[Astronomical]

There is no ambiguity as to whether he committed the killings. There is no chance he will ever be released. There is no chance he would ever be employed were he released. Therefore, it is obvious that this man is nought but a burden on the USA and hence should be eliminated at the earliest possible time. This man's life has no value.

[Americaniamh]

(Original post by Miracle Day)
That implies he's going to eventually be released and so he could positively contribute to society.

Going to prison for life, as he will no doubt face is not going to rehabilitate someone as he's never going to return to the outside world

If you're thinking financially, it's cheaper for the state to provide life imprisonment than it is to enact the death penalty. It surprised me a lot when I learned this! I won't bother quoting numbers as it's a pretty well established idea.

[Redolent]

(Original post by Miracle Day)
But this man is useless!

No way will he ever be released back into society, he'll just be in prison for the rest of his life.

You could always start considering humans as something other than mere instruments for the betterment of society

[Miracle Day]

(Original post by Marlena002)
No. I might be in the minority among Americans, but I am 100% against capital punishment.

I'm a firm believer in rehabilitation and I do think some people, even those who have killed, can be re-entered into society at some point. I don't believe James Holmes is one of those people, he definitely deserves to be locked up for the rest of his life. But no human (Holmes, a jury of his peers or a judge) has the right to decide whether another lives or dies.

Just MO.

There is a man standing right next to you, you have a gun pointed at his head and he holds a switch which will immediately blow up 10 people.

Do you shoot him, or let him kill?

Because as you said.. you don't decide whether he lives or dies and you don't decide whether his victims live or die.

[Miracle Day]

(Original post by Redolent)
You could always start considering humans as something other than mere instruments for the betterment of society

Actually I'm extremely left-wing. I'm thinking here of the families of those victims more than anything..

[Endless Blue]

(Original post by Dalek1099)
Killing him,would also save a lot of money that would be wasted on looking after him in prison.If you kill several people in minutes.,I doubt your capable of a reform-its just too much the evil could never be vanquished from his soul.The death penalty should also be made very painful and torturous.

What an absolutely terrible and horrific idea. You've already contradicted yourself with a later post anyway, so I'm not going to waste my time.

By the way, your use of grammar and punctuation is truly awful.

[Marlena002]

(Original post by Aoide)
Why?
It is in no way an admirable thing that you want someone dead because it will make you feel better. They aren't trying to improve things they just want to see someone they hate suffer.

I agree.

[coastbeats]

(Original post by Marlena002)
I agree.

I disagree


This was posted from The Student Room's iPhone/iPad App

[Marlena002]

(Original post by Miracle Day)
There is a man standing right next to you, you have a gun pointed at his head and he holds a switch which will immediately blow up 10 people.

Do you shoot him, or let him kill?

Because as you said.. you don't decide whether he lives or dies and you don't decide whether his victims live or die.

If you want my honest answer, no, I don't believe I would shoot him. A) because I don't think I have that right, and B) because I know myself well enough to know that I could never kill another person. If he chooses to kill others, that is his action, not mine.

[Miracle Day]

(Original post by benpearson1)
What an absolutely terrible and horrific idea. You've already contradicted yourself with a later post anyway, so I'm not going to waste my time.

By the way, your use of grammar and punctuation is truly awful.

Lol'd

[Miracle Day]

(Original post by Marlena002)
If you want my honest answer, no, I don't believe I would shoot him. A) because I don't think I have that right, and B) because I know myself well enough to know that I could never kill another person. If he chooses to kill others, that is his action, not mine.

You would just let them die.. Wow I'm speechless

[MattyJo]

No in my opinion the death penalty is never right.

[Americaniamh]

(Original post by chiggy321)
And you think that one day in the future this a'hole is going to be able to" contribute positively to society"? Sure, after he's served his time maybe he'll come out and do some voluntary work. No, let's face it he won't. If he doesn't get death then he'll be in high-security prison for ever, won't be making much of a contribution to society from there.

The only circumstances where I wouldn't support this guy being killed is if he's insane.

Yes, but he will take more away from society by being sentenced to death. The cost of a death penalty sentence is immense. It's cheaper to incarcerate somebody for life. Wouldn't the money spent on some archaic retribution be better spent on helping the victims and their families and maybe even improving policing resources/mental health facilities to prevent another shooting from occurring?

[Stalin]

(Original post by Miracle Day)
Well as alot of the families of the victims have said they want him dead and will not have justice until so.. there's your positive effect.

Edit: Oh I'm sorry, was that not positive enough?

Money saved by having to keep him in prison - another positive effect.

So, essentially, you adhere to the tyranny of the majority?

Putting him in prison creates jobs: people need to build the prison, guard the prison, clean the prison, make food for the prison, deliver food to the prison, rehabilitate prisoners inside the prison, and the list goes on.

[Redolent]

(Original post by Miracle Day)
Actually I'm extremely left-wing. I'm thinking here of the families of those victims more than anything..

Spend the money on giving them social support instead of satisfying a lust for revenge

[Endless Blue]

(Original post by Miracle Day)
There is a man standing right next to you, you have a gun pointed at his head and he holds a switch which will immediately blow up 10 people.

Do you shoot him, or let him kill?

Because as you said.. you don't decide whether he lives or dies and you don't decide whether his victims live or die.

Of course you kill him if you have the choice. But that is almost entirely irrelevant to what we're talking about here. Capital punishment occurs after the crime(s) have been committed. You can't save those 10 lives by killing someone after, nor can you bring them back.

A long, long, long prison sentence is the best thing for all concerned in my opinion. It costs the taxpayer less and should serve as a fair justice for the families involved. If I had the choice between spending the rest of my life in prison and getting a hard time about it (believe me, this guy will), and having the option to be humanely put to sleep within the year I'd definitely choose the latter. Wouldn't you?

[Americaniamh]

(Original post by U.Ahmed)
The only time I would say no to the death penalty would be if there was any doubt whether the person committed the crime or not.
In this case, there is no doubt whatsoever, and I believe that he should be handed the death penalty as soon as possible.

But what about if there's doubt that Holmes, of rational mind, committed the crime?

[Marlena002]

(Original post by Miracle Day)
You would just let them die.. Wow I'm speechless

If he killed them, that's on him, not me.

Besides which, why would I have to shoot him in the head and kill him? Why not just shoot him in the leg or immobilize him in some way, get him away from the switch, and wait for the police to get him? It was a stupid scenario to begin with because there are more than the black and white options you tried to force me to pick from.

[Hillbilly101]

The death penalty seems a bit of an easy way out for him... Surely confining him to a prison cell is worse...

[Miracle Day]

(Original post by Americaniamh)
Yes, but he will take more away from society by being sentenced to death. The cost of a death penalty sentence is immense. It's cheaper to incarcerate somebody for life. Wouldn't the money spent on some archaic retribution be better spent on helping the victims and their families and maybe even improving policing resources/mental health facilities to prevent another shooting from occurring?

There is nothing expensive about taking this man into the middle of the sea, putting a bullet into his head and throwing him overboard.