The problem is the weapon; a gun is personal. Eletrocution, Lethal Injection and to a lesser extent Hanging are all fairly impersonal. That is to say; to reduce the chance of someone committing 'murder' in the name of Justice, the State or the Nation can take credit for the latter three... at least, in Western Civilization. I remeber Stanislav Grof in one of his books briefly exploring the subject, but I could be wrong. Educated persons tend to be far more eloquent.
Also, it's messy. People don't like to see that kind of thing; and though I'm sure the excuse is pretty darn flimsy when you get right down to it I'd wager that a part of it plays in for the Executed and Executors. There's more dignity in it, supposedly, and until we get around to expiditing things, that Death Row Delay (here in the West) tends to be just long enough for the Convicted to come to terms with his death.
When I think about it, I feel like it has a lot to do with human perception of the act.
I like Telan's idea, except I'd make it worse. Stick him in a 10x10 concrete cell, no windows, seal the door shut, and slide food under it. When the plate stops coming back out, replace the corpse with another prisoner. At least for crimes like this.
Eeehhh I guess I'm not all that drastic, I believe in at least one appeal. I mean, there ARE guys on death row who dont deserve to be, it's hit the news a half a dozen times or more, especially in cases where they revisit DNA evidence but I think it's just silly some of those people spending decades and appeal after appeal wasting taxpayers money.
I think one appeal is enough to prove your innocent, since that's two whole trials giving you a chance.
And, before someone says it, no I don't think it's worth it for one or two innocent people to die so that all the guilty ones can be killed.... that's my opinion on killing them straight out and swiftly.
And while I do feel a sense of justice over the fact that if you go to prison as a child molester the prison guards make sure the rest of the inmates know it ((I have two cousins that are prison guards and they say that is standard in both prisons where they work)) I really don't think alot of prisoners are really being punished. Serial killers and mass murderers tend to be seperated from the general populace of the prison, so there's very little interaction with the sort of guys that can make their life really scary. Also, those really scary guys aren't really suffering because the high percentage of prisoners are too damned scared to really do anything to them.
Anyway, I started posting just to say I don't think we need more atrocious ways to kill death row inmates since, to me, that means we're unable to control our base instincts any better than they can. I just think the punishment should fit the crime ((a guy steals 13 dollars from a store with a post office in it and goes to prison for life but a man that rapes little girls and boys gets 5 to 20? and a kid nabs the little kid next door and kills them to see what its like spends the rest of his life in a plush mental fascility in which he can leave any time some mental health doctor says he can, but let some kid steal a couple cars and he gets packed off to a boot camp that patterns itself after Levenworth? ... please...)), the punishment should be doled out, and that death row shouldn't be a life with crappy neighbors. There are homeless people and hardworking families who have less medical care, less food and a lower standard of living than people on death row... I just don't see that as fair...
"Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."
Vengence and retribution are fun on film, but until you actually taste the bitter sting of it; best idea is to just shut the fuck up. Because when you get there you realize that it's just a pretense, an excuse called "justice" and what it really boils down to is this; another dead person.
Let's try and keep some decorum in this thread, shall we? Lest you experience the full fury of "justice and retribution" when some Admin closes this thread on his last, and winning, point.
Coming from a guy who lives in a country without the death penalty, let me just say that the day Justice is broken down for its' economic effects is the day Justice is broken.
While I'm at it, let me say that the rule of law means setting aside such petty concepts as revenge and punishment. It may well be hard to show restraint dealing with an offence we find personally disgusting or angering, but lashing out destroys any justification that the law might claim besides might makes right.
Yes, might often does make right - the politician with the most political might gets elected. The businessman with the most financial might reaches the top of his industry. The Rule of Law, however, relies upon ideals like Justice, Truth, Mercy, and a better way. To rise above the clumsy savagery of mob rule, these ideals must serve as the justification for the Law. To take any one of them away means all you are obeying is a will being enforced by might, not a higher concept of equality and fairness.
It is for reasons like these that I disagree with execution and all forms of cruel or unusual punishment. It is our ability to rise above such primitive means that puts us above the people we are to judge.