the only down side to that rotting in jail thing is that we have to pay to keep them there...

gets expensive!

Hmm that is true, I think it's worth it for certain crimes though.

it all depends on the criminal...

The way I see it, death penalty should NOT be banned for two reasons:

1. Punishments should fit crimes. If you kill someone with malicious intent, or do something that leads to the death of someone, you deserve to die.

2. This is not politically correct, but it would be more economical to kill criminals than put them in jail for life. How much money from tax payers does it take to keep a man in jail for a year? Then think of how many prisoners there are, and how many years they will stay in jail. How much money is spent for every lethal injection?

i firmly agree with point number 1.

regarding point number 2, i think that problem could be easily fixed by bringing back chain gangs on a nationwide level. something along the line of full scale community service. working on construction and maintenance of federal, state, county, and city properties would be a nice start.

replacing our outdated rail system would be wonderful. the federal bureau of prisons reports that there are 199,437 inmates currently in lockup. that is just federal. i imagine half a million bodies working on the national rail system could make a heck of a difference...

Capital punishment was abolished here in Britain in 1964 (which was hanging) and now you see plenty of ghost hunters after the last woman who was hung, Ruth Ellis.
Even our criminals get the luxury of tax-payers keeping them in prison with 3 or 4 square meals a day, TV, exercise, pool tables etc.
Criminals should be treated as criminals and not V.I.P.'s.
Well, Britain in some cases like most of the rest of the world can be a bit backward in coming forward.

(Just had to have my shout...)

if you're drunk and accidently run over like 15 million 5 year olds just strolling out of their day care center on a cross walk... you can't get capital punishment. because the crash wasn't INTENTIONAL. okay so 6 trillion preschoolers are gone forever and the lady just gets up and pops her arm back into place. "oh la," she says "no needle in the arm for me. thank god i had those 27 tequillas BEFORE smashing them down"....

!?

zq