The punishment for taking life


TheToxicEden's avatar
I would like to know what you think would be the best punishment for murder.
Killing the offender wouldn't be a solution, as you inflict him as many(or less, because not as painful) damage as he caused, the death sentence. (And taking one life for 2 or more isn't righteous either).
It's like you would steal a CD in a shop and your punishment is to recompense this CD. It just doesn't make any sense. So what in your opinion should be the punishment for murder?
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seth2012chaos's avatar
Depends on conditions.
Zedasiria-DeRazz's avatar
kill them the same way they killed the victim.
If they used a gun then kill them with a gun.
If they tortured the person do the same treatment to them,
DWBloodfin's avatar
I find this to be the best solution as well, but an eye for an eye would make the whole world blind.
der-freishutz's avatar
death. They are no longer human.
Vulpimo's avatar
Forced labor, so that he doesn't cost anything.
Saeter's avatar
This is a rather touchy subject. I am for forced labor and death penalties but then you have to thino of the potential collateral consequences. As there are more and more private prisons that put inmates to use through cheap labor it gives the prison owners incentive to increase the sentence of punishable offenses and what was a three months prison sentence is now three years. With capitol punishment there is always the problem of a falsely accused person. There are multiple cases of falsely accused committed inmates who have been on death row and several who were executed for a crime they did not commit. What aught to be done is to make prisons self sufficient facilities as they once were. Rather than profitting off of the labor force use them to support their own incarceration. It would relieve the monetary burden on the tax payer and avoid the incentive to use them for profit.
Vulpimo's avatar
As for collateral consequences:

- Private prisons can be eliminated, since they could indeed be a problem. Trying to make profit out of forced labor could create a rather powerful lobby which would be able to affect the legislation process. But nobody said that they can't be kept in bay or even delegalized. In my opinion, such serious matters should be handled by the government and administration, since one of the advantages of state institutions is that they don't provide opportunities to focus the market in hands of one person/group of lobbyists.

- As for wrongly accused people: It's true, BUT the problem doesn't depend on the severeness of punishment, or even any part of it. Many people are wrongly accused nowadays, and the numbers won't go up along with the changes. It's completely other thing. And saying that killing innocent men is immoral- so is putting them on a life sentence.

As for making prison into autarky -> true.
Helge129's avatar
None. Rehabilitation. Punishment doesn't work, rehab does.
macker33's avatar
Murderers already get a fate worse than death. Unless they gain forgiveness they go to hell.
stoneman123's avatar
The punishment for murder should be execution, plain and simple. To allow a murderer to live is to risk the chance that they will murder again, and any chance at all is unacceptable. It's really less about punishment, and more about prevention. When a dog gets rabies, we put them down without a second thought, because it's just the responsible thing to do.

Life imprisonment is bunk, because it's really just a much slower and less efficient form of the death penalty, and it runs the risk of them getting parole sometime down the road. The real problem is that our system of capital punishment is too slow and inefficient. Murderers get too many appeals, and the buearacracy of the courts prolong the process and make it much more expensive than it should be. If a murderer is caught, tried, and convicted beyond a reasonable doubt, I don't think more than one appeal is necessary. Even when they're finally put on death row, it sometimes takes years to finally execute them. I don't see why we couldn't just do it the very same day of the trial.
empiredice's avatar
I'm in favor of prison reform, actually, into a rehabilitative system. Depending on the nature and motive of the murder, it may be necessary for people's safety that the murderer is locked up for life, but the goal should always be to move forward. You can't move forward with a retributive system such as capital punishment. Moving forward requires helping criminals become law-abiding well-adjusted citizens, if possible, and having them make reparations for their crimes as best as can be done. In the case of a murderer locked up for life, s/he should be working (from within the facility) for money to cover the expenses incurred by the death of the victim, including care for dependents if any. The only exception to this I can really think of that could possibly justify capital punishment would be if a really dangerous person (mass murderer) not only failed reform but kept getting out, particularly by manipulating other people, because then we're talking about a threat to society that can't be contained.
UncleGargy's avatar
In the end it has to be the forfeiting of his/her life. Why should thousands of $ be spent on keeping a murderer alive? It's just a pity there is no space on this planet to send people into exile as they did in the olden days. We had to either execute them or keep them for years in comparative luxury compared to people who have not done any wrong.
This is why God does not exist in my eyes...
KillianSeraphim's avatar
Biblical punishment for stealing was for the thief to restore seven times the amount of what he stole, assuming he was caught.

Honestly, I'm not sure what if you could do anything but take his life, without it getting too inhumane.
Lytrigian's avatar
What's too inhumane though? Suppose we have a man with a long history of kidnap, sexual assault, burglaries, and other less serious crimes who, as the final act that has him sentenced to death, breaks into a house during a girls' slumber party, kidnaps one of them at knifepoint, and then rapes and murders her.

Why does he deserve only a painless death? Why would inflicting pain on him be "too inhumane", when there's no doubt at all of his guilt?
KillianSeraphim's avatar
I was actually thinking of letting him live in constant pain or agony for the rest of his life when I wrote that. Because honestly, that would be the only thing worse than death. Sure, you could try and give him a painful death, but then he's got death to look forward to. The pain would be fairly short lived, and eventually end, whereas living in agony would make one wish for death, with no guarantee that it would happen in a timely manner.

Which brings the question, would we honestly be willing to stoop to the criminal's level for "justice sake? At what point does justice give way to vengeance?
Lytrigian's avatar
What is "stooping to the criminal's level"? Our normal incarceration process would be the same as kidnapping if done by a criminal; why is THAT not stooping to his level?

Honestly, it's hard to tell the difference between justice and vengeance. Certainly, the way the press reports criminal court proceedings these days it's as if the justice system is there to provide vengeance (often denoted "closure") to victims and their families. Perhaps there is no real difference, and what we like to think of as justice is really nothing but institutionalized vengeance put in place to placate our primordial vengeful urges.
Hurricaneclaw's avatar
Jail for a reeeeally long time. Well depending on the circumstances. :la:
UncleGargy's avatar
But that costs money. People in Africa live on less than $1 a day. What wrong have they done?
Hurricaneclaw's avatar
Well, what are you gonna do? Drop them all off at Australia?
UncleGargy's avatar
Nah! Ethiopian desert is the new Australia.
Hurricaneclaw's avatar
Well build a barrier around it, at least. Or they'll all go free :noes:
UncleGargy's avatar
Don't give them too much water.Natural limits ;-) Gosh I'm evil!
Hurricaneclaw's avatar
Have a cornucopia type thing in the middle and you'll have a pretty decent Hunger Game.
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