Did you know Capital Punishment and the Death Penalty are not the same thing? I thought this was common knowledge. It's not.

When I look up Capital Punishment I find people only posting about the Death Penalty, which is just one aspect of it.

What if people paid in $ for crimes instead of jail time? Like paying a traffic fine, as an example.

Jail time seems unbalanced for the crime committed and jails are crowded. A murderer gets a few years, insurance fraud gets more than murder, all depending on the randomness of Courts, judges, and expensive lawyers. Eating a person you've just killed on a bus... it happened in Canada and he was out in a few years. I've yet to see anyone murdered come back to life but it seems murder is not all that costly in time. Maybe... it could be counted on a different scale. Cash value instead of time served. It's a start.

I think the old idea of work houses could be brought back. Prisoners work in order to buy their freedom, eventually. I don't see that ever happening these days. Like capital punishment, it isn't likely to come back. (Capital punishment and the death penalty are not the same thing. Young people don't know and assume a lot).

So, just fine them and let the credit agencies nag at them for payment. If its good enough for people who haven't committed a crime, other than getting in debt, why not? A little stress and endless calls from credit agencies always tracking them down, isn't too tough a punishment.

I don't think jail time was ever working as punishment anyway. It was supposed to reform people. How can you really ever reform or punish someone for a crime like murder? Other crimes like assault, robbery, etc. as long as no one was killed. There should be a line somewhere. It gets complicated when you decide if "left for dead" is the same as murder/ killing. I think so. Why should a killer benefit from the luck or determination of someone else to live.

So most criminal activity could be set as a dollar amount payable to the Canadian government (or whatever the local government is). Not as a punishment just a heavy fine. A better deterrent than jail. For one thing it will cost the government less than housing, feeding, entertaining them. Making use of credit agencies means the government won't have to hire extra staff, unless it goes through Canada Revenue, which I guess it must at some point. Of course, payments for crimes will not get any tax credits or refunds. That would be silly.

Maybe the government could collect enough to lower taxes. I just keep finding all kinds of good options for this idea.

Should someone in prison for life be considered for euthanasia if they ask for it? This is another situation to consider in planning assisted suicide. Would it be ok if they have terminal cancer? Or is it just enough that they don't want to stick around for their full life sentence?

To also consider is the cost for the public. Would it be cheaper to kill them (when asked) than to have them live out their full sentence (until given parole because how often do they complete a life sentence any more) in prison?

Also, is this the death penalty then, really? Should it be brought back - or should it be something prisoners can ask for themselves after being found guilty and put in prison?

Kind of ironic for those who oppose the death penalty.

A Belgian man three decades into a life sentence for rape and murder wanted doctors to help him die — and he nearly got his wish. Frank Van den Bleeken suffered no terminal disease when he was granted a doctor-assisted death in September 2014. Rather, he sought to end his “unbearable” psychological suffering, arguing his life behind bars was intolerable and there was no hope his violent sexual urges would ever go away. The case underscores some of the prickly issues Canadian corrections authorities may have to tackle with the legalization of medically assisted dying. So far, there’s been little clarity on how prisoner requests should be handled.

Source: Can inmates ask to die? Clarity urged around doctor-assisted death in prison - The Globe and Mail

I ended up watching a documentary from the UK about humane methods of performing capital punishment. The show was not discussing the issue of capital punishment but the science of finding the "perfect" method of killing. However, in the end the main point came down to whether capital punishment is meant as a punishment or extermination.

If the court sentences someone to be killed should that be considered a punishment for their crimes or an end to them (both the crimes and the criminal). Is it like killing a rabid dog, mercy killing for a cow about to be butchered or an assisted suicide? Or, is it a punishment where the criminal should feel pain?

What about rehabilitation? Yes, that is going back to the issue of having capital punishment or not. But, if a life sentence usually means life in prison, is capital punishment not something like that? How far is it between life in prison to the end of life? Is one just a way to save money and resources and the other just a way to avoid the ending of a life? Also, if a humane method of capital punishment is used will capital punishment become too simple, too easy and then become a standard for any criminal who gets a life sentence? Is death the real meaning of a life sentence?

It is a very interesting issue which would make a great debate topic.

In the end they did conclude that using nitrogen was the most practical and humane/ neutral method of killing. The show also concluded that their definition of it as the "perfect" method was not the best term as there was the debate over punishment versus euthanasia.

bettyjobradley.stumbleupon.com/

Thanks for the review, BJB :) Your link about the innocent prisoners was good, something I can sink my mind into as I feel strongly about capital punishment.

Funny that your daughter's birthday is today, my Dad's birthday is today too. I posted a little memorial thing to my blog. Now I'm about to go out for dinner, in his honour of course. Not just cause I've been cooped up all day and have a bad case of cabin fever. ;)