How would American society be different if instead of jails the penalties for everything was death?

Icallander

Woah... hold on now, if I understand you correctly, a speeding ticket is death? Sounds a bit extreme. My point is natural rights for people are based on the constitution. The constitution forbids murder. To do that for anything less than murder is out of line. It is my belief that if you kill someone we kill you back. I don't really care about the 'suffering of jail', they are obviously a waste and need to be removed from main stream. But to kill for accidents is not okay.

interesting idea though

Lt1

I would guess the piles of bodies would get to the point that free movement would be impossible without steppin on a dead folk!

Have you EVER comitted a crime??

psychosolodiver

Who would watch those watching us?

Elijah

If that happened the US would be a very scary place indeed (although I'm sure it is already for many people). I personally don't believe in capital punishment for *anyone*. Killing a murderer seems hypocritical; "Killing someone is the worst thing you can possibly do, so as a punishment we're going to... kill you." Hmm.

But yeah, mandatory death sentences for most/all crimes? That would be a giant leap backwards for the US. How could the US take the moral high ground on anything while slaughtering many of its citizens for any old crime? Do you agree that all illegal activities are wrong? Just because something is a crime in the eyes of the law does it make it immoral? Would you sentence someone to death for smoking pot or doing a few lines of coke at a party?

I think it would be a hellish society; people would be more paranoid of the Government and the police than they already are; innocent people, too, would invariably end up being put to death, as has already happened too many times in the past. I live in a country with no capital punishment and we we have lower murder rates than the US, so it's not the only deterrent. And harsh sentences aren't the only, or even best, way to tackle crime rates. It normally just ends up with an overcrowded prison system.

And I'm always amused with people who think prisons are like holiday camps. Try spending five-ten years in one with the knowledge that you can't leave until your sentence is up and see if you still think they're fun, jolly places. Ever seen statistics of suicide rates in prisons? Incidents of male-on-male rape? "Tougher sentences" sounds like the easy solution, because it's much easier than tackling some of the root causes of crime: socioeconomic factors, drug addiction, mental health issues, etc. Prisons should be geared primarily towards rehabilitation, not punishment. It would be nice if we lived in a simple world where you could undo the damage caused by a crime by subjecting the perpetrator to years of misery (although it'll probably only make them more hardened, less caring, and more likely to re-offend) or by putting them to death. But that's not how it works. Personally, I'd feel a little uncomfortable living in any society where the State has the right to murder its citizens, regardless of the crime.

So in summary, it's a ludicrous question; like some horrible ultra-right wing wetdream, and I can't believe anyone would argue American society would be "better" or "safer" for it. The only faintly good thing I could see coming from it it would be neocons couldn't trot out the old gem, "The terrorists hate us for our freedom!" since there wouldn't be much freedom left for anyone to hate. If anyone wanted to live under such a cold, murderous regime I'd suggest they find a state that implements fundamentalist Islamic law and move there.

p8ntballjunkie2004

I agree with what youre saying and Ive often thought the same thing. Honestly, society as a whole would improve so much. But then we'd be no different then Iran, Iraq ect.. where it is an eye for an eye. It would be interesting to try out to see how it went, but until that happens, which I doubt it ever will, were just left to guess!

Sparky

Sounds like someone is really fed up with criminals getting light sentences. Everyone is.

The reason we have repeat offenders is that the criminals do not fear jail or prison. They are too comfortable. We could reduce sentence time if the jails were places people didn't want to go to. But as it is, they get free food, medical, recreation, and school. Stop making criminals comfortable and they won't want to go there.

Andy G {Join The Resistance}

An idiom comes to mind "In for a penny, in for a pound" If the result of a crime was death or mutilation, I think that any society would not be as careful but rather would be even more violent to commit offenses since there is no opportunity for second chances or rehabilitation. Most people who commit a crime do rehabilitate and do not commit again when they are caught because of the embarrassment or the consequence of a severe penalty afterward. If an individual who wanted to commit a crime knew of the consequences it is likely that it will be even more violent with much more contempt for the law. I don't see how it would be positive for society.

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