The death penalty

[HellsBells]

Ok then... here's how they envisioned the relevance...

Emergency response (in real world) includes fire, EMS and police. So the upset caused by an officer being killed should be felt by the entire emergency response community. The beef is that as one of our fellow brothers in this general industry has been killed, there is concern that the punishment may not fit the crime...

To the original poster correct or amend me if I'm wrong.

Fair enough, I'm not trying to argue that this isn't a valid argument, and believe it or not I'm not intentionally trying to piss anyone off here.

Obviously, there are some huge deficits in the application of Canada's Justice system ( particularly in the Justice part). Hopefully the new crime bill from the Harper Govt. will address this and we'll start to see these convicts actually serving the sentences they've been given.

Tniuqs, if what you say about the supreme court ruling on pre-meditated murder is true (its the first I've heard of it), then its truly a disgrace to our justice system. How any rational person can make such a judgement is beyond my comprehension.

There are a lot of flaws in our system. One of the more outrageous is prisoners being given credit for time served at four to one because of overcrowding. I however don't see our lack of capital punishment as one of the problems.

As stated before the best argument against capital punishment is of course the possibility of killing an innocent. No matter how good the forensics or DNA, there is always the possibility, albeit slim that a mistake could be made ( this is the government were talking about folks).

Even if we lived in the Utopia ERDoc mentions, at least pertaining to conviction vs guilt (I.E. 100% death row convicts are actually guilty), I still wouldn't support the death penalty. To me the whole idea of an eye for an eye smacks of vengeance and rage, not justice. Now do I think that most of these hardened murders, rapists, and molesters will become rehabilitated and see the errors of their ways? Of course not. People who commit terrible crimes should spend their entire life in prison, no parole, no time off for good behavior, no release into society because they've "found Jesus."

[AnthonyM83]

Eye for eye

I knew a girl who followed that motto, she was the most vengeful little thing ever and it was her downfall....actually knew two girls like that. Works I guess, until you try to punish the wrong person.

Except in real life legal world, it's an innocent person who ends up dying and the family mistakenly remembering them as a rapist/killer/etc....what an awful memory to leave behind

[arcticff]

"As stated before the best argument against capital punishment is of course the possibility of killing an innocent. No matter how good the forensics or DNA, there is always the possibility, albeit slim that a mistake could be made ( this is the government were talking about folks)."

What about Paul Bernardo? Murder on videotape! Absolutely beyond a shadow of a doubt. What about multiple eyewitness murders? There are times when the punishment should absolutely fit the crime.

[arcticff]

I do not believe humans have any place controlling the life (or death) of another human. We are an imperfect species and in my belief thereby imperfect in what we do...be it the legal system or anything else. I think Western civilization as a whole is a great example of how wrong things can go.

No offense please, but what exactly is it we do in the course of our jobs everyday? What is medicine all about? We intervene and control lives, we extend lives the the "natural order" has decided should end. Every day we (medical professionals) help people to live, when by all accounts they should have died. If we can allow people to live well beyond natures intention why should we not be able to help someone die, be it a criminal such as Constable Scott's killer or a terminal patient wishing to go on their own terms (whole other can of worms I am guessing).

[arcticff]

No, I'm not, I'm either misunderstanding you or something's going on.

The event with Constable Scott just occurred and the suspect turned himself in and an arrest has been made, it's to soon to know what he's getting off with, he hasn't even started his real trial, most likely.

Or are you saying that anything other than a death penalty sentence is a slap in the wrist?

Hey Anthony, I believe this is the slap on the wrist to which Courage was referring FY!.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/edmonton/story/20...ce.html?ref=rss

[AnthonyM83]

But legal systems don't seem to apply death penalty only when it's 100% obvious, on videotape, events. It's kind of an all or none thing.

[AnthonyM83]

I don't think she killed a cop, though....

[Just Plain Ruff]

rest assured that both of those killers will recieve a cell reserved for them in the Hot house of hell.

[arcticff]

But legal systems don't seem to apply death penalty only when it's 100% obvious, on videotape, events. It's kind of an all or none thing.

Correct me if I am wrong, but there are actually sentencing hearings, one of those places that Judges and District Attorney's (Crown Prosecuters) make decisions. The "crown" does not always go for the death penalty in all murder cases, that is why we assign different degrees of murder. The system could be revamped if it was already being changed, to include the death penalty, such as in the case of my home and native land, to include clauses to permit the death penalty, quickly and immediately, in the case of 100% absolute guilt, such as the aforementioned Paul Bernardo case.

As for the second statement you made, no she did not kill a cop, but truly, though a cop killing may shock, outrage, and get twice the press of any other murder, and though for us in EMS it may hit closer to home (I knew and had worked next to Doug, the fallen RCMP officer) is one life worth more than another? This girl, in pre-meditated and horrifying fashion, killed her entire family, she should be a poster child for changes to young offender laws and death penalty laws.

[AnthonyM83]

Wasn't the girl in the article nuts?