Madoff made-off with billions...

[magerette]

I've never really bought into the whole "prison is suffering" thing. Never been, and don't plan on going, so I'm admittedly talking out my keister, but I just don't see it. The only way that works is if you've got genuine remorse, and I've yet to see that out of someone that gets a 100+ year sentence. The decision for me is based solely on efficiency. If we get past taking 20 years dicking around in these death penalty cases and economize a bit (bullets are cheap), it's cheaper to put them down than to support them for decades, not to mention the elimination of the need to build lifetime warehouses for them.

As always dte, your reasoning is a weird combination of hard-nosed realism and some kind of mutated semi-romantic idealism. There's almost hope for you.

It really has absolutely nothing to do with remorse. The suffering comes from being deprived of your whole life and getting a new one that totally sucks and that you can't change. Every day you think about what you could have been doing/enjoying/etc if you hadn't screwed up. You have incredible anger and self-recrimination, even if you're too sociopathic to feel guilt or remorse.

As far as bang for your buck goes, you are doing more pain and damage to the scumbags by keeping them alive, as can be seen by the many who off themselves in a suicide by cop or something rather than go back to the joint.

Edit: So in a way, the death penalty is a better and more merciful option, and as you point out, maybe cheaper, though after all the litigation most people take on to get out of it, I don't know if we actually save money on those who have been executed.

 

[larry138]

I've heard that it costs more to execute someone than it does to house them for life in a prison. I know people who've done time and, as you may well expect, it's not fun. If you're a high profile criminal you're probably going to have a way harder time than your average joe. There is some truth to the whole "beat someone up on the first day or become someone's bitch" thing.

I love how his lawyers wanted for him to only receive 12 years so that he may be free when he dies. He should've thought about his future before being a complete scumbag. Oh, and his poor wife has to sell their mansion and her nearly $50,000 fur coat. Oh the humanity!

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

I hope the court is able to transfer at least a dime back to the people who got fooled by him.

No, I would personally correct this sentence a bit : Into :

"I hope the court is able to transfer at least a dime back to the people who lost everything by him."

Because it appears to me that some people literally lost everything, meanwhiole some millionaires still have a lot of money left, after the ordeal.

 

[dteowner]

I've heard that it costs more to execute someone than it does to house them for life in a prison.

That is completely true at this point in time. If it didn't take 15 years worth of court cases to shut the bleeding hearts down so they'd let you pull the trigger, I expect the financial balance would tip dramatically the other way.

 

[larry138]

It's also been found that the lethal injection isn't as "painless" and all that as we thought. If I remember correctly, the death is basically suffocation, and the last few moments of life for the person are said to be excruciatingly painful. How someone who's still alive knows that information is beyond me, but ya know.

 

[dteowner]

Bleeding heart BS on that one. The first part of the cocktail is an extremely strong sedative. They're basically unconscious before the lethal portion of the cocktail is administered. While there have been reported instances where the sedative didn't "take", I'd not lose much sleep over rare exceptions-- it's not like the victims of these animals (most death row cases are incredibly brutal murders) got a "painless" death either.

 

[pibbur]

Although I very strongly oppose any form of capital punishment (as well as multi-lifetime sentences), I have to agree with part of what dteowner said on this one (his 2nd sentence, that is). Hmm. feels a bit strange...

The procedure starts with thiopenthal, an extremely fast acting anestesia inducting substance. Many of you who have undergone surgery with narcosis have probably been exposed to this one. You're under in seconds.

Still, there may be cases where the response is atypical (and I disagree with dt on his views on that), but they must be very rare.

Edit: That's assuming the procedure is performed correctly with prescribed doses.

 

[peko]

I don't get why executions aren't done by firing squad. Bullets are dirt cheap and a few bullets to the head ensures a quick and painless death. It just seems like the easiest solution to me.

