The Death Penalty, Kids being charged as Adults

[Kayakinboy]

I had to take a debate class once, and found out that I really like discussing these types of issues, and after I watched the footage about what happened less than 2 hours from me, I figured people wouldn't mind expressing feelings.

How do you feel about the death penalty?

Kids being charged as Adults?


Personally, (I know some might be shocked) but I am 125% for the death penalty. I also think that they shouldn't be allowed an appeal or atleast limit it to be done within a low (3 years of being sentenced). people on death row overcrowd our jail systems all over America and help cause higher taxes.

And also I think kids (12 or older) may be charged as adults if the crime is heinous enough, IE raped and killed another person, charge as an adult.

[bigpoppapuff]

death penalty.......
kids charged as adults....

[Jonsey5484]

I am all for the death penalty, I think that an appeals process should be only excepted if there is reasonable doubt that the person on death row is innocent and wrongfully charged.

I believe kids being tried as adults is great. I think that it should be 10 y.o. and older. By ten years old you should have a pretty good idea right from wrong. I think that we need a more strict juvenile detention program. It should be run more like a jail. If a child shoots someone on purpose he should serve the same time as an adult would.

I believe in eye for an eye....You shoot someone, you should be gunned down on the spot, no questions asked. Maybe people would think a little harder before doing something. You rape someone....Well, life in prison with the biggest guy who will rape the shit of you everyday. Just my opinion though.

[Shagaroo]

If there is a credible eye witness to the crime, I think the minute they are found guilty and sentenced to death they should be taken out in the alley and the sentence carried out with extreme prejudice. Same with people who confess. Like that bastard that kidnapped, molested and buried alive that girl in FLA. The second he confessed his next words should have been gurgle gurgle... then his last breath. He should not have made it out of the interrogation room.

Apart from those two examples, I am getting less willing to put folks to death. To many folks who have been convicted on "credible evidence" are being found innocent years later and released. People are broken, that includes people on juries. I am really undecided here.

Kids being charged as adults? Yeah, especially for particuliarly vicious crimes. Being a parent, I also know your average kid doesn't end up that way alone unless they are a true sociopath. I think parents should be looked at as well. Whether through neglect or direct corruption, parents need to return to being held responsible for the heathens they let lose on the world.

[Kayakinboy]

I'm glad for once it seems we all AGREE on an issue!

[SuperChuck]

I'm glad for once it seems we all AGREE on an issue!

Ha!

I'm COMPLETELY opposed to the death penalty.

I also think it's rediculous to charge kids as adults.

J Edgar Hoover renamed all our prisons to "Correctional Facilities" and I really think he was on to something (about the correctional facilities, not cross-dressing). However, I think the prison system is a COMPLETE failure...

I had a revelation a couple years back. I was watching a documentary on Parris Island and one of the drill sargeants mentioned that roughly half the kids joining the Marines realize that they need discipline; they realize that they can either join the military or end up in prison. So what do you do with the people that go to prison instead? Treat them like Marines!

My "system" puts inmates through a 6 week boot camp loosely based on the Marine Corps model. Once the inmate passes boot (which, like actual boot, may take more than one attempt), the inmate can then join the prison system. The emphasis of the prison system would change as well. Education and hard work are stressed. Inmates are educated in a trade beneficial to the state and put to work. The work should be largely creative in nature: building bridges, levees, repairing municipal buildings, etc. The idea here is to create an understanding of improving society.

The current system brings 'em in, ferments them, and lets them out. Bring 'em in, fix 'em, and get 'em out.

I've never understood charging a child as an adult.
As a society, we have determined that a 15 year old kid does not have the understanding of right and wrong.
Yet, we decide that, if they do something REALLY bad, they MUST have full understanding.
That just doesn't make sense.

An army officer once explained why the army doesn't accept people older than 24 (or whatever the age is). If you tell a 17 year old to take that hill, they don't ask questions. If you tell a 27 year old to take that hill, they'll tell you no fucking way, there are guys shooting up there. The 17 year old understands that there are people up there shooting, but doesn't understand what it MEANS to wind up in a body bag. A 27 year old is typically more mature and self-protective.

If I had the same intellect I had at 15, I'd be dead.

[Diesel Grinch]

I believe in turning over the convicted criminal to the person/family of the one he hurt! They get to decide his/her fate with no fallout for them. Anything goes.

[Drake]

i'll give my opinion, but i'm not too fond of getting into big discussion about this. i disagree with it. i don't believe that any man should have the right to take another man's life for any reason. i don't think death is a punishment anyway. its an easy way for them out of truely living with what they have done. i do think people who commit hainess crimes deserve to be torchered accordingly. for instance: if someone rapes and kills a woman, he should raped and beaten nightly for the entirety of a life sentence. don't let him of easy with the death penalty

[Shagaroo]

I've never understood charging a child as an adult.
As a society, we have determined that a 15 year old kid does not have the understanding of right and wrong.
Yet, we decide that, if they do something REALLY bad, they MUST have full understanding.
That just doesn't make sense.

I vehemently disagree with this. To me, this is not much more than modern day mumbo jumbo to remove personal responsiblity from people. I knew right from wrong when I was 15. I knew right from wrong when I was 12. I knew I screwed up when I was 6 and hit my parents brand spankin' new white Pinto with my bike and dented it when mom told me to ride my bike away from the carport. That's why I went inside and got some tape and toilet paper to cover over the dent. Kids know. That's why more don't get daddies gun and blow away their problems. The difference is, now people have been taught nothing is their own fault. They aren't old enough, they aren't smart enough, they aren't rich enough, their house is in the wrong part of town, etc., etc. Blame anything but the folks responsible.

