The Death Penalty

Coincidentally i was talking about this topic yesterday; and we arrived at a conclusion regarding this matter. whether death penalty is fair or not depend on what a person thinks about death.

To express my point of view, as an example, i think that when we die, everything is over, life's good things are over so the suffering.

When i see this cases, as Garridos's, i believe that they must suffer, they must be punished. And life imprisonment, combined with some hard work inside the prison, should be a suffering longer than the one when you are dieing. Right after you die, it's over, instead the victims who are "lucky" to be alive, and the family of those victims are going to suffer their whole life.

I clearly understand that death sounds like the worst for most of us; but if we try to put our selfs in the position i' trying to explain, we will see that the best that can happen to people like Garrido is death. It 's going to be the fastest and easiest punishment he could get.

I imagine my daugther being Garrido's victim? I don't want him just to die.

In the other hand, we have religion, heaven and hell, and divine justice. I believe that is a complete big and new topic and i'm not going to touch it.

I understand Mr. Trump's point of view, and his desire to make clear that those type of acts SHOULD BE, no matter how, EXTREMELY PUNISHED! And i agree!

Regards.

Mr. Trump wouldn't it be nice for the state to pass a law that would be " AN EYE FOR AN EYE" in other words. People don't have a problem hurting others because they don't have that same type of pain inflected upon them. The sit in jail taking up time and money. Once someone has been caught red handed and has killed another human. They should not have to go to court. They should just be killed burned and be done with it. But everyone knows, you get a free pass to sit in jail and wait, while the familys of whom the animal kill have to wait to see what will be his fate. But, If you knew you would be getting the same type of pain that you inflected upon other would you then think twice?

Mr. trump the law is not hard enough. "AN EYE FOR AN EYE" .

Mr. Trump the death penalty is a great way to clean up and save money.

Mr Trump, I agree that there are situations where the death penalty is warranted and I hope it remains an option in our legal system.

I couldn't agree more, I've always been an advocate of the death penalty. Sure some innocent people may be affected but... how many innocent people will never again be affected when the death penalty is carried out on the guilty.

Mr. Trump, if this is part of your next political platform, you have my vote!

You would think that penalties like incarceration, permanent criminal record and the death penalty would deter the behavior, but devious minds and deviant behavior work different from the norm. Some are mentally ill, some think they are doing "God's" work, some think they are too smart to be caught, some have no ability to reason through consequences, some are under the affects of drugs, some are in complete denial of their own contribution to their situations, and some are so angry at something that they are beyond any reason at all. Regardless of why they do these things, the whole point is that they do, and the result is terribly harmful.

Horrendous crimes, and violent acts such as murder, rape, kidnap, and hostage situations are inexcusable, and when they happen, our society should remove the threat. Innocent citizens should not have to support the cost of sustaining their lives, and they should never be allowed back into society. The death penalty is reasonable and fair if the person is guilty beyond any reasonable doubt - and not just based on circumstantial evidence.

The death penalty may not deter people from victimizing others, but it should eliminate their ability to re-victimize after being caught. I am sure if the numbers are examined, it will show that close to 99% of sex offenders re-offend if given the opportunity. Some people think that chemical sterilization is an option, but that only puts one appendage out of commission, and it doesn't eliminate the forces behind the action. You are right, death is the most effective deterrent.

I couldn't agree more. I'm a liberal in most aspects, and a registered Democrat. But I am 100% for the death penalty. It should be done more expediently and at less cost to taxpayers, too. If they want to act like animals, then they should be put down like a bad pit bull.

There is no indication the death penalty deters people from committing these types of crimes. The USA is one of the few 1st world countries to maintain the death penalty and yet our rate of violent crimes is one of the highest in the world. So it would seem the death penalty, does not deter violent crime. Texas, where I live, is well known for executing at a higher rate than almost all other states and yet our violent crime is not lower as a result.

I’m not arguing for letting the criminals go free, nor do I think their living conditions should be comfortable in any way, but I think if you just look at results, the death penalty doesn’t make much sense.

I wonder how the parole people managed to not find 3 hostages in the backyard all those years!!! If Garrido doesn't get the death penalty then it's another crime on the list for sure! And if my neighbor had wierd tents and sheds in the backyard I'd call health services or something - they don't sound up to code.

I could not agree more. This guy does not need a trial. The girl was found in his "possession". Enough said. Immediate death should be the only course of action. It should also serve as a deterrent to those who would plot to commit similar atrocities. I have no sorow for this man or those like him. You hurt a child, you die. Its that simple.

