So about this death penalty thing

[Cyrano]

Yes, I'm talking about Boston. (And the rest of planet Earth.)

I believe that the sentence should have been life in prison.

I believe that the death penalty is a remnant of human tribalism.

I believe that revenge is a stronger impulse in humans than justice.

I believe that at some point, we may destroy ourselves before we mature.

[TreasonousBastard]

1. I agree.

[MoonRiver]

2. All true, sadly

[DeadEyeDyck]

3. what do you have against tribalism?

[Hissyspit]

24. Plenty.

[BlueJazz]

4. There are many, many people who (through their actions) should be executed IF we allow...

...the same rules for the Boston person to flow to the other murderers who are walking free.

I AM against the DP

[Warpy]

5. I believe you are correct

I hate the DP. I always have, even when I was 16 and dealing with a murder in my own family.

[SheilaT]

6. Oddly enough, we are one of the very few countries with the death penalty.

Makes you wonder how the rest of the world gets along without it.

[Jackpine Radical]

12. The only developed country, actually.

Just five countries - China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and the USA - carried out the overwhelming majority (88%) of known executions in the world in 2007.

Wonderful company we find ourselves in, huh?

[SheilaT]

14. Yep.

Over the years here I've noticed that whenever I point that out, almost no one responds, other than on occasion someone like you who fills in the details. Which I appreciate, by the way.

But supporters of the death penalty are oblivious to the idea that it may not really be the best thing.

Edited to clarify what I intended.

[TreasonousBastard]

25. Japan and South Korea still have the death penalty on the books, although...

Japan rarely uses it and S. Korea currently has a moratorium on it. (North Korea seems to revel in it.)

One of the rules of the EU has been for members to ban the DP.

[MADem]

26. We're at the back of the pack, in terms of population to executed convicts--recent data:

At least 22 countries were known to have carried out judicial executions in 2013. At least 778 executions were carried out in 2013. This figure does not include the thousands of executions that were believed to be carried out in China. Beginning in 2009, Amnesty International ceased to publish minimum figures for the use of the death penalty in China, where such statistics are considered to be state secrets. View the Amnesty 2013 report here.

Countries with the Most Confirmed Executions in 2013
1. China (1,000s *see above) 4. Saudi Arabia (79+)
2. Iran (369+) 5. United States (39)
3. Iraq (169+) 6. Somalia (34+)

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/death-penalty-international-perspective#interexec

Not sure what your definition is of a "developed" country, but China and Iran and Iraq and Saudi Arabia all have universities and running water and good roads and motor vehicles and things of that nature....Somalia is probably "underdeveloped" but the rest of those on the list are plenty developed, I'd say. Poticial repression, sexism as a by-product of the culture and society, well, those are certainly issues in some of these places, but in terms of infrastructure, most of them are quite well developed.

[Bettie]

7. Agreed

Particularly that revenge is a stronger impulse than justice.

[aikoaiko]

8. I think the administering of penal punishment always involves revenge

Those who want life in prison are not that different from those who want the DP in that respect.

[MrModerate]

19. Only if you believe that "punishment" and "revenge" are synonyms

I see them as quite different, although to some degree they overlap.

Punishment is a mechanism for societal maintenance (and can be applied to toddlers all the way up to adults), while revenge is a continuation of the crime by the victim or their tribe.

I'd also say that the 'ultimate crime' -- murder -- earns the 'ultimate punishment' -- life in prison.

[aikoaiko]

21. No they don't have to be synonymous.

I think you underestimate how much revenge is a part of imprisonment.

[bvf]

9. +1

Positively agree.

[project_bluebook]

10. I have always been against state sponsored murder

even though the revenge emotion kicks in with horrific crimes like this. Personally, life in prison would be much worse then death.

[DryHump]

17. I agree n/t

[marym625]

11. We already are

[Flatpicker]

13. The fact

that this is happening in MA truly disappoints.

Being a resident, I feel that we have failed to live up to the progressive values that we preach.

[Mariana]

32. The jury was picked so as to favor the death penalty.

Anyone who was opposed to it was excluded. The jury is NOT representative of the population of the Commonwealth.

[AikenYankee]

15. No idea of the legalities involved

but I would hope this can be overturned on appeal. No sympathies for him, just the whole execution thing feels wrong.

[seveneyes]

16. The times, they are changing

[Chemisse]

18. I believe killing a human being is wrong.

Except in self-defense.

I don't see why revenge killing is exempted via the death penalty.

[MarianJack]

20. When I was a younger man,...

...my philosophy of criminal justice was "HANG'EM" and it didn't matter what the offense was. Now, just shy of 60, I 've become very anti death penalty for a myriad of reasons. The odd thing is, in some ways, life without parole may be an even more harsh sentence than death. If you're under a death sentence, you can at least hope for a commutation to life. If you're sentence is life without parole, you will very quickly realize that you are fucked FOREVER!

PEACE!

[Cyrano]

22. Rejection of the death penalty is a measure of human evolution

[Warren DeMontague]

23. A lot of people on DU think life in prison would be too severe.

Not me. Not for the fuckstick who giggled as he set a body-shredding bomb down next to an 8 year old boy and his 6 year old sister.



My primary objection to the DP is that sometimes we get the wrong person, and combined with the racial and economic disparities in our justice system it is too big of a risk regarding innocent people.

In this case, the dude isn't innocent. Honestly, I have trouble working up giving much of a shit.

[alphafemale]

27. That little boy died very painfully.

I doubt this sentence will be carried out.

It just means these victims will be summoned to court to relive the day for possibly the rest of their lives.

[Warren DeMontague]

28. I know that, too.

Honestly I think it should be life in prison with no chance of parole.

But that's different from being outraged over the sentence. And i was pretty shocked that there were people here who thiught he should be let out after 10 years max, or something.

[alphafemale]

29. Those "10 year" people are likely very sheltered.

They have never made contact with pure evil.

It does exist.

[Violet_Crumble]

31. There's another reason to add when it comes to objecting to the death penalty...

The recent execution in Indonesia of two Australian drug mules made it really obvious that the families of the executed men were being punished as well. And for them it goes on for the rest of their lives.

Yeah, he's not innocent, but when it comes to the death penalty I do give a shit and think it's a barbaric thing that should be abolished in the US just as it's been abolished in many other countries. If they gave the guy life without parole, then I wouldn't give a shit. That's a reasonable punishment for the crime he committed....