Could we enact a law by which car thieves would be hung by the neck until dead upon conviction?

Question

Not so long ago in the days of westward expansion, if a person stole the horse of another, the thief could expect to be hung if caught. I fail to see how stealing a car should be considered different. Surely car theft is more serious in nature as the possibilities for harming innocent people is far greater (particularly in the case of "joyriding."
I am confident of the vociferous objections from "liberal apologists" but would expect support from good law abiding citizens who recognise the difference between good and bad.

Answer 1

So SK: You have posted the following: 'Death penalty also should be available for rapists, whom should be horrifically tortured until dead.'. Beware of my impending 'Mis-use Of Whom Act' which will provide for evisceration of anyone found guilty of inappropriately using the word 'whom' in a misguided attempt to appear educated. Be afraid, SK... be VERY afraid....

Answer 2

I don't know where this ''Joy Riding'' came from.

Probably the same idiot that coined the phrase ''Happy Slapping''

So I think that the normal hanging from a Lamppost should be deferred to the ''Phrase Coiners'', I might include them being filmed kicked around the pavement as well.

CAR THIEVES however should have cheese wire attached around their nuts and another around their neck. Either end tied to Car Bumpers and the cars driven very, very slowly away from each other.

That reduces the Testicular part of the CAR THEFT, and puts a strain on the thinking part too.

I've counted the number of Lamp Posts between my place and London; I think every Lamp Post could be occupied by a hung ''Do-Gooder''.

Similar to the closing shots of the film Spartacus, but without the Crucifixions.

The above could suit the ''liberal prison reformers'' too....surely?. (It would mean less ''scrotes'' in jail).

Answer 3

The primitive practice in the old west was used only in remote areas were the laws were reigned by the rich cattle rs, however with the expansion of marshls into untamed territories this practice was abolished. Today we still use some primitive practices but they are seen as okey but time will see them as primitive as the previous ones,the ways Aztec killed is no different then the way our invasions kill.Now the best solution would be to make sure everybody works, and eats, that will take care of the problem but in a capitalistic society that is impossible becouse in order to amass fortunes you have to get those from others and in the end there will be poverty and crime.

Answer 4

You are far too attached to your car if you think a person should be executed for stealing it.

Capital punishment in any context is repugnant. Stealing a car is certinaly a punishable and illegal offense, however is your 1987 $200 Yugo really worth the life of another. Is it worth somebody's mother, father, sister, brother, son or daughter? People do some very very dumb things. Thier reasons are varied, however you loosing your car is not worth somebody loosing thier life. A lot of things put people in harms way. Sould we enact a death penalty for drinking and driving, how about running a stop sign or red light? You know, I live in a very snowy part of the nation, and unshovelled sidewalks cause many accidents every year. Would also executing the negligent property owners be warranted?

Really I do not believe it to be the place of mankind to decide who lives and who dies. Infact we do punish and execute people for making that decision. Does it not seem a little ironic that the punishment is the crime?

Answer 5

A little excessive and permenant. Maybe we should explore the idea of loosing body parts. This would also solve the problem of the lack of organs available on the NHS. Steal a car lose your liver, live the rest of your life on dyalasis. Cruel but fair I feel, this way that get to give someone else a chance and maybe some poor misguided fool will then provide them the option to be well again (once they've learnt their lesson).

Answer 6

I am a good upstanding citizen and I think hanging is too good for them. I think they should be hung drawn and quartered as a public spectacle, and their bodies exhibited at all local schools as an object lesson for prospective car thieves.

Then their parents should be incarcerated for life as a punishment for bringing them up badly; and their extended family including second-cousins-once-removed and spouses thereof should be held in a concentration camp until they are too old to have children, and then exiled to San Francisco, that city of iniquity, to ensure that the bad blood is purged.

I'm with you all the way, mate, and I think if we cut off the hands of thieves, the tongues of people who ask silly questions, the noses of people who smell bad and the ears of people who don't listen, our little world would be a better place for righteous (I might even say self-righteous) citizens like ourselves.

I think we need to write a strongly worded letter to someone.

Answer 7

I believe this would be a case of punishment not fitting the crime. Although that may have been the case in the old "justice from the hip" West, I don't think you can justify the taking of a life as justice for the thieving of personal property. The people that would carry out that punishment would be a greater threat to public safety than the thief, in my opinion.

Answer 8

In the days of the old west, a horse often meant the difference between life and death for the owner, that is why a law was passed to hang horse theives. A car is hardly a matter of life and death for the owner in this day and age. There are other ways of getting around if necessary.

Answer 9

It depends on who you mean by "we." Most tellingly, since "we" is a first person plural pronoun, it depends on who *you* are. Are you a state senator, assemblyman, or other legislator? If not, the answer is probably not. Criminal statutes are not "enacted" by the citizenry in this country.

But even if you are a state legislator, the answer is still probably not. Although generally, state legislatures can pass any criminal laws they want pursuant to their "police power," the United States Supreme Court has held repeatedly that "death is different." Because the U.S. Constitution guarantees that one cannot be deprived of "life, liberty, or property without due process of law," it is unlikely that such a disproportionate punishment would be deemed to be constitutionally permissible.

Answer 10

I see your point but it makes little sense to hand out death penalties for car theft when murderers get 20 years? Cars are pieces of metal and if they are driven illegally and someone is killed then that is a different matter. Otherwise they should be given a sentence that matches any other theft with menaces.