Utah firing squad executes convicted killer

bailey bud wrote: Even if the point is to punish crime --- it's not doing what it is intended to do ---- there's a long line of people on death row.

Few, if any murderers are actually punished.

I would hazard a guess that more murderers are killed by fellow inmates than the executioners.

In California, a study showed death row inmates are more likely to die of old age than be executed.

So we seem to agree that:

a) The capital punishment system seems to have very little deterrent effect
b) The capital punishment system rarely punishes the offenders

Question is, then --- why the heck do we do it?

Incidentally - if you show up in my home and threaten my family - I can assure you that I'll exercise my right to carry and utilize a weapon to protect my home and my interests ---- so I would not characterize my objections to the death penalty as being a tree-hugging or wishy-washy pacifism.

I simply do not feel the capital punishment system that we've set up accomplishes very much.

It seems to me like there's a token death every now and then - which simply allows politicians to appear to be "tough on crime."

The current system looks more like a political grandstanding platform to me, than anything else.