Although the behavior is gross and inhumane, the death penalty will not correct all of the wrong that was done to any of the victims, their family and loved ones or society in general. It will not correct the behavior of future monsters who will do the same or worse because they do not fit in to a society that believes this behavior is cruel and inhumane. If this person was allowed to live as long as he has without understanding his behavior is like venom to a snake, then killing him while being watched by the public will not be a useful experience he can learn from. For some, this is can be a reward because it's a way of getting celebrity attention from the media and press. However negative the opinions are, it serves his ego, rather than stimulate remorse for his actions.
Being locked up in prison without the chance for ever returning to a life of freedom, will not help the
victims either, but the punishment will fit the crime.
This can be a case for study. Maybe the medical profession can find some answers to the problem.
DNA studies might reveal a defect in the brain that can be detected early, then treated before criminal activity takes place. Studying the history, can reveal symptoms that can serve as warnings in others.
The death penalty whether by injection or otherwise, is an act of anger and revenge. The idea that killing someone else because the government says it's O.K. does not teach children or adults that killing is wrong. In fact, it demonstrates that killing is justified, depending on who is doing the killing.
Horrific cases can teach us more about human behavior through education than by eliminating the person and moving on with our busy live's. Ten years from now, people will forget this tragedy happened. In ten years, the medical profession might be able to produce a vaccination that can prevent it.
I think we should work on eliminating war, which kills, injures, destroys property and cultures in much larger numbers. Can you imagine living in a world of Peace?

Mr Trump with all due respect I understand your position emotionally but I disagree with you for monetary reasons. I am from the great state of California and currently it is costing us 63.3 million dollars to uphold the Death penalty. With the reforms that the commission want in place that will now be 232.7 million per year. The cost of a system which imposes a maximum penalty of lifetime incarceration instead of the death penalty would be $11.5 million per year.
If we want to make a difference in this world how about instead of us spending hard earned tax dollars on these outcasts of society and stay with lifetime incarceration and spend the rest of the money on assisting the victims.
I know you might be saying to yourself let something like this happen to my family member or myself and perhaps I would sing a different tune and be screaming for "Justice". At the age of 15 I was raped by two men in my parents home while they were away on vacation. You may ask why I was left behind and the reason was because I was a 4.0 student who was taking summer classes to increase my chances of being accepted to work for Quantico in the future. I never achieved that goal.

Gosh I accidentally hit submit so I'll continue. Mr Trump there are no programs in place to assist victims who suffer horrific nightmares. The offer of counseling is present but that's limited. To this day I suffer post traumatic stress disorder when someone walks by my head as I am sleeping. It was the last sound I heard as I lay pretending I was dead so they would stop kicking me and leave. If I hear a noise and I am home alone I go through sleep deprivation afraid the boogie men are coming back. My parents blamed me and to this day they call it "My party night" and no I do not speak to them anymore. The men who raped me were never charged or convicted because a young girl got so emotional from her parents outburst at her she showered and left on her bicycle that day and never returned. An emotional child removed trace evidence that would of convicted them and I just wasn't thinking. I knew better and yet my anger at how my parents were handling the situation got the best of me that day.
Mr Trump I promise you that "Justice" will be served but not here on earth. I know some people do not believe in God. I know for fact He is there. As I laid there getting kicked the men were talking to each other. They kept saying how I couldn't be left alive and they kept kicking my chest. I knew I had to fake being dead and yet my nose and mouth were so bloody I wanted to gag and because I did they kept kicking and hitting. I remember asking God to please, please make them stop. Then my lungs opened up completely and my breathing was more free then it has ever been in my life yet my chest was not moving. I understood the warmth that was surrounding me inside and I relaxed and listened to the voices of the men say "She isn't breathing" and the footsteps walk away.
We need to embrace our victims and spend the money on helping them and not spend it on the scum of the earth. Let's grow people!

It is wearying to keep hearing about these criminal’s rights, in light of the fact no one seems to remember, as citizens, they also have responsibilities. And supposedly consequences.

I disagree.

I don't believe the legal system is equipped and solid enough to have such a big might in its arsenal, death.

It costs many innocent lifes every year, and in the end, these people such as phillip garrido, get what they deserve anyways, to rot in a cell for the rest of their lifes and then go off to hell.

And I don't think that people kill less because they know they risk getting killed anyways. These people murder and do horrible things for many other reasons that more than enough motivates them to do just that, kill. And in the end, I don't think they value their own lifes very much either.

So there you go. The death penalty will never get my vote.

Don't get me wrong though, I definantely think some people deserve to die, but again, my point, the law-system can not be trusted to handle death.

And in many other countries where the law is allowed to handle death, things very often don't go in the name of justice.

I'd like to see you say what you just said to the relatives of those who were innocent and executed. I'm not trying to play on feelings here, but trying to make a point.

I don't know people should take death penalty or not.For me,Life is too short.I love to come close to people who have love and obey the rules of faith and hard work.I also admire people had the courage to defeat someone or something they don't like.Why do they get rid of someone or something ? Maybe someone and something will hurt them or they should protect something or someone important in their heart.

