Televised executions

This is a radical Idea. The next time a U.S. state sentaces a man to death televise it. Put the execution on PPV and splt the money between the law enforcement agency that caught him the jail that held him and the family of his victims. The reason tht the death penalty is not a deterrant is because no criminals ever see the execution, also this would allow a parasite to contribute some value to society.

The idea was first raised in any serious way by talk show host Phil Donahue. He took it to court and lost.

He (quite effectively) argued if it's supposed to be a deterrant, show it. And it's news, so he has a right to show it being a "bona fide news program" (as a lower court had ruled).

I agree. Show it. Practically all opponents of the death penalty want it shown. Brought out in the light of day.

It's the conservatives and pro-death penalty people that want to hide it. I realize you have a different interpretation of the value of showing executions, but I'm just quoting the history of the argument.

So the crimminals could afford or want to pay, PPV?

Mainly I say PPV because its not something children should be allowed to view without parental supervision.
And I dont know of any pro-death penalty people personally who think the executions should not be in public view.

Originally posted by mwm1331
And I dont know of any pro-death penalty people personally who think the executions should not be in public view.

Understood. And I'm sure that's true.

But there have been quite a few organized efforts by DP opponents to earn the legal right to access and broadcast for public illumination and consumption. To bring the DP issue to the public. Show the govt sponsored barbarism.

They get shot down time and again by the government and vocal pro-DP groups. Think about it. The death penalty is legal. You have it. Why would those who like that want to rock the boat by making it a public spectacle?

The only group that has anything to gain is anti-DP people.

The "deterrant arguement" is a crock anyway IMO. Do the terrorists televising beheadings make you want the US to pull out of Iraq? And who do you think would use those US sponsored executions most to their advantage should they be televised....the TERRORISTS! Our enemies.

We show video of what Saddam did to justify our actions. You think the govt. wants tapes of what it does floating around? The public goes nuts when we stack naked people. Oh I'd just LOVE the government to televise a Texas bar-b-que. It would make a nice visual. One black face after another. Dozens per year.

Especially the retarded guy Texas just executed begging for his life not knowing up from down. Hell yea MWM start a petition. I'll sign.

Show it.

[Edited on 30-6-2004 by RANT]

Someone, somewhere joked about this... saying that such an impromptu broadcasting would be the lowest point possible of humanity and its media. As if reality-shows and exploitation of negative emotions isn't enough; now the public must be subjected to televised murders for the sake of entertainment.

It *might* serve as a deterrent, but that's only if the criminals are watching, just as curme suggested. Also, deterrents have a very limited half-life of effectiveness. Eventually, people get over it and adapt. One of the better ways to get rid of crime is better education and a much more effective form of criminal rehabilitation (not bigger or badder prisons).

As for the deterent part, how many crimminals think about the consequences of their actions? Isn't it human nature to think, "Man, I'll never get caught! Not like everybody else!"

Yes but its also human nature to worry about the consequences more if those consequences are more serious as well.
For example take shoplifting no one expects to be caught but every time they raise the penalty the number of shoplifters goes down.

I don't know about shoplifting, but it seems to go the other way with drug laws and drunk driving punishments.

DUI related deaths haven't changed in over 10 years, yet the punishments have continued to escalate and they keep pushing for more.

And with drugs, put a kid in prison for dope and you get back a career criminal IMO.

Originally posted by RANT
And with drugs, put a kid in prison for dope and you get back a career criminal IMO.

Exactly. Prison is where offenders "network". Send a kid in for having some pot and then he gets his REAL education once inside. Complete with new accomplices.

As to boadcasting execution, if the laws allow it, I think that it will be $'s that determine if networks do it, not ethics.

Originally posted by RANT
And with drugs, put a kid in prison for dope and you get back a career criminal IMO.

Very true.

An interesting idea they've b een trying in the community in which I live is rather than putting a youth before the courts and the legal system, they'll put them before members of the youths own community, and they will decide an appropriate punishment, and it's seemed to have more of an effect on the youth (in a positive way) than sending them through the court system, facing jail time, etc. Of course, this is only applicable with certain offences, such as more minor ones. It seems to circumvent what can happen if they're put in a juvenile center, or jail, etc.

I don't think it would make much of a difference...televised or not. The whole idea of prison, and what it is, needs to be revamped... The idea that ALL prisoners can be rehabilitated is insane....

I propose this...different islands set aside for different severity levels of crime... You don't have crooked accountants in with rapists and murderers...that only breeds more rapists and murderers when they get out....

Some islands are for rehabilitation (first time offenders, non-violent crime repeats, etc.). Others are for career criminals, repeat offenders, etc. and do not have rehabilitation goals, they are made simply to separate them from society...

Bring back Alcatraz. The island prison idea is good, but the first time offenders dont need to be shipped off to an island. Save the island for those that will never see society again.

No no no.

Send them to Alask and have them build more oil wells or important construction projects.

