Instigator / Pro
18
1565
rating
6
debates
83.33%
won
Topic
#1235

Firing Squad is the best form of capital punishment

Status
Finished

The debate is finished. The distribution of the voting points and the winner are presented below.

Winner & statistics
Better arguments
6
3
Better sources
6
6
Better legibility
3
3
Better conduct
3
3

After 3 votes and with 3 points ahead, the winner is...

bmdrocks21
Parameters
Publication date
Last updated date
Type
Standard
Number of rounds
4
Time for argument
One week
Max argument characters
10,000
Voting period
One month
Point system
Multiple criterions
Voting system
Open
Contender / Con
15
1724
rating
27
debates
88.89%
won
Description

"Best" will be defined on basic pro and con analysis. While other execution types shall be discussed for comparison, our two methods will be the only under consideration for "best".

Round 1: Summary of our proposed form of capital punishment and outline of Round 2 main points.
Round 2: Explanation of why there is a need for reform plus opening arguments(can include pre-rebuttals, but no rebuttals).
Round 3: Rebuttals/Further Arguments
Round 4: Rebuttals/Closing(no new arguments)

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@blamonkey

The conscience of the executioners is a big concern. That is why my method puts a blank in one of the guns. You never know if you contributed to the killing.

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@TheRealNihilist

Mental suffering was referring to the victim's family suffering as you stated. The basis for you saying punishing one person wouldn't be justice for a murderer.

Intelligence and reading comprehension are related.

Mental suffering cannot be quantified. How do you prove that one person suffered from the loss of a relative more than another or at all? Kinda tough.

Are you saying that if an activity was made legal that more people wouldn't do it? Not one? Because that is what a deterrent is.

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@Alec

If my job were to end people's lives on a daily basis, I'd imagine that scary movies wouldn't do much to alleviate the psychological torment of actually experiencing someone eaten by carnivorous fish. If it worked so well, we would have been subjecting soldiers to "The Shining" years before active service to stave off PTSD. There is a severe disconnect between contrived, virtual violence and real executions of living, breathing people. People who, for instance, may be posthumously be granted innocence after an executioner got acquainted with his/her pulpy corpse.

Also, it's not just one "scary thing" happening that can influence someone's mental state. Doing these executions on a regular basis could cause PTSD or related psychosis. This isn't even mentioning the constitutional challenges that would emerge. Death row inmates havebless rights than other people, but they still have rights.

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@bmdrocks21

>>" I don't think you understood what I said if you got that out of it or maybe you didn't read it and asked me this question."

I went through what I thought was what happened. That wasn't being rude. That was me laying out what I thought happened.

>>but you questioned his intelligence/if he even read it(which you quite obviously know he did).

Intelligence is not tied to reading. A gardener can be the best gardener without reading a single book. I simply said he might have not read it given how he didn't really answer what I said instead gave a question.

>>I don't know how you would bring mental suffering into the question when you mention the victim's family.

When and what you do mean by this? Can you state this in a different way or bring in a quote to so I might understand what you are saying.

>>That isn't something that can really be quantified.

Yes it does.

>>Eye for an eye isn't always precise. They used to cut off a thief's hand.

Didn't think anything was in the first place.

>>Punishment is a deterrent, which is good.

I don't think this is true. If that is the case we would see for every punished criminal an impact on future crime. The stats I don't think layout punishment being an effective way at deterring crimes. I guess if you had crime stats and showed how a lot of people were in jail then it has been steadily I'll believe it but I doubt that is the case.

>>I see no use in keeping people in prison on the taxpayer dime if they could be productive.

Well yes.

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@TheRealNihilist

"I don't think you understood what I said if you got that out of it or maybe you didn't read it and asked me this question."
That suffices for the rude to Alec and word choice question. You could have just said no, but you questioned his intelligence/if he even read it(which you quite obviously know he did).

I don't know how you would bring mental suffering into the question when you mention the victim's family. That isn't something that can really be quantified.

Eye for an eye isn't always precise. They used to cut off a thief's hand.

Punishment and rehabilitation are important. Punishment is a deterrent, which is good. No one wants to go to prison. Rehabilitation is also good if it works. I see no use in keeping people in prison on the taxpayer dime if they could be productive.

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@bmdrocks21

>>Word choice is a big giveaway.

What word specifically?

>> Don't be rude to Alec

Quote me being rude.

>>Your comment #8 is saying you don't believe the death penalty is a punishment that is appropriate for murderers. You say more lives were affected by the murderer.

Yes and I don't think it will ever be given that only 1 life will be impacted by the murderer whereas the person dead would have more than likely 1 more person that cared about them.

>>An eye for an eye, correct?

Well yes but it is definitely more complex than that.

What if it was manslaughter?
The only way to meet a just punishment if we value an equal answer is if that person was also manslaughtered.

This value is me borrowing from Alec's. I don't personally take the side that we should value punishment over rehabilitation. I take the opposite which is why I don't really care about punishment but with what Alec said I found it didn't really make sense.

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@TheRealNihilist

It is quite easy to sense emotion through comments. Word choice is a big giveaway.

Not sure exactly when it changed, but you were definitely less sassy. Don't be rude to Alec.

Your comment #8 is saying you don't believe the death penalty is a punishment that is appropriate for murderers. You say more lives were affected by the murderer. I'm not sure that this necessarily means that we shouldn't attempt to give as much justice as possible, though. An eye for an eye, correct?

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@bmdrocks21

How can you see emotion through comments?

What was my mood before and when did you think it changed?

Do you understand the #8 comment?

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@TheRealNihilist

Why have you been so moody lately?

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@Alec

Say what I said in a way that you like. I don't think you understood what I said if you got that out of it or maybe you didn't read it and asked me this question.

No to answer your question.

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@TheRealNihilist

Your saying that the murderer should receive a harsher punishment?

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@Alec

"6+ people murdered, death by getting eaten by piranhas."

I like your thinking!

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@Alec

The amount of harm lets say a murderer committed will not be met given that more than 1 life would be impacted. If lets say a dad was murdered. His wife/girlfriend/lover, parents that are still alive, children, other family and friends would be impacted.

Saying you would commit X punishment on the murderer doesn't actually change that. So the argument that this should occur because it is comparable to what the murderer did is false. Given the murderer impacted multiple lives and the punishment you are issuing will only impact one life.

I guess you can argue it is just but don't know how you would go about it. Care to try?

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@bmdrocks21

The executioner could undergo various training so they can get used to dealing these execution methods. This might include watching hundreds of very scary movies so when there is something real that's scary, the executioner doesn't react as badly to it.

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@Alec

I feel like some of these might be traumatic for the executioner.

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@bmdrocks21

1 person murdered, death by firing squad or gioty.
2 people murdered, death by stabbing
3 people murdered, death by hanging.
4 people murdered, death by being burned alive.
5 people murdered, death by drowning.
6+ people murdered, death by getting eaten by piranhas.

Sound good?

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@Alec

An interesting proposition. Murder is rather a cruel and unusual thing. However, then you have to determine what kind of torture would be allowed based on the crimes.

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@bmdrocks21

I think cruel and unusual punishment should get modified to allow for an exception for murder.

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@Alec

It gets a little hairy constitutionally speaking. Cruel and unusual punishment isn't allowed, which probably includes painful deaths. On a personal level, I could agree in some cases.

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@bmdrocks21

Depends. If one person is murdered, then yes. If multiple people are murdered, I would prescribe something more painful.