Re: Washington DC sniper to die?

I don't agree with capital punishment - civilised society's have progressed to being better than that.

Re: Washington DC sniper to die?

Azz, I'm glad you said that because I really should have.

Re: Washington DC sniper to die?

The trouble is that we have such dreadful double standards in our legal system.

For example, a young yobbo drank himself silly, took drugs, stole a car and drove around at a very high speed. He knocked down an OAP, who was carried some 40 odd feet along the road on his bonnet before falling into the road, where he died. Said young yobbo drove off without stopping. Taken to court and given a two year suspended prison sentence.

In another court on the same day as yobbo was being sentenced, a chap was charged with fiddling his VAT. His sentence? [B]FOUR YEARS IN PRISON[/B.

Now, I am not saying that fiddling your VAT is right - it's not, and yes, he should be punished. But what are we saying here - that someone's life is worth less than a few thousand pounds? Is that what we have come down to now?

If it is, if money is now more important than a life, then God help us!

Re: Washington DC sniper to die?

In the link that I posted, this was the part that got to me most.

Bob Meyers, whose 53-year-old brother, Dean, was shot dead while pumping gas in Virginia, called Tuesday's execution surreal.

"Watching the life be sapped out of somebody intentionally was very different and an experience I'd never had," he said on CNN's "Larry King Live."

"I'd watched my mother die of natural causes, but that was very different."

He said he might have attained some closure, "but I would say that pretty much was overcome just by the sadness that the whole situation generates in my heart. That he would get to the place where he did what he did, and that it had to come to this."

If he was guilty and he probably was, what does this make of us?

Re: Washington DC sniper to die?

I heard on the tv news he was put down by lethal injection. Not sure how I feel about this.

I do remember that mistakes were made when Britain had hanging. One young man went to the Gallows protesting his innocence of murdering his wife and child and maintained the man who did it was - Christie. As it turned out, Timothy Evans spoke the truth and it was indeed Christie who did the murder, along with others as well. Bodies were found in a boarded up cupboard found after he had moved. They made a film of it, can't remember the name though of the film.

Hanging/lethal injections and the like are really too good for these people. It is the length of sentences that needs to be looked at, especially in this country. Our judicial systems needs to be kicked into the 21st Century.

Perpetrators of crimes get off too easily, too many do-gooders around. Jail as well is like a holiday camp for them.

I will get off my soap box now as I could prattle on about it!

Re: Washington DC sniper to die?

This is a dilemma for all and I think for most we get pulled in two opposing directions. A smaller point I'd like to make is why appeals have to last for up to seven years--I mean talk about having the sword of Damocles hanging over you ....

Re: Washington DC sniper to die?

I am in favour of capital punishment, . . provided the guilty party is guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt.
Criminals knowing they'll swing if caught do think twice about committing murder.

Criminals carrying firearms during robberies intend to use them so any death involved during such crimes should carry the death penalty IMO.

Unpremeditated murder or crimes of passion should be looked at on the merits of each individual case, . . crimes involving insanity are another reason for giving the benefit of the doubt to the perpetrator.

Terrorists who've maimed and killed should be put to death also, . . . bear in mind if you were a relative of a victim, you would want the perpetrators receive their just deserts.

Re: Washington DC sniper to die?

Well if you are looking to deter crime, I would think 'life in jail with no possibility of parole' would deter the person more than death but since we hope to live in a civilized society how can we take another life??

This is something I would like to post. I am usually proud of my country but in this case, I am not.

Facts and figures

It is interesting to consider some facts and figures related to the death penalty. According to Amnesty International more than half the countries in the world have now abolished the Death Penalty in law or in practice. More than two countries a year on average have abolished the death penalty in law since 1976. Of those who retain the death penalty many have not used it for many years. Once abolished the death penatly is rarely introduced. Since 1985 twenty-five countries have abloished the death penalty while only four have re-introduced it. Of those four Nepal has since re-abolished the death penalty and there have been no executions in the other three. During 1996 4,272 prisoners are known to have been executed in 39 countries but more than 3,500 of these cases were in China. AI point out that the real figure is certainly much higher than this. In the USA 45 prisoners were executed in 1996 and more than 3000 were under sentence of death at the end of that year.