The Capital Punishment Debate

[captloadie]

Rape
Molestation
Torture/Mutilation
Child Abuse (Physical/Psychological)
1st & 2nd Degree Murder
Treason

That would be my list.

Rape - statutory? As a sole charge? Two drunk people and one changes their mind?
Molestation - while a heinous crime, is it something both the offender and victim can overcome with treatment? One child one time, or multiple counts with multiple children
Torture/Mutilation - what are your definitions? Is there a sliding scale?
Child Abuse (Physical/Psychological) - who decides the threshold? Corporal punishment is child abuse to many, but not to some. Is there a time limit to when the abuse occurred in the past?
1st and 2nd degree murder - for all cases? Or is it specific to the crime? Are there caveats? A father kills the individual who molested their daugher? They get the chair as well?
Treason - again, what is the threshold and who determines the definition?

HT - this isn't calling you out. I bet you have very specific examples in mind that meet a threshold where the death penalty would be applied, and you are not saying that all convictions on those charges get the death penalty. I'm just highlighting the fact that its easy to be for the death penalty for the worse case scenario of all the above, but the hard part is determining what level meets threshold for a death penalty sentence.

I also don't think that the threat of the death penalty should be allowed to be used to secure a guilty plea in exchange for a lighter sentence. There are too many examples of innocent individuals taking the deal for fear of their lives. If the crime is bad enough the death sentence is on the table, it should be mandatory for the case to go to trial.

 

[mariomike]

Rape - statutory? As a sole charge? Two drunk people and one changes their mind?

Read this about that,

Nobody had been executed in a non-fatal rape case since Canadian Confederation in 1867.

Source was Wikipedia. If anyone has a source that claims otherwise, please post it.

 

[Halifax Tar]

Rape - statutory? As a sole charge? Two drunk people and one changes their mind?
Molestation - while a heinous crime, is it something both the offender and victim can overcome with treatment? One child one time, or multiple counts with multiple children
Torture/Mutilation - what are your definitions? Is there a sliding scale?
Child Abuse (Physical/Psychological) - who decides the threshold? Corporal punishment is child abuse to many, but not to some. Is there a time limit to when the abuse occurred in the past?
1st and 2nd degree murder - for all cases? Or is it specific to the crime? Are there caveats? A father kills the individual who molested their daugher? They get the chair as well?
Treason - again, what is the threshold and who determines the definition?

HT - this isn't calling you out. I bet you have very specific examples in mind that meet a threshold where the death penalty would be applied, and you are not saying that all convictions on those charges get the death penalty. I'm just highlighting the fact that its easy to be for the death penalty for the worse case scenario of all the above, but the hard part is determining what level meets threshold for a death penalty sentence.

I also don't think that the threat of the death penalty should be allowed to be used to secure a guilty plea in exchange for a lighter sentence. There are too many examples of innocent individuals taking the deal for fear of their lives. If the crime is bad enough the death sentence is on the table, it should be mandatory for the case to go to trial.

Provide the legal/justice system with brackets. A minimum and a maximum and let the courts use the specific details of the individual cases to decide where the offenders out come sits on that scale.

I am willing to treat the death penalty with enough seriousness to recognize that we probably cant create a blanket usage that cant be what if'd to death. So simply add as a tool in the box and allow the courts and our judicial process to decide when to and when not to use it.

 

[Blackadder1916]

Provide the legal/justice system with brackets. A minimum and a maximum and let the courts use the specific details of the individual cases to decide where the offenders out come sits on that scale.

So, let the system work exactly as it does right now (with the exception that there is no death penalty). And if a death penalty was put on the books in Canada, it would be so rarely imposed, or if imposed even more rarely carried out, that it would be a return to that time when the debate over capital punishment inevitably ends with its abolishment.

 

[Halifax Tar]

So, let the system work exactly as it does right now (with the exception that there is no death penalty). And if a death penalty was put on the books in Canada, it would be so rarely imposed, or if imposed even more rarely carried out, that it would be a return to that time when the debate over capital punishment inevitably ends with its abolishment.

If that's your prediction, sure.

 

[brihard]

So, let the system work exactly as it does right now (with the exception that there is no death penalty). And if a death penalty was put on the books in Canada, it would be so rarely imposed, or if imposed even more rarely carried out, that it would be a return to that time when the debate over capital punishment inevitably ends with its abolishment.

Desire to transport miscreants to Australia intensifies

 

[dapaterson]

Desire to transport miscreants to Australia intensifies

Only island Canada has that we control that's big enough and not joined by land or a bridge (PEI and Cape Breton escape!) would be Vancouver Island.

 

[Halifax Tar]

Only island Canada has that we control that's big enough and not joined by land or a bridge (PEI and Cape Breton escape!) would be Vancouver Island.

Artic archipelago ?

 

[Brad Sallows]

Only island Canada has that we control that's big enough and not joined by land or a bridge (PEI and Cape Breton escape!) would be Vancouver Island.

It would provide an opportunity for a movie about Canada. "Escape From Victoria".

 

[brihard]

So I joke, but historically Britain had a massive range of offences for which execution was prescribed- over 200 different offences, some as minor as petty theft. For obvious reasons of practicality, most such sentences were commuted to some extent. ‘Transportation’ was, for a time, one of the preferred alternatives to execution.

 

[mariomike]

I also don't think that the threat of the death penalty should be allowed to be used to secure a guilty plea in exchange for a lighter sentence.

I might be tempted to take the deal.