Death Penalty Ruling

[Endzone Animal]

Killing the attacker doesn't change the victim's horror.

Neither will putting him in jail.

[John Adams]

Neither will putting him in jail.

 

No penalty changes the horror for the victim.

[PastaJoe]

And what of the victim? What of their sentence? They will NEVER live a normal life. Sure, they may recover to some extent, but the horror of what they experience wilL NEVER truly go away.

 

Why should anyone that does that to a child deserve the chance to live out their natural life?

 

If we sink to the level of the attacker and seek revenge, then we lower ourselves to their level of brutality. Lock them up and let God decide when it's their time to die.

[Endzone Animal]

If we sink to the level of the attacker and seek revenge, then we lower ourselves to their level of brutality.

Executing a convicted child rapist is the moral equivalent of raping innocent children? Says who? Not me, that's for sure. By this flawed logic imprisoning a child rapist is also the equivalent of raping an innocent child.

[ExiledInIllinois]

The government executing one person in error is the most heinous crime imaginable. Now for the cases that are proven without a doubt (usually where the offender basically admits the crime), I say: "Bring on the death!"

[PastaJoe]

Executing a convicted child rapist is the moral equivalent of raping innocent children? Says who? Not me, that's for sure. By this flawed logic imprisoning a child rapist is also the equivalent of raping an innocent child.

 

Taking another person's life when they pose no further threat to another person is premeditated and lowers our own standards. The right way is not always the easy way. Pope JPII forgave the man who tried to kill him. I'm not saying I could ever do that, but executing someone isn't going to change the past, and hasn't been proven to be a deterrent.

[Wacka]

In the case the court decided, the rapist was the 8 year-old's 300 lb stepfather. The girl was injured and evidence was recovered. The step father at first said it was two teens on bikes, but the DNA proved it was him. There was no doubt in this case who the rapist is.

 

H should have been fried.

[Endzone Animal]

Taking another person's life when they pose no further threat to another person is premeditated and lowers our own standards.

Many, many violent crimes are committed by violent criminals granted early prison release by liberal judges. Women traumatized by violent rapists are often stalked by them again after their release, and are repeatedly threatened by mail or email from their prison cells. The only time there is really no threat is when they are dead.

 

The cruel, unrepentent criminal is given 3 hot meals a day; a social network of inmates; access to cable TV, basketball courts, and exersize rooms; visitation from friends and family; a fully stocked library, and full internet access.

 

The victim is often disfigured physically and mentally for the rest of their life.

 

As far as lowering our own standards to execute these hideous creatures, well, you may feel sadness when our most brutal, violent, sadistic criminals are killed for their crimes against humanity, but most of us, including the victims who are living with the horror every single day, will only feel closure when they are dead.

[jjamie12]

... will only feel closure when they are dead.

Implicit in your continuing line of 'closure' is the idea that 'closure' for the victim is (and / or should be) a reasonable and just goal of the penal system (or, at least, of the specific penalty of a particular crime). Following this line of reasoning sends us down a path of victims determining the appropriate punishment, which we can all agree is not something that we should aspire to. While the victims here certainly get all of the sympathy in the world from me (from anyone and everyone, I would imagine), we simply cannot make laws and punishments in the interest of ANYONE needing 'closure'.

[Endzone Animal]

While the victims here certainly get all of the sympathy in the world from me (from anyone and everyone, I would imagine), we simply cannot make laws and punishments in the interest of ANYONE needing 'closure'.

If you read the entire conversation, you would have realized that the argument given against the death penalty was that it is cruel to the criminal and does no good for the victim. I demonstrated very clearly that this way of thinking is misguided on both counts. You are of course correct in saying that laws should not be enacted that give full penal decision making to the victim, but nobody ever suggested that they should. Honest mistake, but your point wasn't being suggested by either side of the discussion.

[jjamie12]

Does the death penalty serve as a deterrent?

[Endzone Animal]

Does the death penalty serve as a deterrent?

Would it for you?

[K-9]

Some time ago on this BB (it may have been TSW), the death penalty was debated. Somebody posted a response on the "pro" side and said it was better for "100 innocent people to be put to death than for one truly guilty person to live." I couldn't believe that an otherwise enlightened individual could say that in all seriousness. Made me realize how ripe for the picking we truly are.