 

[Rithrandil]

Because of the political overtones and messages it sends, people tend to miss, and in the traditional method only one person has actual bullets. Plus it's not like the cost of the drugs to put someone under is that expensive - it's the lengthy appeals process.

 

[peko]

Fair enough.
From my pov if we want the government to kill people we ought not be so squemish about the methods. I wouldn't give just one person real bullets either but rather say half to keep the insecurity of who took the killing shot. As for people missing I don't see how that happens on a short distance with a rifle, on a distance of less than 50 meters a rifle is darned hard to miss with even if your aiming at something as "small" as a head

 

[Benedict]

Edit: So in a way, the death penalty is a better and more merciful option, and as you point out, maybe cheaper, though after all the litigation most people take on to get out of it, I don't know if we actually save money on those who have been executed.

It would have been an interesting case to offer unusual judicial solutions - offer him the choice of death penalty with all appeal rights waived and some of the money saved shared between some of his worst affected victims and life imprisonment.

one last chance of minor redemption, not that IMO he'd take it.

 

[zakhal]

I have always been in support of hard labour. Madoff could work hard rest of his life doing anything he can with his bare hands. Propably too old to brake rocks but he could i.e clean toilets or wash dishes in the prison. If refused of work they could limit his diet to bread and water. All earning would of course be taken to pay off victims.

 

[Rithrandil]

I have always been in support of hard labour. Madoff could work hard rest of his life doing anything he can with his bare hands. Propably too old to brake rocks but he could i.e clean toilets or wash dishes in the prison. If refused of work they could limit his diet to bread and water. All earning would of course be taken to pay off victims.

Anything he could do with his hands, eh?

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=231588&title=150-Years-of-Solitude

Not safe for work

 

[magerette]

Anything he could do with his hands, eh?

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=231588&title=150-Years-of-Solitude

Not safe for work

Don't think that's the ...er,... hard labor zakhal had in mind, but I'd think it would get plenty tedious after awhile.
(My husband absolutely rolled off the couch the other night watching that one--pretty damn funny.)

 

[dteowner]

Fair enough.
From my pov if we want the government to kill people we ought not be so squemish about the methods. I wouldn't give just one person real bullets either but rather say half to keep the insecurity of who took the killing shot. As for people missing I don't see how that happens on a short distance with a rifle, on a distance of less than 50 meters a rifle is darned hard to miss with even if your aiming at something as "small" as a head

This is probably the sole instance where I'll give the French some kudos--a guillotine in the town square is tough to beat. If we add (doncha love modern technology) some heaters to the blade, we can get it hot enough to cauterize as it cuts and do away with the mess. What more could you ask for in an execution? Crisp and clean and 100% effective. To keep the bleeding hearts happy, we could use solar or wind power to generate the electricity for the heaters (I'm all about compromise).

 

[Ubereil]

You'd use solar? Well, what more is there to argue about?

Übereil

 

[magerette]

Like I said, there's almost hope for him.

 

[pibbur]

Like I said, there's almost hope for him.

So I don't need to feel ashamed (lower european bleeding heart index) because I found one sentence I could agree upon?

 

[Corwin]

OK, let me ask this question: Why should an execution (especially for a vicious murderer ) be quick and painless?

 

[Rithrandil]

OK, let me ask this question: Why should an execution (especially for a vicious murderer ) be quick and painless?

Because it's about justice, not vengeance.Even if you believe the death penalty is a valid method of meting out justice (I'm not sure if I agree with that stance, to be honest) that doesn't mean torturing the guy before he goes.

Now, if we're talking about vengeance - say I had a wife, and some guy raped/killed her (the Dukakis question) - I'd want to make his death take years and be the worst pain suffered by any human in history.

...but there's a reason why victims or their families do not decide punishment. The ending of someone's life is considered the gravest punishment society can give out (which is why many/most states do not do it anymore) - we like to be humane, so we want the death to be as quick/clean/painless as possible. I mean, I guess we could kill someone painfully, but I don't see much benefit from it except to possibly satisfy our blood lust.