Sometimes I think I had done something wrong and it was happened and it's hard to change the result.It's just like death penalty when people are dead.No one can revive them.When people are doing something wrong ,perhapse no one can save them.Maybe it's the lessen God wants to tell us.Being Good and cherish whatever you have had in your life.

He couldn't have done it without his wife's cooperation, so whatever punishment he gets, she should get the same. I do believe though that the death penalty is the easy option, they should be locked up for life.
For those of us who have no influence whatsoever on the outcome of this trial, we need to focus on the victims, they have a hard journey back to normality but they won't get there without our emotional help. They should be given every opportunity to heal. I'm confident that will happen.

I do not believe in the death penalty. There is absolutely no evidence that it serves as a deterrent- in fact- in one carefully controlled time series analysis that looked at the rates of murder immediately after each execution, there was evidence that the 3-5 days after each execution, the rate of manslaughter temprarily increased. The article postulated that each execution serves as a temporary release of the inhibition to kill someone in a fight. When society feels that it is justified to kill someone because 'they deserve it', then we feel justified in killing someone for the same reason.

We are even finding that it is becoming increasinly popular to kill oneself by mass-murdering, so that if you fail to follow through, the police will do the job for you. A policeman was killed in Tampa recently trying to prevent something like that happening.

One of the most moral men in our lifetime, John Paul II wrote that the only justification for the death penalty was the need to protect society. In a country where it is possible to keep people incarcerated for life, the death penalty is not justified.

Vengeance is the main reason that people want to see the death penalty in cases like this one. I was told that by a psychologist who spent her lifetime interviewing abuse victims and perpetrators that I have one of the most horrific life stories she had ever heard- and yet- I only found freedom through forgiveness. Both of the main perpetrators of my abuse are dead- and it was a relief when I heard that they were dead- but it was also sad because it ended the possibility that their lives could be turned around. I think that I would have been just as relieved if I knew that their power to hurt me was forever removed in some other manner.

This man was convicted of putting a woman in a storage locker and raping her for 5 hours. The locker was set up to be a long-term prison and to disguise the fact that someone was in there. He was sentenced to 50 years in prison but only served 10. When we know what kind of horrific crimes that man was capable of committing- why on earth did we ever release him? Why was he given such minimal supervision? These are the questions that we should be asking.

The most disturbing thing about the death penalty is that the criminal justice system makes mistakes. Cameron Willingham was executed in 2004 by the state of Texas for murder by arson, but we now know the there was no scientific basis for concluding the fire was arson and that the forensic methods used to convict him have been discredited as junk science.

All too often, media and political pressure to solve a case lead police and prosecutors to go after the wrong person. For example, at the time of the notorious "Central Park Jogger" case, Mr. Trump took out a full page ad advocating the reinstatement of New York’s death penalty, further inflaming New Yorkers. The young men convicted were later exonerated on the basis on DNA evidence, which implicated someone else. Nationally, 135 people sentenced to death but later exonerated. Mr. Willingham, despite his factual innocence, is dead.

Life without parole (which, according to studies in many states, actually costs much less than the death penalty) should replace capital punishment for the worst crimes.

This may sound too simple, but a good Neighborhood Watch Program in Garrido's neighborhood could've busted that guy! Sometimes neighbors have fear of retaliation if they feel alone, but would not if they were in a support group. As I read the post about the 2 rapists I also know there is a God of Vengeance - and that my 2 rapists had it coming too. Again I will say, WE NEED GOOD NEIGHBOR WATCH programs so that no one is afraid to report these crimes ... NO, we should not coddle these monsters, but get them off the streets and off this earth forever - I think God supports the death penalty in these cases :)

I think taking an action of revenge in the name of justice doesn't fix the problem - it just makes us feel better. Although it puts out a statement about the consequence to other like-minded individuals, it still takes lots of resources to enforce. I think the problem is with how we view and treat individuals who have no conscience, and who have conversations with God. Our correctional system of 'rehabilitation' is in reality a shack, owned by the government, and hidden from view with a tall fence. I see the points of view below, but I can't reconcile killing another human being. It's ok to give him the death penalty, but it isn't ok for him to have given other's their own death penalty. Our education system doesn't tell us that the golden rule has exceptions when it comes to the law and war. We just have to figure that out for ourselves.

Good morning Mr. Trump,

After reviewing further comments - specifically the ones Posted by member1975826 on 09/01/2009 3:26 PM, I have to ask, how did the bureaucrats manage to increase the cost of a bullet to 63.3 million dollars? Maybe it is time to reexamine the systems as well as the penalties.

