<p>Where is Azkaban when you need it?</p>
<p>I am also completely, totally opposed to the death penalty. At least if someone is wrongfully convicted and sentenced to life with no possibility of parole there is some small chance of reversing the error, and if appropriate, compensating the person(s) impacted…</p>
<p>What’s really hideous and henious are these botched executions…ugh…</p>
<p>I think one can always find “good reasons” for the death penalty if one wants to, just as one can find “good reasons” for genocide.</p>
<p>But you have to want to.</p>
<p>I’m against the death penalty for the guilty. The innocent can take care of themselves.</p>
<p>^^. The news here is that the survivors of wrongful sentences have been awarded 100+millions against the FBI. The FBI knew all along that they were innocent but decided it was more important to protect the identity of one of their informants. a criminal who died some time ago. Even after his death, the FBI did nothing to redress the wrong done to these men. They escaped the death penalty only because days before they were due to be executed, MA banned the death penalty. A couple died in prison; their families were ruined. One was rendered homeless. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/07/26/govt_owns_101m_for_wrongful_conviction/[/url]”>http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/07/26/govt_owns_101m_for_wrongful_conviction/</a></p>
<p>I am also against the death penalty. And I think that life in prision w/o the chance of parole is a far worse punishment. For first degree murderers I would take imprisonment a step further by placing them in isolation without any form of recreation. Let them sit in their cells and think about what they did to their victims every day for the rest of their miserable lives.</p>
<p>I live nearby Cheshire, and have one degree of separation from the family. This case has shaken my opposition to the death penalty to its core. How else can we keep ourselves safe from evil like this? THe system in place now obviously didn’t work.</p>
<p>“I’m against the death penalty for the guilty. The innocent can take care of themselves.”</p>
<p>Like the mentally ■■■■■■■■ and underage?</p>
<p>How about being against the death penalty because of the guilty who don’t get convicted?</p>
<p>sabooks, I’m sorry for the horrid loss of individuals you know, even if only peripherally. This story is horrific. However, “the system in place now” is a system WITH a death penalty, and this obviously has not prevented what happened to this family. How will executing these two men keep you more safe than imprisoning them for life with no possiblity of parole?</p>
<p>As others have said, it’s never a good idea to generalize about the death penalty based on specific and heartbreaking cases. Of course, when we read stories like this one we want to punish the murderers with something equal to what they put their victims through. This isn’t a good way to administer justice, as satisfying as it may seem. </p>
<p>merrymom, have a look at the link to see what countries still impose the death penalty. As CGM said, the U.S. is not in very good company with that group.</p>
<p>How would executing these men stop evil? </p>
<p>the system is more than just jail, it runs much deeper as a society than just the justice system</p>
<p>for those that want them killed the same way, would you throw the match for vengence?</p>
<p>Alwaysamom- I guess it’s the “life without possibilty of parole”- is there really such a thing? Has any state or country really stuck to that sentence? These guys should not have been out on parole- the CT parole board that let them out did not have their records. As a side note, the state is offering counseling to people who have been traumatized even by reading the details in news reports. (I stopped reading details last week, nobody repeat them please!) Alarm companies are booked through September, and when I had a deadbolt put on my basement door, the locksmith told me that he had about 100 more orders for the same job. Apparently they came through the basement. Shudder.</p>
<p>I support the death penalty. That doesn’t necessarily mean that I support how it is carried out in practicality (like the huge numbers of poor black criminals who get preferentially executed vs. white criminals, etc. etc.), but as for the punishment itself, I approve. Whether it deters crime or not, there are just some times when people have forfeited their right to life. At that point, I have no problem with relieving them of that which they so clearly no longer deserve.</p>
<p>This is one of those cases. Let them die.</p>
<p>I have no moral objection to the death penalty, but I think it’s bad policy. The implementation problems are manifest, and I don’t see how it can be fairly applied, so it’s time for it to go. I would rather see a hundred guilty people set free than one innocent person executed.</p>
<p>I wonder how many people would oppose the death penalty if they were responsible for guarding someone in prison who has nothing more to lose no matter what he does or tries to do to to the guards.</p>
<p>“This case has shaken my opposition to the death penalty to its core. How else can we keep ourselves safe from evil like this? THe system in place now obviously didn’t work.”</p>
<p>I don’t see anything in their lengthy criminal histories that could have resulted in a death sentence. (Burglary, drugs, parole violations…) So I’m not sure how that protects anyone. And it has long been shown that the death sentence does not act as a crime deterrent. (Although the certainty of getting caught does.)</p>
<p>Perhaps the real problem is in our prisons, our lack of decent drug treatment facilities (which, like prisons, tend to just provide further training for lives of crime, even setting up the hierarchy to control and extend it all), and our system of parole.</p>
<p>Fundingfather - Shouldn’t conservatives recall their “sanctity of life” motto…</p>
<p>“I would rather see a hundred guilty people set free than one innocent person executed.”</p>
<p>How about if the guilty ones who went free were members of al Qaida who vowed that they would try again to kill as many as possible.</p>
<p>I think FF posts are very thought provoking, as have all been. I think this case raises some real ethical dilemmas.</p>
<p>And, what about opposing the death penalty because of the guilty who are not convicted?</p>
<p>Actually compared to their murder rates more whites are executed than blacks.</p>
<p><a href=“http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0377/is_n116/ai_15657943/pg_1[/url]”>http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0377/is_n116/ai_15657943/pg_1</a></p>
<p>“I think this case raises some real ethical dilemmas.”</p>
<p>Like what? (Compared with any murder case for instance.)</p>
<p>“That’s only because our legal system is set up to drag out the process of carrying out the death sentence. So not only must they STILL be sheltered, clothed, feed, and provided for medically for years into the foreseeable future, while the appeals process grinds on and on, but staggering amounts in legal costs must be wasted in that process. That needs to change.”</p>
<p>how? make the death penalty easier to give? Therefore increasing the number on innocent people given the death penalty?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I’m afraid my parser failed here – I don’t get your point. I’m all in favor of incarcerating guilty parties. I am NOT in favor of imprisoning 50 because I know one of them is guilty, but can’t tell which one. What are you suggesting?</p>