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The silly things we doPosted Tuesday, July 24, 2007, at 3:21 PM
Okay, I'm coming down off my soapbox (thanks to all of you who were willing to post on the cell phone tax thing and take a stand on your opinion, I really do appreciate those who aren't afraid to stick to their guns!) and I'm going to harp on a totally different issue.
I saw in the Southeast Missourian today that a Perryville, Mo., man has been sentenced to 200 YEARS in prison after pleading guilty to two counts each of statutory sodomy and statutory rape, both charges with a person less than 14 years old. While I do thank the court system for taking this pervert off the street so that he can never harm another child, doesn't sentencing someone to 200 years seem a little off? If your plan is to sentence them to 200 years, wouldn't the death penalty seem a better alternative? I know there is great controversy surrounding the death pentalty, but I am an avid supporter of it. Let me explain a little bit. I know that 30 years ago you couldn't always determine whether a person was actually guilty or not. But today, with forensics that can take teeth imprints off a 30-day old piece of gum and match them to a person, don't you think we can conclude almost to a certainty whether or not someone performed a crime? In those cases, and those cases only, I believe that the death penalty is acceptable. Especially when the guilty party pleads guilty to the crime. Why are we not using this more instead of spending our precious tax dollars (that could be spent somewhere else, like 911 services) feeding, clothing, medicating and taking care of a person who is virtually useless to society? What do you think? Comments Showing comments in chronological order [Show most recent comments first] |
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I once had a professor who told me that, in actuality, it costs more tax dollars to execute than it does to incarcerate for life. Why? Appeals cost money.
Doesn't seem right, does it?
I don't know Sacha, the longer I live and maybe become a little wiser I am a little less inclined to take another persons life.
A couple people have been recently released from Death Row. I trust the forensics and todays science. It is the people that I can't put 100% faith in. I have made some glaring mistakes in my life. Have you?
All my life I have been in favor of the death penalty but now I am beginning to wonder about it.
Is there such a thing as a useless person? If so, exactly what is a useless person to society? By the interpretation of some people, that could be me or you. Is that the criteria for being put to death?
I personally don't know for sure anymore if I can say who should live and who should die. I'm not sure I trust anyone else to make that decision either.
I never said being a useless person would be the reason to be put to death. Raping, murdering, intentionally hurting other people would be the reason to be put to death. I think we should have a little more compassion for the victim and a whole lot less for the person committing the crime.
If they have the right to take the life of someone else who never did anything to them, why doesn't society have the right to ask them to forfeit theirs if evidence shows beyond the shadow of the doubt that they did it?
i read some place that God does not make junk but after reading that report about that guy from Perryville and the terrible things he has done i am not so sure, it is a terrible thing to take a persons life, that is why i hate this war so much, so many lifes wasted and nothing accomplished.
While Goat Lady here is right about the appeals I have another take on this.
First, you get one appeal and it should be made timely. Not 7 years timely, but like 6 months timely.
After that if you are still found to be guilty, you should be walked out of the courthouse and executed. No more concern with housing and feeding there.
Finally, we do away with lethal injection. Who cares if the method is humane? You only get the death penalty for murder or treason so just how humane were the acts they committed.
So, in place of lethal injection, we bring back hanging. Instead of the thousands of dollars the government claims it costs to give a man a shot, let's be more cost efficient.
One $10 length of rope could hang hundreds of people if well-cared for and stored properly.
The tax saved in courts, needles and room and board can be use to cover 911's issue. Heck, this could give us a tax cut.
All kidding aside now, I agree with Truth. I don't feel like it's my decision to determine one's fate. Sure, there have been plenty of cases where I felt someone deserved to die, but only he will face his maker with his actions on his back. Not me.
However, a life sentence should be that. FOR THE REMAINDER OF ONE'S LIFE. Not 25 years before parole. This would do away with these moronic sentences.
It always amazes me that the same people who promote the death penalty feel like stem cell research is playing God.
Some people just confuse me.
Well, now, Corey, I thought you were really cookin' there for a minute, with all that talk about keeping the hangin' rope in good condition...
I thought, "Wow, he's gonna polarize the whole countryside with this drastic stance!"
And then you said you were just kidding! Now you've defused all those readers who were just itchin' to jump into this fray!!
