Originally posted by miko2d
Punishment is supposed to serve as a deterrent - including the death penalty. People have good reasons to believe that cruelty of punishment affects it's efficiency as a deterrent. If it does so, not using it would be immoral.
After all, why humanely kill two murderers if you could only torture one and deter another? Plusm you may get a few innocent lifes saved as a bonus.
miko
The threat of punishment does not deter the criminal mind no matter the penalty. Despite our having a death penalty, it did not deter these two allegedly 'sniping' all these innocent people. At that level of crime, be it life in prison (without the possibility of parole), or death, there will always be those that feel they will not get caught and punished. The world's jails are full of criminals that thought they wouldn't get caught. LOL, I'd like to know any criminal that knew they'd get caught before they commited their crime. Death penalty as a deterent? Naw, I don't buy it.
I can just imagine the inner workings of the criminal mind:
"If I murder all those people, I'll get the death penalty. Oops, I better not do it."
"If I murder all those people, I'll get life in prison without the possibilty of parole. Is that all? Gee, I guess I'll go murder them then."
The jails are full of those that thought they wouldn't get caught no matter the penalty.
I can bet that if all those criminals KNEW that they'd get caught regardless of the punishment, the jails would be empty.
Financially it will cost us taxpayers more money to put them to death (if found guilty), rather than let them rot in jail for the rest of their lives.