Should a life sentence mean LIFE?

[SolemnBoy]

Oh, the 'Child's Play' boys. I have a hard time even figuring out what method I'd prefer in their case - firmly against capital punishment though.

[Tyrion]

After the child porn thing, he certainly shouldn't be released again. I do believe in second chances -- I think SOME people deserve them, even after committing the most heinous acts.. but at the same time.. most don't. In this case, this guy needs to be locked up for good.

[Genersis]

I don't know.
I generally hold the kind of beliefs people point to and call hippy liberal who sides with criminals instead of the victims.
So, yeah, I tend to believe in rehabilitation and second chances, rather than punishment for the sake of vengeance, or as a deterrent to others.

[princealbertofb]

The fact is that even if there is a chance for rehabilitation and maybe even a shortening of the sentence, the men in question are not necessarily going to get it. I doubt that they would release someone with a life sentence easily unless they had good grounds to do so. I think they'd be very wary of how they handled the matter.

I'm thinking in a case of a dire illness, maybe, if the prisoners were going to die within a short time, maybe they could be released to be held in better care? Whatever the reason for the (non) release, we need to remember that each prisoner costs society quite a lot of money too. Maybe there would be some savings in not having such a huge penitentiary population.

[OrphanPip]

Harsher penalties are not effective at stopping crime, just look at the USA's prison population and crime rates.

[princealbertofb]

Life sentences don't reduce crime rates.

I like, more so, the premise of an eye for an eye jurisdiction.

Crime would go down significantly, I'm sure.

If the judges and jury never made any mistakes, that would surely be what suits people best. Unfortunately both miscarriages of justice and judicial errors exist and even 'an eye for an eye' might not be so easy to mete.
"You took my daughter's life, I'll have your daughter's life. Oh wait, you don't have a daughter... What can I have in exchange? Your son? Your wife? Your little brother?" It never ends.

The death penalty doesn't seem to solve anything. Look at the figures, there are probably more people who are killed in the USA every year than anywhere else (of countries that are living in times of peace) and yet some of the US states use the death penalty. Elsewhere, where this type of penalty has been discarded, for humanitarian and social reasons, has the murder rate risen? A culture of violence just breeds more violence.

Society will always have problems with people who are 'deranged': serial rapist, serial killers, mad people or people under the influence of drugs and drink... If we knew how to treat these problems, we would. They are part of the anomalies that life throws at us, just like random accidents that end up in casualties.

An 'eye for an eye' approach? The same goes for manslaughter as opposed to wilful murder. If you kill someone accidentally, while driving or something else, does that mean your life has to be on this line of revenge or justice? How do you kill the still living culprit? Arrange for a similar accident and violent death to occur? This man's/woman's car got out of control when a tyre puncture occurred... oh but wait, this one was driving under the influence. But they both killed someone. Do we kill both the drivers, or just give two totally different sentences according to the prejudice and the diverging lacks of respect for the law? Maybe the punctured tyre was pure bad luck, maybe the other driver shouldn't have got into their car if they'd drunk too much.

The reasons we have courts of justice is to make sure we don't do anything rash or foolish. They may not be perfect, but they are safeguards for us all.

See, if you will, 'The Life Of David Gale', or 'In the Name Of The Father' both of which illustrate this type of problem interestingly.

[partisan]

Yes life should mean life, exactly what THEY take away.

I do not sympathize with susan aitkins or any murderer, there IS no excuse. Murder sickens me.

Someone made a thread and posted a video about satanism the other week, in there society killers would be killed instantly, not given a cosy cell AND human rights, well... i can agree on that.

I know the saying that krupt said and i dont believe it.

People want to keep child killers, sadists, torturers alive, cos they dont believe in capital punishment. Its an insult to right-thinking people.

Life = Life.

[partisan]

Harsher penalties are not effective at stopping crime, just look at the USA's prison population and crime rates.

SO WHAT. Murder can not be taken back. But its ok for us to say "its ok, just dont do it again" !

It people like on this thread who allow killers free to kill again. Never mind though, your still alive.

[partisan]

For me, to take a life (i think people dont really grasp how strange that is) i wouldnt want to live. If i was being kept alive, having nice theorapy sessions (while my victims bodys rotted) (oh you cant see them, because there life was snatched from them) id be sickened by humanity.

Even some killers say they should be killed. i dont care (as kiid said) if death is too easy. Why should they be able to breath air.

People are too sensitized to seeing murder on the tv or something, i dont know? They dont comprehend the gravity of it.

[SolemnBoy]

You can't hold any kind of respect for the sanctity of life and support capital punishment at the same time.

1. Cases of false accusations have occurred in the past and will continue to do so despite our scientific advances. Surely the quantity of unjustly accused individuals should decrease but there will always be room for mistakes - even if a million hideous murderers were to be executed along with 1 innocent man or woman it wouldn't be forgivable.

2. Punishing the act of murder with death creates a paradox. When endorsing capital punishment we're basically saying "We'll punish your disrespect for the lives of others by taking your own life" - it makes no sense whatsoever.

3. The existence of a death penalty doesn't really intimidate people into leading better lives. The majority of murders are either committed out of passion (in which case there's no time to think the consequences through) or gain (in which the perpetrator actually plans the murder and thus is convinced he won't be caught).

4. Rehabilitation is very much possible. This statement is NOT the same as saying "let all the murderers out of jail!" or "he said he's sorry, obviously he's learned his lesson so let him out now". It's just stating that people, in some cases, actually do change.