The death penalty.

[Khuutra]

TheRealMafoo said:

rocketpig said:

Generally, I'm against it. The death penalty hasn't proven to be a deterrent to crime and the cost of executing someone is higher than incarceration.

To me, it seems pretty pointless and reeks of petty vengeance, not a desire to actually improve society.

If you really keep them in jail until they die, I really don't care. The sad thing is that's not what always happens. This however, is what the death penalty does deter:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1540632/Convicted-murderers-who-were-set-free-to-kill.html

80% of all crime is caused by 20% of criminals. This means only 1 our of 5 crimes is by someone who didn't commit one before. There is little hope rehabilitation. Most people who commit a violent crime, will do it again if given the chance.

If it's murder, not sure why you would ever give them that chance.

General recidivism trends are more appropriate for a discussion about the prison system (and each prison system would deserve its own discussion - the UK and the US are pretty different) rather than for a discussion about hte death penalty in particular.