Death Penalty?

Question

A Sex fiend who kidnapped and raped a 14-year-old girl in an underground bunker was yesterday jailed for 421 years.

Jobless Vinson Filyaw, 37, posed as a cop to abduct Elizabeth Shoaf as she walked home from school.

He dragged her to his lair in a nearby forest, chained her to a metal pipe and repeatedly raped her for ten days.

Dozens of police and volunteers searched for the teen in Lugoff, South Carolina.

But after gaining the trust of her captor, Elizabeth was able to use his mobile phone and send an SOS text message to mum Madeline.

Cops traced the phone’s location and found her in the 15ft hole.

Elizabeth, now 15, was due to give evidence on the first day of Filyaw’s trial in Beaufort, South Carolina, but he pleaded guilty to kidnap and rape charges.


What are you thoughts on this, do you think if the penalty was death it would put people off?

I am surprised how long it took for someone to look at the weight this kind of sentencing places on the tax payers pocket.

In the age of DNA then there surely should be less chance of mistakes being made and the purpetrator being prosecuted.

Answer 1

that poor girl........sick people who commit crimes don't think about consequences or been caught or they think they will never be caught so i don't think the death penalty would change that.

Answer 2

The death penalty doesn't stop people from commiting murder so I really don't think that it would stop anyone from kidnapping and raping someone.
I truly believe that the problem with the death penalty is that if a person receives that as a sentence is that they have a greater chance of dying of old age than being put to death by the state. There are to many appeals in the system.
The convicted party should be given one appeal to make sure that everything was done properly and then carry out the sentence. In Texas there are people who have been on death row for 25-30 years filing appeals, that I feel is ridiculous.

Answer 3

I agree with Lisa that if he is depraved enough and therefore desperate enough, the death sentence would not be a deterrent. I also think that the death sentence is too easy a way out for some vicious rapists and murderers.In my darkest moments, thinking of a crime like this, I think they should put him in jail for life and every so often let the other prisoners near him to show him exactly what they think of him. I believe that is morally wrong, but I really wrestle with my conscience when thinking how to deal with people like him.

Answer 4

Several reasons that death penalty shouldn't be used:

1. Right to life. Period.

2. Because it's cheaper and quicker, people will be acutally MORE readily sentencing people to death. Because of this, there's a greater chance that people will get wrongly convicted.

Answer 5

I don't think any penalty would put these people off doing what they do.
It is the way they are, pure and simple. To most people it is sick and very, very wrong but they will do it regardless. It is, for whatever reason the way that their minds work.
I disagree with the death penalty anyway, it is nobodies right to play God. I do however think they should be locked up until the day they die.

Answer 6

I do not believe in the death penalty, although that is my first instinct in a case like this. The poblem in todays age is the civil right activists, no matter what someone has done they believe they still have rights to a more or less normal life in prison. This is what has to change. If a person commits such a crime they should be stripped of all rights, for they are no longer a member of our human race they are just animals. I picture the old Bastille days chained to a wall.

Answer 7

i don't for one moment think the death penalty would stop anyone

death would be to easy for them but jail is also

i would lock them up till they die

but it would be a total lock up
in a small cell and only basic rations to eat nothing but a bed sink and toilet

i would never again allow them out of that cell they don't have the right to be treated like humans

why should we pay to keep them inside with all the comforts only to let them out again to do it all over

they have it good we take away their freedom but think about it
they have no bills to pay a room and board with luxuries like TVs and computers and people to mix with that may be sicker than they are and give them ideas

life should mean life in my opinion and should not be a holiday

Answer 8

You might not realize that the death penalty costs much more than life without parole, mostly because of the legal process.

Answer 9

He will suffer more by being in prison than if he was killed. In prison you could be a murder and chopped up 500 people and no one in there would care. The one thing all prisoners hate are woman beaters and child molesters.

This man will end up having to be put into solitary confinement. He will get beat up every day and told how worthless he is, and he will be reminded every day of why he is there. To me this is worse than being killed. He will have his whole life to sit there and remember why he is there and the other prisoners won't let him forget it either!

To answer you if the death penalty would put people off...... yes it would, because you have people who believe that no matter what you should never do "an eye for an eye" and you should never kill another human being for something he did and believe that the death penalty is wrong no matter what.

Then you have the people who think that child molester, killers, rappers, etc should be hung. This is a very touchy subject, but I'm glad you asked about it =D

Answer 10

Alas, no. The death penalty, like the threat of prison, doesn't do much to discourage crime, because no one ever believes they'll be caught.

Answer 11

this is terrible. My gut reaction is to impose the death penalty for this monster.

But weirdos like this are rarely put off by the consequences of their actions.