[massysett]

This list is yet another example of how the condemned receive something that neither their victims nor most other convicts get: a ceremonial death. They get last words. A last meal. Last rites with the clergy. Candlelight vigil by those against capital punishment. Final appeals to the courts and to the governor for clemency. Witnesses to the execution. To rot in obscurity would be greater punishment for these people. Instead they get to go out as celebrities, complete with profiles on an official government website. Disgusting.

[jacquesm]

Some of them get to go out as innocents.

What's disgusting is a nation that sinks to the level of those it holds the most in contempt.

The death penalty is wrong on so many levels. And all those safeguards aside there are still innocent people murdered by the state.

It's funny how you'd use 'candle lit vigil by those against capital punishment' in the same list as 'witnesses to the execution'.

And 'to rot in obscurity would be greater punishment for these people' lumps you right in with those against the death penalty.

[gambiting]

Disgusting as it may be, there are only a few options here, and none of them are going to make everyone happy.

If you leave them to rot in prison like you suggested, people are going to be upset that the society is paying to keep them alive(surely it would be better to get rid of them?)

If you eventually execute them like some countries do now, some people(like you) are upset that we make a show out of it - we don't. If one occurs it's a result of a judicial system that takes years to reach a final decision,and then we are "too humane" to just shoot people in the head without giving them the last meal.

And of course there is the last option of executing people on the spot - caught a child molester during the act? Why not shoot them right there, it is literally saving the taxpayer millions in costs of trials, judges,lawyers etc. No one can argue that it would not be a huge saving for the society. But I think we can do better than dispensing justice on a whim. As much as I enjoy Judge Dredd comics, I would not like to live in his universe.

Also, one could argue that a much better system would be about rehabilitation,not punishment, and in such system death sentence is simply not needed.

[lmm]

> If you leave them to rot in prison like you suggested, people are going to be upset that the society is paying to keep them alive(surely it would be better to get rid of them?)

I've heard that execution as practiced in the US today is more expensive than life imprisonment.

[pawn]

I know a lot of people who would be okay with us going the cheaper route of putting a bullet in their head rather than the more costly method of injection.

[chrisbennet]

Its not the injection that makes it expensive. Its the years of legal costs.

[protomyth]

> people are going to be upset that the society is paying to keep them alive

Last time I checked, it was cheaper to keep them in prison for the rest of their lives then to go through all the money in court costs. It might have changed, but the economics favor a lifetime incarceration.

[famblycat]

I'm against capital punishment, but I'm glad that at least the state has higher standards than murderers when it comes to killing people.

[Surio]

Very interesting contra-view. Thank you.

[happyscrappy]

This is how opposition to the death penalty should be sold instead of pretending that the perp is the victim.

[brlewis]

Sometimes the convict is not the perp.