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Yes it's tricky. But it's also quite nasty that in some police sieges the perpetrator has absolutely nothing to lose anymore, except his life. So if he kills s

by vlehto 10y ago

Yes it's tricky. But it's also quite nasty that in some police sieges the perpetrator has absolutely nothing to lose anymore, except his life. So if he kills several policemen and manages to escape, it's still good deal. If that doesn't look likely, surrender and get the exact same life in prison you would have gotten anyhow. Knowing this dynamic, the police is incentive to use sharpshooters early in the situation. Which is essentially death penalty without due process.

knz 10y ago
Google tells me that the average time on death row is ~15 years. I'm not sure the average criminal weighs the difference between life or 15 years when contemplating murder. I also believe that sentencing for crimes are compounded in the US - so you might get 15 years for each murder, 10 years for robbing a bank with a weapon, 5 years for robbery, 5 years for using a weapon in a crime etc - effectively a "life" sentence. Also, is being shot by a sharpshooter the death penalty without due process or a reasonable effort to preserve the lives of innocent people who may be involved?
- vlehto 10y ago
  To me 15 years for murder sounds low. Even for Nordic country standards. My understanding is that the ~15 years is because the convicts try everything to get the sentence repelled. Which signals that "death sentence" is really something they consider lot worse than being in prison. There has been research that humans are unable to accurately discern more than 3 years into future. I don't think 15 vs. 30 vs. 45 years makes much difference. But 20 years vs. lethal injection, there is obvious difference in the quality of the punishment. >Also, is being shot by a sharpshooter the death penalty without due process or a reasonable effort to preserve the lives of innocent people who may be involved? You could claim that any death penalty is exactly that. No matter which position you take, the best situation in either case would be the perpetrator turning in and getting that due process.

by vlehto 10y ago

knz 10y ago

Google tells me that the average time on death row is ~15 years. I'm not sure the average criminal weighs the difference between life or 15 years when contemplating murder. I also believe that sentencing for crimes are compounded in the US - so you might get 15 years for each murder, 10 years for robbing a bank with a weapon, 5 years for robbery, 5 years for using a weapon in a crime etc - effectively a "life" sentence. Also, is being shot by a sharpshooter the death penalty without due process or a reasonable effort to preserve the lives of innocent people who may be involved?

vlehto 10y ago
To me 15 years for murder sounds low. Even for Nordic country standards. My understanding is that the ~15 years is because the convicts try everything to get the sentence repelled. Which signals that "death sentence" is really something they consider lot worse than being in prison. There has been research that humans are unable to accurately discern more than 3 years into future. I don't think 15 vs. 30 vs. 45 years makes much difference. But 20 years vs. lethal injection, there is obvious difference in the quality of the punishment. >Also, is being shot by a sharpshooter the death penalty without due process or a reasonable effort to preserve the lives of innocent people who may be involved? You could claim that any death penalty is exactly that. No matter which position you take, the best situation in either case would be the perpetrator turning in and getting that due process.