I totally agree with you, Mr. Trump! I think we have focused so much on human rights that we have lost our sense of balance. I don't believe this type of person can be rehabilitated. I think if the death penalty were enforced more, we wouldn't have so many repeat or copy cat offenders.

Why should we give an animal like this three hot meals, medical care and place to sleep? Give him the max.

In reply to the question raised by #1253595, the high costs of the death penalty had little to do with the cost of the actual execution. The bulk of the costs comes upfront, for trial and pre-trial processes. And these costs are enormous. The clearest explanation I have seen for this comes from the Kansas Dept of Corrections (you can read it at http://www.kslegislature.org/postaudit/audits_perform/04pa03a.pdf)

Some of the things leading to exceptionally high costs are:
• more pre-trial time will be needed to prepare: cases typically take a year to come
to trial
• more pre-trial motions will be filed and answered
• more experts will be hired
• twice as many attorneys will be appointed for the defense, and a comparable
team for the prosecution
• jurors will have to be individually quizzed on their views about the death
penalty, and they are more likely to be sequestered
• two trials instead of one will be conducted: one for guilt and one for punishment
• the trial will be longer: a cost study at Duke University estimated that death
penalty trials take 3 to 5 times longer than typical murder trials

Today is 9/12. How many remember 9/11?

I believe in capital punishment. Unfortunately, the United States is a nation where the 1st amendment to its constituation ensures that the names of the scum that infest our nation are never fully erased from our collective consciousness.

As long as the media profits from this thirst for information, in the abscence of any moral restraint, the more brutal the crimes, the more famous become the criminals, and the more wealthy become those third parties who profiit from barbaric criminal acts.

For just as terrorists would dissipate in a world without media, so would millions of criminal elements. For example, how many names of the 3,000+ who died in the Twin Towers on 9/11 can you recall? How many will never forget the name Bin Laden? The media decides who is forgotten and who becomes famous.

I am a retired US Army soldier who served in the Middle East following 9/11. Now I work for the Department of Homeland Security in the Transportation Security Administration. Each day, part of the briefing at the beginning of each shift includes honoring, by citing the name and brief bio of one of the victims on that sobering day.

What a great world this would be if the only names we could collectively recall were of those who deserve to be remembered.

Agreed, wholeheartedly.

The difficulty with the death penalty is that it is final. Our system of investigation and forensic is not foolproof despite what TV's CSI suggests. It makes mistakes and the reality is that there are innocent people in jail who would be dead if subject to the death penalty. One of the pillars of human rights is to be afforded the opportunity to defend against the power of the state. If the person is dead, that right is effectively also ended.
Part of this is about risk. What is the real risk that an innocent person would be put to death and what amount of risk that this happens is the society willing to accept? If the price of justice to people like Garrido is that every 25 years one innocent person is put to death, is that acceptable?
As long as the state does not have the power to bring someone back to life, it should avoid this type of uncorrectible action ... at least for the sake of the one innocent person who will inevitably have to die because of it.
I also understand that deterrence is not a measurable effect from this form of punishment. I don't know why, but death penalties have never effectively stamped out any particular behaviour anywhere in the world. Death was a common penalty for all sorts of things hundreds of years ago and people still committed those offences knowing full well they could face the death penalty. So rationally, all people would (or should) be deterred by the death penalty, but some just aren't.
I don't know what is just punishment on earth for Garrido. Assuming he's route through the justice system's review and assesment of the evidence against him maintains what we know through the media, he's a terrible human and worthy of the worst sort of punishment. Is death it? Good question.

Oh and interesting information perhaps relevant to this: Often the opposite of the obvious answer to a problem is the one that actually works:

Example:
More lighting at night increases the amount of crime: a school in the US that was having a problem with vandalism and breakins shut all the area lights off at night. Crime went away completely.

In Maryland (I think I recall) a municipality started a program of giving money to people who were at risk of losing their home for not being able to make rent or other payments. There was very little review as to need but the agency determined that it was more expensive to get homeless people back into homes and jobs (cost of shelters, assistance and everything needed to put people back into jobs and homes) than it was to just keep them in their own homes in the first place. They gave small amounts to those who couldn't make their rent which was a large initial outlay but resulted in a big reduction in the costs of their shelters and placement agencies. They were able to close shelters. Even with the obvious risk that some of the money would go to fraudsters, they saved money!!

I would bet the farm that directing more money at education and opportunity (mobility and entry positions) as well as more healthcare dollars for mental health amoung those who can least afford it, would see a greater reduction in serious crime than an increase in deterrent based penalties ... and would probably result in a net savings to the community through the reduction of penetentiary and legal system costs.

And if that is possible it would be worth investigating and implementing: get more into schools longer and better healthcare at the front end ... less in the jails at the other end. I bet it would work and save money.