[blzrul]

Here is a prime example of why extreme punishment such as the death penalty is problematic.

 

A man was convicted of horrible crimes. He asked for DNA analysis that he believed would prove his innocence. The DA objected. The guy couldn't pay for his own. He sat in jail for 7 years while the perp walked free.

 

In TX, people rarely sit on death row for 7 years. Fortunately this guy was not on death row.

 

Every day it seems like we hear about more and more of these cases. When these guys are released after 10, 20, 25 years everyone says "well that just proves the system WORKS". Yea verily but it doesn't help the victim - who typically wants the guilty person to be punished - or the poor slob who lost his life figuratively, or even literally.

 

I think the death penalty is stupid. It costs taxpayers more, and the bad guy suffers less. Life without parole, particularly if you're in the teens or twenties, is pretty damn bad.

[Endzone Animal]

I think the death penalty is stupid. It costs taxpayers more, and the bad guy suffers less. Life without parole, particularly if you're in the teens or twenties, is pretty damn bad.

It costs much, much less to execute than pay for their incarceration. As for the "bad guy", will no longer be able to go on the internet, eat 3 hot meals a day, watch cable tv, have a warm bed, read his favorite magazines, write poetry, receive visits and phone calls from friends and family, socialize, or feel the sun on his face. There is a reason that prisoners who are on death row appeal...they would rather stay in jail than be killed.

[K-9]

Here is a prime example of why extreme punishment such as the death penalty is problematic.

 

A man was convicted of horrible crimes. He asked for DNA analysis that he believed would prove his innocence. The DA objected. The guy couldn't pay for his own. He sat in jail for 7 years while the perp walked free.

 

In TX, people rarely sit on death row for 7 years. Fortunately this guy was not on death row.

 

Every day it seems like we hear about more and more of these cases. When these guys are released after 10, 20, 25 years everyone says "well that just proves the system WORKS". Yea verily but it doesn't help the victim - who typically wants the guilty person to be punished - or the poor slob who lost his life figuratively, or even literally.

 

I think the death penalty is stupid. It costs taxpayers more, and the bad guy suffers less. Life without parole, particularly if you're in the teens or twenties, is pretty damn bad.

 

What I have always found interesting about these cases, is how intracteable the DAs can be even in the face of the new, irrefutable evidence that exonerates the wrongly accused.

 

There is just something about the phenomenon of the human mind that literally prevents us from accepting any other truth once we have accepted another.

[John Adams]

The cruel, unrepentent criminal is given 3 hot meals a day; a social network of inmates; access to cable TV, basketball courts, and exersize rooms; visitation from friends and family; a fully stocked library, and full internet access.

 

Full Inernet access for violent criminals? Yet another miss by you.

[John Adams]

Would it for you?

 

No. In fact, if I were planning a heinous crime that would result in capital punishment, I'd prefer the capital punishment to lifetime incarceration.

 

If it was just a crime of passion (as most are), the death penalty would never even enter my mind.

[Wacka]

In San Francisco this week a 49 year old man and his two teen age sons were shot in their car.

The reason?- They went down a narrow street and accidentally blocked someone coming the other way trying to make a left. They backed up or pulled over so the person could make the turn. As the car came by, he opened up on the car. The father and one son died on the scene and the second son died two days later. They caught the shooter (a gang member) the next day. The city is still debating the charges on the shooter. This should easily be a death penalty case. The idiotic DA (another one in a long line of idiots) has come out before that she won't seek the death penalty for anyone. The mother/wife is asking for the shooter to be charged tried for the death penalty. The DA was interviewed on the TV this AM and when asked about asking for the death penalty she totally avoided the question.

 

And the idiots on the city Board of Supervisors debate about banning styrofoam cups and plastic bags and giving money to perverted parades.

[Endzone Animal]

No. In fact, if I were planning a heinous crime that would result in capital punishment, I'd prefer the capital punishment to lifetime incarceration. If it was just a crime of passion (as most are), the death penalty would never even enter my mind.

Well, than it's a good thing that the penal system isn't based on choosing punishment based on what the criminal thinks is right. I am quite certain that if you raped children there would be no shortage of people willing to inject you with the poison, and if it made you happy to die than feel free to consider the state merciful and sensitive to your feelings.