriously despair at the direction this country is taking. Why not just bring back crucifixion while we're at it?

 

I am against the death penalty. It doesn't deter, it is expensive, and there have been countless innocents killed by it.

But if the decision is lethal injection vs firing squad, then a firing squad is actually a more "humane" (if we can call it that) alternative to the lethal injection, which often gets the mixtures wrong, leading to a potentially painful and always slow death. More importantly, a firing squad does away with the myth of the clean, surgical death. In fact, the irony of it all is that the guillotine and the firing squad are generally the least painful and excruciating forms of execution, and have been done away with for the benefit of the audience, not the victim. Maybe if these methods were reintroduced the audience would be reminded of just how brutal the death penalty is, and support for it would once again drop.

 

For reasons already stated, I oppose the death penalty. But if we're going to have a death penalty and, in fact, argue that the death penalty is just, I tend to agree with dippin: the onus on the executioner(s) should be more demanding than just flipping a switch. I vaguely remember reading about a study that found that people who were not apt to pick up a weapon and harm another person, were far more easily convinced to do harm to someone by pushing a button that (purportedly) caused harm to be done to a person in another room. How convenient for war and corporal punishment and stuff.

 

Just to get it out there. I'm absolutely against the death penalty. I can find no moral basis for killing another human being, despite the crime they've been convicted of. The taking of a life for another life is senseless. The death penalty has been proven not to be a deterrent. It solves nothing. It corrects nothing. It's not justice, it's vengeance, pure and simple. The clamoring for blood that arises when an execution is approaching, is sickening.

It's difficult for me to think in terms of acceptable murder over unacceptable murder. It's all murder and those who condone and promote it are accessories to that murder, more so than an executioner who may view it as a difficult aspect of his job.

When I think of the electric chair, I will forever have the image of "Dale" burning and frying in the movie "the Green Mile". Anyone who can watch that movie and walk away still convinced that justice is served by execution is one cold bastard.

 

I have no moral issue with the death penalty, I'm just not convinced that our justice system can ever guaranty 100% accuracy on conviction.
Sheriffs and prosecutors are incented to provide arrests and convictions. It seems we read of someone exonerated from death row on a weekly basis.

On the off chance that we ever find a perfect system, make it quick, painless, and not a spectacle. I'm not sure the electric chair fits that criteria.

 

If you're in a State that imposes the electric chair for first degree murder convictions, I guarantee you'll think twice about committing murder.

 

Murder rates are in fact higher in states with the death penalty. There is no evidence that would support your claim that capital punishment is a deterrent.

 

Read my post again.

 

There are more murders per captita committed in states with the death penalty.



The death penalty is not a deterrent or there would be fewer murders in those states.

 

Folks like to do some killin' in the South land. Just think about how high those murder rates would be if they didn't impose the death penalty. The majority of the nation's black population lives in the states with the highest murder rates.
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The countries with the lowest murder rates have public executions including stoning. Think about that.

 

Ah...its a "southern" thing and a "black" thing.

 

Just pointing out the facts.

 

whoo boy.

 

The lowest murder rates are in countries in Western Europe, Canada, Australia, and Japan....countries with no capital punishment AND strict gun control.