Homestar Runner Wiki Forum

I personally would like the death penalty more than a life sentence, because either way, you just sit in a jail cell till the day you die.

With the death penalty, that day comes a bit quicker.

I still think that jail sentences are too lenient. Anything less than 15-20 years for rape is ridiculous.

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Not a big fan of the death penalty anyway.

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What does execution accomplish that life imprisonment does not? The criminal suffers longer with life imprisonment. Personally, I'd rather spend the millions it would take to execute people on building more efficient prisons.

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Maybe, maybe not. If you're in prison for life, you can still be visited and still talk with other people in jail. It's like there's still something to live for. You don't see everyone in prison trying to commit suicide, right (not that they'd let you)?Actually, there need to be more prisons period... that's why so many people can get out of their life sentences 'early'.

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Eh? Surely it costs a heck of a lot more to let them live than to kill them. They need food and water. Guards have to watch them. And they take up space. I don't think any increase in efficiency would make it more efficient to let criminals live than to execute them.

- Kef

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It's actually the death penalty that cost more. See here.

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I don't think that takes into account the fact that prisons we have are way over-populated, and so we should be spending a lot more to keep people in jail.

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Part of the problem is the length of time between the conviction and the actual execution. I'd be interested to see comparison statistics between the cost of keeping the same criminals behind bars for the rest of their lives - including facilities and upkeep, food and other personal resources, guards, etc.

As far as court costs go, death penalty cases are usually much higher profile crimes, and therefore warrant greater investigative and prosecution attention. How much of the added expense is the fact that it is a death penalty trial, and now much can be attributed to the need to better investigate and litigate the higher profile case?

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But that page doesn't seem to talk about how much money is spent keeping prisoners alive in prison. It's concerned primarily with court costs.



I was going to say this, but many states don't have the death penalty and we're talking about supposedly comparable cases here, so it would be easy enough, at least in principle, to compare similar cases from a state that has the death penalty and one that doesn't. So I don't know.

- Kef

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Quite honestly I think it should be used more. If I knew I might die for a crime, I'd be a whole lot less likely to do it (Not that I'm going to do anything, but it would seem I'd rather live in a prison until I die than die right away). I also think that it's not effecient enough. Use cheaper methods to kill them, such as the guillotine, or something just as non-painful. Also, shorten their prison stay, execute them sooner.
As for keeping someone in prison, why the crap do they get T.V.s in their cells and whatnot? I'm pretty sure prisoners have more luxuries than I do. (Okay, maybe not, but still) Why not make them work during their stay? I mean, seriously. I can't remember where this was (And with this crappy dial-up, I can't look it up without taking forever), but after a guy got out of prison, he tried to break in, because life was better in there than on the outside for him.
Lower the incentive to do the crime and I'm fairly certain the crime rate would go down. Also, make some executions public.
*Nods*

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Life imprisonment can have parole, but death has no parole... So I recommend Life without parole.

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Will be on and off the forum for a while!