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Do you think public execution would deter crime?

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Originally posted by: jumpr
Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy
The death penalty isn't supposed to be a deterrent. It's a punishment. So public or private, an execution isn't going to deter anyone from comitting a capitol crime.
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No, it's definitely supposed to deter people from committing crimes. The whole purpose of punishment is deterrence. Read about Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon idea.
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My friend's dad used to say: Locks keep the honest people honest.

Point being that most people who commit crimes do so with little thought to the consequences. Most murders are spur of the moment actions. Do you think that anyone on death row right now took a minute before murdering their victim to contemplate the fact that their pending actions might cost them their life? Nope.

It's not a deterrent, it's a punishment. A very effective punishment.
 
Originally posted by: vi_edit
Originally posted by: yowolabi
Originally posted by: vi_edit
Originally posted by: jman19
Most crimes that can receive capital punishment as a sentence probably would not be deterred by public executions. I don't really see what capital punishment accomplishes other than to "legalize" revenge killings.
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If you had immediate executions you wouldn't have guys sitting on death row for decades sucking up cell space and tax payer money.
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If you had immediate executions, you'd have as many innocent people getting killed as guilty ones.
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Hence my qualifier above adressing just that.
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So why even bring it up?
 
Executions, whether public or private, have one very basic deterrent effect...

the guy exexuted isn't going to repeat his crimes (unless he's in some Denzel Washington movie and fancies singing Rolling Stones tunes).
 
Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy
Originally posted by: jumpr
Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy
The death penalty isn't supposed to be a deterrent. It's a punishment. So public or private, an execution isn't going to deter anyone from comitting a capitol crime.
Click to expand...
No, it's definitely supposed to deter people from committing crimes. The whole purpose of punishment is deterrence. Read about Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon idea.
Click to expand...

My friend's dad used to say: Locks keep the honest people honest.

Point being that most people who commit crimes do so with little thought to the consequences. Most murders are spur of the moment actions. Do you think that anyone on death row right now took a minute before murdering their victim to contemplate the fact that their pending actions might cost them their life? Nope.

It's not a deterrent, it's a punishment. A very effective punishment.
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You're completely right, but your semantics aren't. The death penalty is supposed to be a deterrent (that's the idea of executing people, anyway). In practice, however, most murderers don't think about the punishment when they commit their crimes, so the intention of the law is actually rendered irrelevant.
 
Originally posted by: jman19
Most crimes that can receive capital punishment as a sentence probably would not be deterred by public executions. I don't really see what capital punishment accomplishes other than to "legalize" revenge killings.
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I agree with your first sentence.

But some crimes are too awful to NOT punish with death. I could only name a few, but are some crimes just demand the ultimate punishment. Like that guy who kidnapped that little girl and kept her in his RV, torturing her, before dumping her out in the desert.
 
It certainly deters the person that's executed from ever committing another crime.





Yes, I wouldn't mind public executions, but the legal system is broken right now. The only people being executed are those without the money to stage an adequate defense.

 
No, because it's obvious criminals don't think that they're going to get caught... otherwise they wouldn't do it.
 
Originally posted by: Chunkee
Do you think public execution would deter crime?
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It sure would deter crime. The Enron executives would have thought twice if they knew their actions would cause their employees to form a mob, burn their mansions, hang their rich wives and children, and finish it off with the painful disembowelment of said executives.

The next set of rich, corporate thieves would not have needed a second thought after that example.

It is too bad most people only consider poor people to be criminal.
 
Capital punishment should be viewed as a removal process rather than punishment. When someone commits a crime deemed so heinous that they can no longer exist in our society, we should seek to remove that individual from our midst in the cheapest way possible. Cost analysis should be the only factor. If it's cheaper to execute them with a gun in public... fine do that... if it's cheaper to lock them in a cell and throw away the key... do that.

Cost analysis only please.

 
Of course not, what difference is it if the execution is behind closed doors or not?

Make the death penalty apply to more crimes. In Taiwan possession of drugs gets you the chair no matter the intent.
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Or, make the drugs legal, eliminate the black market, and let people kill themselves if they want.
 
Originally posted by: chusteczka
Originally posted by: Chunkee
Do you think public execution would deter crime?
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It sure would deter crime. The Enron executives would have thought twice if they knew their actions would cause their employees to form a mob, burn their mansions, hang their rich wives and children, and finish it off with the painful disembowelment of said executives.

The next set of rich, corporate thieves would not have needed a second thought after that example.

It is too bad most people only consider poor people to be criminal.
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The OP didn't ask whether we should apply the death penalty to more crimes. He only asked if public execution would deter crime. Fact is, most of the people on death row (or serving life sentences) are poor, uneducated people who have committed rape, murder, etc. Jeff Skilling and Ken Lay were never threatened with the death penalty - only with long prison sentences.
 
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