This is from a CBC radio talk show..the suggestion was that executioners should be called up same as jury duty. As well the local bar room talk..killing her/him wouldn't make going to jail worthwhile..how if someones life is less valuable to you than a mosquito to squish, then maybe your own life has no value..this and bitterness over how we spend more money on prisoners, than minimum wage workers. And they receive better food etc.
2006-09-26 17:02:48 · 12 answers · asked by nan 2 in Politics & Government ➔ Law & Ethics
Your dammed if you do and dammed if you don't
2006-09-26 17:06:30 · answer #1 · answered by aotea s 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I am not a Canadian; I am a US citizen in a state that is a little too free and easy with its death penalty. But, I support the death penalty.
When I joined the US Army I had to make a decision if I could kill someone to protect myself and my country. If I decided no then I would have tried something else. I was in the Army during the height of the Cold War, and during Desert Storm. Luckily I never had to prove my conviction. But, I made the decision that I would and I wouldn't hesitate to take the time to think about it in combat because I had already taken that time. It is not a decision to be made hastily or with ill consideration, so I gave it the importance that it was due. I took several months to make that decision, but I made it.
As to pulling the switch to execute someone, yes I could do it. It might take me a long time to recover though. If it was my job then I would probably quit, but I could do it for a while. However, I am not most people. People can make glib decisions and claim that they can execute someone, but the actual act is one that few people could live with themselves after doing it.
Frankly the best person to pull that switch would be a fellow inmate on Death Row, someone like a psychotic killer who would have no trouble pulling that switch. The people that do have to pull that switch are not psychotics though. Instead they become desensitized to the killing; when they pull that switch they feel that they aren’t doing it, society is, and rightly so.
The judge and the jury decided the case, the case was appealed and time was taken for those appeals. So when it comes down to pulling that switch the officer has the weight of the legal system and the opinion of a jury to help him pull that switch. This is a mental safety function so they can live with themselves after the act, and it is the reason why I can support the death penalty. For more on this see my answer to this question: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20060927090035AAjrtTu&r=w&pa=FZptHWf.BGRX3OFMhD1QV1rtoODGQq_ayfx7XtPIxKwfuaG0MGnu8.Ycbjndy9XUVUebnwCEPPghhY8s5w--#QZcvW2btVDeT0MfzxbMyN19TtvrVtEQimlZd4zsO_QyRerCg4sYq answer #8.
I don’t think that random people would be able to think about it this way. Putting that burden on them would be intolerable and would be enough to shatter all but the strongest minds.
Life has a great value, a very great value and the only reason we should ever take it away is when a person shows casual disrespect for that value and they prove it time and time again. That killer must be guilty beyond a shadow of a reasonable doubt. The case must be appealed; every precaution must be made to prove that the person is guilty. Remember that English Common Law, which is the basis for both of our countries laws, would rather release 10 guilty men than convict 1 innocent man.
Then the crime must also be considered if the man killed his parents, his sisters, and his brother then there is little chance he will do it again. The person must be sentenced to a long jail term, possibly life, but society can risk letting him live. Society cannot risk letting serial killers like John Wayne Gacy live. He said that if he every got out he would continue killing. The only way to stop this kind of man is to murder him, and no single person should every have to take the sole responsibility for that.
We do spend a lot more money on our prisoners than we do on the poor, but a lot of that money goes to confinement. Most of the poor aren’t a continuing threat to society like criminals are. That’s why we have the prison system.
Killing a person, like stepping on an insect, should never be societies’ attitude. That is the attitude of the people that do that kind of killing for which the death penalty is designed. If we can’t let those people live (and that risk is to great) then what choice do we have but to kill them? To enable the executioner to pull that switch they have to be specially trained and supported. They have to realize that society is doing the act, not themselves. Still living with what they do for a living is a horrible thought and requires the availability of the support from a psychiatrist. If you select a person at random then you can’t give them this training and insure that they have that support. Forcing one person to kill another is an act that is almost as bad as the killing. Society can avoid doing that and it has to.
The death penalty is horrible, but it exists to handle those people who are too horrible to let live. To execute these people we need to use professionals. That is what has been done through most of history. In the Dark Ages it was often just the local blacksmith that did the killing, we don’t live in the Dark Ages anymore. To levy this sentence needs the careful consideration of a judge, a jury, a trial, and the appeal process. This is greater than any one individual. To pull the switch to execute the criminal needs the same consideration, a consideration that we can’t expect a random person to have, and a responsibility that we can’t give out like you give out lottery tickets.
2006-09-29 21:07:29 · answer #2 · answered by Dan S 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No I can't justify un-necessary killing ......regardless of what any puny character may contrive gain some heart to balance your intellect if requested then it might just be humane.
By all means increase the minimum wage . it's ridiculously low.
I don't believe in a judgemental God that rewards and punishes the good and the bad .Albert Einstein.
I guess that's for those above God...?
2006-09-27 00:26:14 · answer #3 · answered by dogpatch USA 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If the person about to be executed was guilty beyond all doubt of a gruesome crime, I would be more than happy to pull the switch.
2006-09-27 00:15:27 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
the bible says, that if men sheds mans blood, by mans hand shall his blood be shed....i would do it if necessary, but there is ways that machines can do it and the persons who would probably volenteer for this job, could do so without too much remorse......and there is ways to do the job, where no one person would know who pulled the trigger..
2006-09-27 00:14:19 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If someone done something terrible causing death to one of my family members you bet your sweet *** I would pull the hammer down with no probablem or regrets.
2006-09-27 00:08:45 · answer #6 · answered by srcall1 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Interesting question.
And no, I could not. Even if I thought the person deserved it.
2006-09-27 00:36:31 · answer #7 · answered by Becca 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, could you imprison a lifer in your own house?
If you eat beef, could you slaughter a cow yourself?
If you have a septic tank, could you empty it yourself?
If your electricity comes from coal, could you mine it yourself?
2006-09-27 00:18:28 · answer #8 · answered by picopico 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No - though I think that some people deserve it I could not do it
2006-09-27 00:10:56 · answer #9 · answered by freemansfox 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It would be like winning the lottery
2006-09-27 00:04:51 · answer #10 · answered by CrazyCatLady 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes, I could.
2006-09-27 00:10:39 · answer #11 · answered by Fleur de Lis 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