I.B., I thought I had you pegged - politically - and then you throw a monkey wrench into the issue by giving some thoughtful consideration to the capital punishment debate!
I've always thought that some people were just too dangerous to live...like some vicious dogs....but I'm really not sure...
A human life is a very sacred and precious thing. If they are not trying to take my life or someone else's at the time I am not sure I could pull the switch.
To bring up an extreme point of view (that I do NOT personally support) for the sake of the blog, I have read that some of the people feel that we should use the death penalty more frequently and the executed criminals should be harvested: organs, tissue, corneas, etc. for the benefit of the society they wronged.
Makes you glad they don't use the death penalty for unpaid parking tickets, doesn't it? Hmmm, I seem to remember a science fiction story with just that premise. The society is aging and there is an ever-increasing demand for transplant parts so that the death penalty starts being used for ever-decreasing types of crime. The protagonist gets executed for a parking ticket. Harlan Ellison wrote it if I remember rightly.
Maybe that's where cloning will come in??? Clone yourself so you can harvest body parts in your old age. Ick.
GL...I was only partially kidding. I believe in the appeals system. As Truth mentioned, DNA testing has changed a number of things. HOWEVER, if we are going to execute someone anyhow, hanging is the way to go. It's cheaper, we get more for our money and as Ducky pointed out we could still use their organs.
Harvesting the organs of executed criminals is a great idea in my opinion, but lethal injection doesn't give that opportunity.
Why waste them when there are people who need them. Let that be part of their repayment to society.
Some very powerful stuff. I think I just view it from a different experience and I am not saying the death penalty is wrong because obviously it is something that society as a whole should decide, not one individual.
I personally feel when the danger is over and the individual is under control, it is time for the killing to stop.
I really see the potential for abuse on this harvesting of even a felon's organs. Theoretically, it sounds like a good idea - very practical and logical - but such ideas have a tendancy to get highjacked by the wrong people.
That's the beauty of science fiction, Ducky. Those brilliant writers take an idea and explore it to its possible conclusion, forcing us to think outside the box and ask the question, "Where is this issue leading?"
Yes, Corey, I knew you were kidding! You're such a sweet boy!
To me it is simple, if you kill, and are found to be guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. You too should die. Appeals shouldn't be made for the sake of losing, appeals were created to combat unfair or bias representation. If your blood and you know what is found on a dead 13 year old, you SHOULD die for that.
Its funny, because most who are against the death penalty have not had someone murdered that was very close them.
Its like ol' Jeffrey D, the serial killer. I saw an interview he gave on NBC the other night from 1994 (I think it was '94), anyway, why was he able to sit there with his father and give that interview? The people he killed will never get to sit with their father.
On a very different note...why do we let the prisoners sit in cells all day when they could be put out to work cleaning up our cities? Surely there are enough non-violent prisoners and we certainly have enough weeds and litter!
I don't know why we let prisoners do interviews. Forever locked up until you croak with no chance of parole is good enough for me.
Sacha-big fan,long time reader,first time poster on this thread. Could you serve on a death penalty case?
I'm afraid I'd have a panic attack second guessing myself-I 've never served on any jury yet.
Have you or any other posters?
And now we have an South African immigrant who resides in Maryland in a fairly upscale neighborhood who has been accused of sexually abusing a one and 1/2 year old girl and another 6 or 7 year old. The abuse was brutal and will scar these girls for a lifetime. But a Maryland judge has dismissed all charges because...are you ready for this? Because they couldn't locate an interpreter for the accused. Seems he claims to speak only Vai, a language spoken by about 100,000 people and when the court couldn't locate someone to administer a psych test in Vai, the charges were dropped! NOT the end of the story, not nearly. Upon further investigation, which took very little effort on CNN's part, it was discovered the accused graduated a few years ago from one of the best Maryland high schools where he spoke fluent English, didn't even require the "English as a Second Language" class. AND, he has a neighbor in the accompanying apt. building where he lives who claims he speaks perfect English. CNN found a gentleman 15 minutes from the courthouse who speaks perfect Vai and English who said he would consider it a privilege to interpret. SO, what is wrong with this picture????? Just unbelievable. ANd while Maryland authorities are trying to figure out what to do now, the rapist is free to carry on his business with no charges against him. Scary, very scary.