Be respectful of others' views and choices.
 #84574  by brich2929
 
http://www.legis.delaware.gov/LIS/LIS14 ... endocument


So, SB19 would abolish the death penalty in DE and replace it with life in prison. Its not directly a firearm related piece of legislation but its absurd to me that in the face of all of the crime we see now in this age in which we live, that the Assembly would like to take away our rights to defend ourselves and also take away a deterrent to heinous crimes.

We can have a discussion on the death penalty and its intended effectiveness and its actual effectiveness after the lengthy appeals process but I would think if a Boston were to happen here, or a mass shooting whereupon the shooter was apprehended, I would want the state to seek the death penalty and not have the bastard live on the government dime with cable TV and the like... :banghead: :censored:

Your thoughts??
Last edited by brich2929 on Thu Apr 25, 2013 3:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
 #84586  by myopicvisionary
 
Do NOT repeal the deathy penalty. Rather, make the legal requirements regarding it's application more stringent. The requirement for guilt in a death penalty case should be "to an absolute certainty".
 #84588  by bmel17
 
I like what John said, but I'm also for more harsher penalties. Maybe it's better to say the punishment should fit the crime. Far too often I see stupid crap little things people do and they get the book thrown at them because they can afford to pay. The more serious crimes get reduced to almost nothing and the thugs are out on the street. Especially if they can't afford to pay fines.

We also see depending on "who" you are or "who" you know, things get dropped, reduced or just "forgotten". Our justice system is failing and it needs to be re-written from the ground up. I haven't seen true justice in this country in a long time.
 #84595  by stephpd
 
Capitol punishment may or may not be a deterrent to others committing crimes, But it will certainly be a deterrent to the person that's executed. Since the FBI stats say 80% of violent crime is by people that already have felonies, often multiple felonies, I can't see how executing these folks wouldn't be a deterrent. Eventually we'd run out of violent felons to kill.

Sounds better then the current catch and releases program of many states. Or keeping them in jail, often with their friends, getting 3 hots and a cot, free health and dental, free cable TV etc. While the peoples who's lives they've ruined have to pick up the pieces.

TNJ just had an article on low bail. One of the violent felons was loose and killed another person while 'awaiting' trial. All within weeks of getting bail.

Here's one in PA where the guy was 'free' awaiting trial from an aggravated assault charge back in December. This time the 'people' got a chance to show justice.
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local ... tment.html
 #84597  by David
 
Delaware's current political objectives: increase hardships for legal gun owners, eliminate death penalty deterrent for hardest criminals. That'll fix things.
 #84599  by Big Dave
 
Yeah, the prison system, like much of the rest of the criminal justice system is broken. I think a lot of murders, etc. are crimes of passion, and so, the death penalty probably won't make a perp stop and think about it twice in the heat of the moment. But, as someone else pointed out, it's a deterrent to the guy we just executed.

And, could we please, please stop letting these guys have appeal after appeal, stretching into decades. Anybody can make mistakes, even cops, prosecutors, judges and juries. So, OK, you get ONE appeal on a death sentence. If you lose, you are executed the NEXT DAY! Case closed ... for good.

A slight aside. I was born and raised in Delaware, and used to live right behind the prison at Prices Corner. At the time, we had the whipping post. They would bring the prisoners out into the yard, in public view, and whip them. Criminals from Pennsylvania and Maryland used to tell each other not to pull anything in Delaware because of the whipping post.

Some things can be more of a deterrent than death.
 #84604  by MrCoolDale
 
I'm still not sure about my position in the death penalty. It has never proven to be a deterrent in the past, but it certainly removes that person from the equation; no long able to commit crimes. However, sentencing someone to death is significantly more expensive than a life sentence. In 2008 the Department of Justice did studies across several states and found the average cost of a life sentence per inmate living an average of 50 years behind bars is approximately 1.1 Million dollars. Whereas the average cost of executing an inmate ranges between 3 million and 5.6 million dollars.

I understand these figures are with our flawed system that throws money at every problem. My suggestion is to not sentence anyone to death until we are able to bring that cost down. Hell, that cost should be around $1. That's all a 5.56 round costs these days.
 #84610  by stephpd
 
MrCoolDale wrote:I'm still not sure about my position in the death penalty. It has never proven to be a deterrent in the past, but it certainly removes that person from the equation; no long able to commit crimes. However, sentencing someone to death is significantly more expensive than a life sentence. In 2008 the Department of Justice did studies across several states and found the average cost of a life sentence per inmate living an average of 50 years behind bars is approximately 1.1 Million dollars. Whereas the average cost of executing an inmate ranges between 3 million and 5.6 million dollars.

I understand these figures are with our flawed system that throws money at every problem. My suggestion is to not sentence anyone to death until we are able to bring that cost down. Hell, that cost should be around $1. That's all a 5.56 round costs these days.
Most of those costs have to do with multiple appeals, plus the costs of still keeping them in jail, so yeah it costs more. But then it should be fairly easy to rewrite the appeals process to just one appeal.

Hey if they can just be handed some bills from the anti gunners, don't even read them when they talk about registration et al. Then vote on it like good party members as they strip our rights I don't see why they don't do it to the violent felons too.
 #84612  by myopicvisionary
 
So many people say the death penalty is not a deterent. That's right, it is not. It is a PENALTY! Every crime (or misdeed as a child) has a resulting penalty (or punishment) attached. Sometimes a punishment does serve as a deterent. But it is first and foremost a penalty. Yes, there has been injustice in the past regarding capital punishment. And that is usually the result of political expediency "to see justice done". Raising the evidenciary threshold to a degree that there is NO doubt to anyone that the defendant did in fact commit the atrocity in question will elliminate irreversible mistakes. Yes, it will lower the number of capital cases, but are we not truely interested in justice? On the other hand, everyone saw the defendant run onto the field during the 7th inning stretch and machete the pitcher. The rest of the team dogpiled him and held him for the cops as the world watched on TV. Any doubt of his guilt? No. Capial case may proceed.
 #84690  by Amy Blackthorn
 
Del. death penalty repeal stalls in committee: A bill to repeal Delaware's death penalty has stalled in a Hou... http://t.co/DCUGg839Pu