No one enjoys alaska and the prospect of 20 -30 years of roughing it in the wilderness wouldnt appeal to the majority of repeat offenders who enjoy lifting weights with their prison possy.

Originally posted by curme
As for the deterent part, how many crimminals think about the consequences of their actions? Isn't it human nature to think, "Man, I'll never get caught! Not like everybody else!"

woah if this were true then we'd all being raping killing and robbing, but we arent. are YOU out robbing raping and murdering? didnt think so.

i think its in some people's nature, a by product of ones upbringing. i was taught breaking the law was bad and bad things will happen to you if you break the law. so i dont break the law. never once does the thought "i'll never get caught" enter my mind. # i'm paranoid i would get caught and have the book thrown at me and get thrown under, not in the prison.

no thanks. i dont have to steal to get what i want or need. i dont have to rape someone to feel powerful. i dont have to kill someone to get my "vengeance". i dont have to and i dont want to, i respect myself the law and other people too much to do such things.

only those who do these things think they'll never get caught, but it is NOT human nature in general.

i think you're being a little insulting here or not giving humanity enough credit in terms of doing the right thing.


on to the topic at hand...

i am for the death penalty. i realize that there are those who have been innocent after spending x amount of years on death row and yes i'd feel bad about an innocent person being put to death for someone else's crime. what is the alternative? locking people away at OUR expense while they have cable TV and lord knows what else? i dont even have cable for crying out loudl, why should a felon get to watch TV in the first place? make them work their asses off. teach them the value of HARD work and for those who refuse to work...throw them in a small dark box. i have little sympathy for felons and violent offenders.

i dont feel just prisons need to be reexamined an revamped but everything needs to be looked at and reconsidered.

its not just the legal system, these problems begin at home. i've seen kids growing in my old neighborhood, a middle class suburb turn into felons, stealing cars, doing drugs, drinking getting into fights and lord knows what else. and more often than not they came from broken homes or had parents that simply didnt care what their kids did but never hesitated to show their shame to their children when they #ed up. i saw it first hand how some of them were treated and i couldnt and still cannot imagine kids are brought up in such an environment. the legal system is only having to react to the actions of those who grow up with no real guidance and no true concept of right from wrong. we cant blame the legal system or the prisons for that. prison is just felon school where they learn how to be bigger badder and more effecient criminals. we cant make parents teach their kids right from wrong and that lying cheating and stealing are bad things and they shouldnt do them. we cant regulate who can and cant breed so pretty much anyone with a functioning set of sex organs can create a child. so whats the answer? whats going to change this? we can try to encourage people to think twice before having sex but others shoot down that idea. we can try to encourage parents to teach these things to their kids and spend more time with them but that requires a restructuring of society as a whole, our careers and how long we spend working each day and how many days per week month or year along with many other factors i've not brought up yet. first you have to get people to believe that spending more time with their kids and taking a more active role in their childrens lives is going to help prevent future criminals. in this day and age the TV games and ritalin are king. those are the parents and baby sitters of our children. we have become more of a job oriented society, where we spend more time at our job, going to our job thinking about our job, than doing anything else in our lives besides sleeping. i know its becoming harder and harder for parents to be parents but i dont know what the answer or solution is.

i dont mean to go off on a tangent but in order to look at the death penalty and why people end up in that situation of being put to death we need to understand what drives them to that point first. i am all for punishing those who dont care about life in general, their own or anyone elses but is it really their fault? in terms of their own actions yes but there are underlying problems that drove the person there and they usually come from the home or lack thereof, unfortunately we cannot punish those who raise their children poorly. of course it is also up to the child to "learn" what they are being taught and if the child simply doesnt want to learn, its hard to hold the parents responsible.





i know lots of points that contradict each other and they're suppose to. we need to give EVERYTHING a deeper examination before looking at it as if its black and white. the more you examine it the more grey everything becomes.

am i for the death penalty, yes, in theory. in practice...well it is flawed and i wont deny that.

Not enough suffering involved nowadays in executions to be a deterent, leathal injection ? looks like nappy time .

Firing squad , electric chair , gas chamber ..... a bit more incentive to be a deterent . Some good old fasioned suffering that matches the crime .

Then again , being as desensitized as we are to television it may not seem like anything more than a late night movie .

If we could just go back to that "eye for an eye" concept , and broadcast that , THAT would be a deterent .



[edit on 1-7-2004 by oddtodd]

Maybe sticking the executions on TV would have a great effect on the mindsets of the population in America. If they could see, on a regular basis, all the people who are being killed then maybe they would begin to realise how wrong it is.

Personally I think its even more wrong to ask society to support a murderer for his entire life

How can a society lock people up for murder and then kill then? how is that morally acceptable?

Originally posted by earthtone
Maybe sticking the executions on TV would have a great effect on the mindsets of the population in America. If they could see, on a regular basis, all the people who are being killed then maybe they would begin to realise how wrong it is.

But it would work only for a short time. People would become desensitized, possibly apathetic, after a period of time.