Life in prison

primera man · 02-04-2002, 04:47 PM

Here in NZ we are starting a big murder case where some guy bashed his wife and 8 year old daughter to death last year.
Since then they have arrested the husband and charged him with murder.

Now if he is found guilty(which i think it sounds like he is) how long should he go away in prison for?

Now they say "life" in prison doesn't really mean that. He will most likely be out in 10-15 years to be a free man again.

They are trying to change the law's here to say that Life means Life . You stay in prison untill you die.

I say stuff them....why the hell should my taxes pay for some arsehole to stay in prison all his life and be looked after.
I say a "life for a life".....get rid of them if they are 100% guilty.

kris · 02-04-2002, 04:53 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by primera man
Here in NZ we are starting a big murder case where some guy bashed his wife and 8 year old daughter to death last year.
Since then they have arrested the husband and charged him with murder.

Now if he is found guilty(which i think it sounds like he is) how long should he go away in prison for?

Now they say "life" in prison doesn't really mean that. He will most likely be out in 10-15 years to be a free man again.

They are trying to change the law's here to say that Life means Life . You stay in prison untill you die.

I say stuff them....why the hell should my taxes pay for some arsehole to stay in prison all his life and be looked after.
I say a "life for a life".....get rid of them if they are 100% guilty.

Two words. Lethal Injection.

An eye for a eye. If someone kills someone, well, they should be put down as well.

Jay! · 02-04-2002, 04:54 PM

We should use life prisoners for medical testing, not animals. That way they'd be useful.

KatWoman · 02-04-2002, 05:37 PM

I agree with Jay but then again I am also for life for a life.

PM, do they have death penalty in NZ or is life in prison the max punishment?

Jay! · 02-04-2002, 05:44 PM

I'm okay with death by testing, too.

Bronsonator · 02-04-2002, 07:00 PM

I once heard a guy claim that he didn't believe in the electric chair.

He preferred electric bleachers.

Steel · 02-04-2002, 09:08 PM

I'm a bit wary of the death penalty. I can't think of a situation more horrid than that of being sentenced to death when you truly are innocent, depsite what the evidence says. No, i think prison should be forced labor, getting menial jobs done, like road clearing. Or something. If even 1 innocent man has been killed, that's too many. I simply don't accept that. The system isn't perfect, and neither are the people who run it, therefor i think such a permanent thing as the death pentalty shouldn't be waved around so easily, know what i mean?

moondog · 02-04-2002, 09:13 PM

1. A life sentence in NZ is exactly that: a life sentence. Your sentence doesn't expire until you do; until then you can only be out on parole. Then if you do anything wrong, you can be chucked right back in to continue serving your life sentence. The law doesn't need to change in order for that to happen. The trial judge when giving out a life sentence, also sets a minimum non-parole period. The longest of these has been 23 years, I believe. That means no way can you be paroled until then. Once you reach that point, you may get paroled, but unless the parole board is satisfied, you won't.

2. Death sentences do not work as a deterrent.

3. Many innocent people get executed.

4. Death sentences are unjust - there are many more members of racial minorities on Death Row in the US than there are Caucasians - proportionally, I mean. For the same capital crime, an African American is more likely to get a death sentence than a Caucasian.

5. Death Row and the associated appeals cost a bloody ton - I doubt you'd save any money or resources over life imprisonment, by instituting the death penalty.

taranaki · 02-04-2002, 11:36 PM

Moondog,I am impressed by your practical understanding of many N.Z. issues.I can add little to your post,other than to concur completely with your opinion of capital punishment.You don't appear to take any position on the proposed prison terms of convicted killers,however,and I for one would be interested to hear your thoughts on the subject.

As for my opinion,I believe that while the judiciary has the authority to apply lengthy non-parole periods,the base line at which murderers are considered for parole is way too low.An absolute minimum term of 30 years for murder would sit more comfortably with me.

tazdev · 02-05-2002, 06:22 AM

the fact that some prisoners in New Zealand are being released on parole after serving only 1/3rd of their sentence is what I disagree with. Some ARE being relesed before their non parole period is up and that is just wrong, think of the poor people that have had their son/daughter killed, will they get their loved on back after 1/3rd of the time the prisoner spent? NOPE

taranaki · 02-05-2002, 07:15 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by tazdev
the fact that some prisoners in New Zealand are being released on parole after serving only 1/3rd of their sentence is what I disagree with. Some ARE being relesed before their non parole period is up and that is just wrong, think of the poor people that have had their son/daughter killed, will they get their loved on back after 1/3rd of the time the prisoner spent? NOPE

Weekend leave,familyleave, rehab leave,polytech/uni courses,day release,home detention,name suppression,diversion.....
makes you wonder wether we actually have any prisons,doesn't it?

fritz_269 · 02-05-2002, 04:33 PM

moondog - you're spot on, I completely agree with all your points!

And about #5 - as I recall, here in the US, a sucessful execution rings up a tab of about three to four times what life imprisonment would cost. Economics are clearly not in favor of the death penalty.

Here, I found a source:

Quote:

from: http://www.mindspring.com/~phporter/econ.html
From this, the cost of keeping a 25-year-old inmate for 50 years at present amounts to $805,000. Assuming 75 years as an average life span, the $805,000 figure would be the cost of life in prison. So roughly it's costing us $2 million more to execute someone than it would cost to keep them in jail for life. This is just the dollar cost, the externalities will be discussed in a moment.

Jeepguy01 · 02-06-2002, 12:43 AM

A life sentence isn't really a "life" sentence, per se, but actually a REALLY long jail sentence, like 150 years+. Of course, they know that nobody is going to live for 150+ years, that's why it's a "life" sentence.

Between death row and a life sentence, I'd have to go for the life sentence in most cases. Quite simply, killing someone on death row is WAY more expensive than keeping him alive in a jail cell for the rest of his/her life. The continuous trials and court hearings account for the extrememly high cost. In my opinion, that person isn't worth the money. Now, as for Osama bin Laden and Timothy McVeigh, etc., I totally agree with killing them.....

About the extremely high proportion of minorities on death row, it's really sad. Isn't it 1-in-4 African Americans between the ages of 18-24 are in jail? That's WAY TOO HIGH and really sad....

taranaki · 02-06-2002, 12:48 AM

On arelated topic,at the last election in N.Z.,There was a massive vote in favour of longer jail terms for violent offenders....about 97%,from memory.....

Why then ,if everybody wants longer terms,does everybody object when the government offers to build the prisons to house all these criminals?I'd be happy to have a jail in my neighbourhood if it meant there were less criminals wandering my local streets at night!!!

dejoux · 02-06-2002, 05:31 AM

They had a referundum in NZ to see how many people wanted tougher penalties for criminals, I forget the figure but the public was overwhelmingly in favour of tougher penalties...not much has been done about this though.

Supposedly tougher penalties dont stop people reaffending, but if therye locked up they cant is my opinion.

One of my friends dads was convicted to life imprisonment for murder (Colin Bouwer). I dont really know how long he'll get but its probably gonna be around 15 years.

In my opinion Prisons have too many luxuries, I dont see the problem with prisons like that place in Cuba where therye holding the Teleban prisoners, they commited a crime, theyre there as a penalty not a holiday. Maybe if criminals were more worried about going to prison they might straighten up abit

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