Asahara sentenced to death

I don't like it. I don't think ANYONE deserves the death penalty. I find it too inhumane and barbaric. IMO, it is just lowering the punishers to the same level the murderer is. Just legalized murder for me.

I also believe that when you put someone on the death penalty, the people you are truly killing are the family . I think you people understand what I mean.

Of course, I presume that there are a good couple of people around here who will try to disagree with me, by saying that putting people like rapists and first degree murderers in jail is "pampering" them.

And my answer is: If you want to be so harsh with him, then why you are you so compassionate with them that you favor as punishment a needle injection and bye-bye, instead of locking them in a jail for the rest of their lives?

Here in Puerto Rico the death penalty was abolished in 1928, and when the constitution was redacted in 1952, they put a sentence in the Bill of Rights that reads "No existira la pena de muerte." (The death penalty shall not exist).

Im against the death penalty too

Life in solitary confinement, without any kind of chance of parole. And almost no communication with the outside world. In such a case death is simply too merciful

When the type of crime is the kind you've mentioned, then wouldn't death penalty be too merciful?

An injection from a needle, and seconds later the person is dead.... tell me if that is severe. I sometimes feel the pro death penalty people are contradicting themselves when they say that for certain crimes life in prison isn't enough, since as I said, I have to ask them why are they so compassionate with the offender to want as punishment, a needle shot and bye-bye.

Call me cynical but I think USA would still be trying to determine a fair punishment.

As for Asahara, many Japanese are still quite angry and upset over the sarin gas attacks. Take not that their society is peaceful and until that moment, no one thought twice about taking the subway or going shopping in the city levels underground. The country was on edge for a long time after the attack. Looking back it is like Japan lost its innocence.

Despite what country we may live in or what we believe, at the end of the day telling the government of another nation what should and shouldn't happen in their legal system is an insult. It is how that particular country is run in order to keep the peace. It is right in their eyes.

Though this does change when war crimes and barbaric acts of torture are the norm in the justice system.

I used to be unilaterally against the death penalty, but I would be dishonest to say that now, since I believe that we should execute any of the major Al-Qaeda players should we ever nab them. (I suspect that the military has been told to only bring Osama back in a bag actually since things are far less complicated that way.) I do think that the death penalty if used needs to be limited to a short list of the most depraved of crimes as opposed to the seemingly indiscriminate approach that some states seem to take to it. I guess I see it more as an elimination of evil than a crime deterrent. I think that people like Adolf Hitler and Bin Laden embody that evil, as opposed to some sap who panics and in a split second, kills someone during a botched hold-up, then winds up being defended by an indifferent attorney. I feel a bit peculiar even typing that because it almost implies that the life of a shop keeper is less important than lives taken by mass murderers. I don't think that, but I think that when society makes a decision to take someone's life in punishment for the crime, it should always be for extraordinary reasons such as terrorism, and the evidence should be of virtual certainty. I think people who promote such activities need to feel the fear that their victims did, as they sit in their cell awaiting their fate.


While I certainly would not want to spend my life in prison, I think the idea that prison is worse than death is the view of someone not facing the death penalty. With few exceptions,death row inmates appeal their death sentences over and over again. People will tolerate incredibly deprived circumstances in an effort to survive.

I totally 100% support the death penalty. If someone murdered my family members i would want to see them die.

Im not even sure where I stand on the death penalty. Living in the UK where we don't have it anyway, it's probably not something I think of as much as perhaps people in the USA do, but the above statment is certainly something to think of. If someone killed my family or friends, I'd want them dead too. If they killed my cat or my rat I'd want them dead.
I suppose the other point is that why should tax payers have to spend their money to keep alive someone who does such horrific things? If they're not executed, they spend their entire life in jail and god knows how much that costs tax payers to just keep one person for one year.
Also, Im NOT religious, but if you believe that the bad truely go to hell, then the death penalty ISN'T the easy way out.