Posted on 02/11/2010 8:20:05 PM PST by myknowledge
Long ago, executions of convicts were carried out in public view.
Then they were carried out of public sight, in chambers and prisons, with a red lamp glowing to indicate that an execution is taking place.
I have started this thread because I want to ask this question:
Should prisoner executions be televised live?
Yes or No?
No, it gives the scumbags a forum to revictimize people in their final statements.
We could do pay-per-view for the more controversial or really desirable executions.
Maybe show the injuries sustained in prison showers instead...
We have sanitized the death penalty to such an extreme that it has lost the power to horrify.
The 8th Amendment was originally a good idea, but it was actually aimed at things that were obviously so crude and barbaric that no civilized person could condone them. Things like drawing and quartering, keelhauling, etc.
The problem is, that liberals have moved the goalposts on what constitutes “cruel and unusual” to the point where we have to practically coddle crooks until we send them (rarely) to eternal sleepy land.
Because of this, there is little deterrence value in criminal punishment these days. When even a cold blooded murder seldom results in a death penalty, and when parole boards release violent criminals after as little as seven years, violent thugs feel they have little to fear.
I am sure that a lot of people disagree with me, but I believe that punishment must be cruel if it is to be effective and deter crime. It must also be swift and sure.
Specifically, I would like to see stocks and whipping posts erected for misdemeanor crimes. Putting a shoplifter in stocks for two hours in front of the store they ripped off would be a very effective way to deter future shoplifters, as well as ensure the shoplifter was disinclined to repeat behavior.
For drunk drivers? Erect the whipping post. Currently a drunk driver loses his/her license and in most cases spends a month or more in jail. End result? They lose their car, they lose their job, they may even lose their family. Does it deter future drunk driving? I don’t know.
I do know, however, that if they were chained to a post and given 10 lashes with a whip on Friday evening, in public, they would get a lesson that they damn well would not forget, and would probably make it to work the next Monday.
As for the death penalty itself. I prefer firing squads, in public. Actually, in situations where the crimes are especially vile, I would prefer a punishment that is just as cruel and demented as the crime, but I don’t think that would ever be in the realms of possibility.
Make ‘em go on suicide missions to “visit” Hugo Chavez, Kim -Il, Castro, and that nut job Ahmadinejad.
Only if adultery and sodomy are made capital crimes again.
Again, I believe the best way is to basically shoot, shovel and shut up. Why give the condemned any publicity at all.
The death penalty may have been a spectacle in the past, but that does not mean that it should be. I’m not sure people need a lesson on death from the government.
There’s really no upside to broadcasting executions.
I actually think it would be a good idea to have people realize the power of the government...for good and for evil. The govenment kills quite a bit, directly through force in the streets, indirectly through street justice capital punishment in the prisons, and the govenment can back every law from jaywalking to murder one with force.
Would not hurt to have that brought home.
No, not in general, because the wrong people would watch for the wrong reasons. And the desensitization issue is a real concern, even for people watching for the right reasons.
However, I think in exceptional cases, it might be appropriate. E.g. where someone has committed a large-scale mass murder (WTC, Oklahoma City) that was an attack on people in general (rather than targeting a specific group of people or a specific company), where there’s likely to be a national sense of need for “closure” and first-hand witnessing of justice.
“Who loves you, and who do you love?”
No
“Running Man”
Hilarious! Another new TV reality show!
It should be televised on closed-circuit television to all prisons and jails only. Prisoners should be made to watch the executions.....even the ones currently on death row.
I remember Phil Donahue favoring this, saying that if the public could see executions, they would be disgusted by them. What Phil couldn’t comprehend, as all liberals fail to, is that the reality is that the public would come to see them as a form of entertainment. Executions should remain as dignified as possible, and kept in private. They’re not for show, they’re for punishment.
Not televised. Bt done in public in the town the crime was committed. By hanging, firing squad, or old sparky
I think the execution should be carried out within 30 days and convicted people should not be setting on death row for 10-30 yrs. I can’t see where televising them would do anything except create another garbage program.
And what? Portray the death penalty in a negative light?
They’re not for show, they’re for punishment.
Right.
Its a hard question. I believe in capital punishment and I do not think things like the electric chair or firing squads are cruel or un-usual. We need to end the lives of many in prison—Charles Mason—what good does it do to keep him alive? Serial Killers and sadists should not be permitted to breath the air. Part of me favors public executions, part of me is repulsed. Maybe we should set them on fire and toss them off the Empire State Building at midnight so all could see their last illuminated fall. That or killers and people of note (like Scott Peterson) should be put on display so citizens could see them for a fee.
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