[basil]

Ha!

I'm COMPLETELY opposed to the death penalty.

I also think it's rediculous to charge kids as adults.

J Edgar Hoover renamed all our prisons to "Correctional Facilities" and I really think he was on to something (about the correctional facilities, not cross-dressing). However, I think the prison system is a COMPLETE failure...

I had a revelation a couple years back. I was watching a documentary on Parris Island and one of the drill sargeants mentioned that roughly half the kids joining the Marines realize that they need discipline; they realize that they can either join the military or end up in prison. So what do you do with the people that go to prison instead? Treat them like Marines!

My "system" puts inmates through a 6 week boot camp loosely based on the Marine Corps model. Once the inmate passes boot (which, like actual boot, may take more than one attempt), the inmate can then join the prison system. The emphasis of the prison system would change as well. Education and hard work are stressed. Inmates are educated in a trade beneficial to the state and put to work. The work should be largely creative in nature: building bridges, levees, repairing municipal buildings, etc. The idea here is to create an understanding of improving society.

The current system brings 'em in, ferments them, and lets them out. Bring 'em in, fix 'em, and get 'em out.

I've never understood charging a child as an adult.
As a society, we have determined that a 15 year old kid does not have the understanding of right and wrong.
Yet, we decide that, if they do something REALLY bad, they MUST have full understanding.
That just doesn't make sense.

An army officer once explained why the army doesn't accept people older than 24 (or whatever the age is). If you tell a 17 year old to take that hill, they don't ask questions. If you tell a 27 year old to take that hill, they'll tell you no fucking way, there are guys shooting up there. The 17 year old understands that there are people up there shooting, but doesn't understand what it MEANS to wind up in a body bag. A 27 year old is typically more mature and self-protective.

If I had the same intellect I had at 15, I'd be dead.

The boot camp thing has been tried. The last one was dismantled a couple of months ago - it was in CA and was part of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP - Federal). The "creative labor" thing is and has been part of prison systems for decades. I don't know the stats re: what has been helpful and what hasn't. I do believe strongly that prison has become simply a bandaid for a symptom of much larger problem; you're right about the fact that the prison systems, federal AND state, are largely failures. The problem: lack of accountability.

On whether an adolescent has an abstract grasp of death, right and wrong, or whatever, varies from one person to the next.

[SuperChuck]

The boot camp thing has been tried. The last one was dismantled a couple of months ago - it was in CA and was part of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP - Federal).

Weren't those the crazy tent city things? I think the guy that was running those was a total nut... I believe they were effective, but the guy running them was whacky.

The "creative labor" thing is and has been part of prison systems for decades.

I've seen a lot of labor, but not a lot of creative labor.
Picking up garbage and doing laundry doesn't really give you a feeling of building something, something to be proud of. There's just going to be more litter and laundry tomorrow...

[basil]

Some good points. I definitely support the death penalty - in open-and-closed cases. At young ages? I agree with Shag re: holding parents accountable. In Texas one of our lower courts the Justice of Peace. The get both city and county cases and most of the school stuff truancy, etc. We have 4 in our county - they're all good, and one of these is an absolute gem. I've seen him get up, walk around his bench and hug a mom who was in tears. Many folks leave his court wide-eyed from a ass ripping. They don't critisize - most know that he truly cares about the folks he hears. Recently he slapped a $1600 fine on a couple with a daughter who's been ditching classes (repeat offender). They have nearly nothing. Net income: $3800/month. $ spent on crack: $3600/month. Parents absolutely must be held accountable. If they can't figure it out, they need to be forced to seek assistance or give up the kids.

$3600 spent on dope is NO exaggeration

[highrolla17x]

I am very pro death penalty and like many I think the appeals process needs to be changed though. Though I do know the supreme court made a ruling about executing minors. It does not matter if you are charged as an adult or not. The supreme court ruled a while ago that it is unconstutional to execute anyone under 18... I agree with this because I agree with the 8th amendment... It's cruel and unusual to execute a minor even if they are charged as an adult and apparently the supreme court agrees with me.

[Kayakinboy]

I am very pro death penalty and like many I think the appeals process needs to be changed though. Though I do know the supreme court made a ruling about executing minors. It does not matter if you are charged as an adult or not. The supreme court ruled a while ago that it is unconstutional to execute anyone under 18... I agree with this because I agree with the 8th amendment... It's cruel and unusual to execute a minor even if they are charged as an adult and apparently the supreme court agrees with me.

wait till your old enough to make "adult" desicions before talking

[Jonsey5484]

He is getting beating from multiple threads!!! I love this place.

[pierce652]

Were talking HUGE gaps in analytical thinking here....

[watty]

I thought he was in bed with his teddy....13 bollocks
To the real adults out there, come on guys, some of you are talking about executing children.
I would personally pull the lever on murdering bastards any time. I am 100% for the death penalty even though the scum sucking pigs we have for politicians in this country outlawed it in 1968 (ish) ...BUT...children
keep the little bastards locked up but you cannot be a civilised country and throw the switch on children. Isn't that the type of action that we went to war in Iraq to stop. and WW2.
GUYS.
Beat the parents to death with short sticks by all means..I'm no hippy, I like violence, but not kids in electric chairs or dangling from ropes....apart from 13 yr olds(18 or20) who try and talk to grown ups on cigar forums.