The Death Penalty - Inspired by Scott Peterson thread..

[KarenC]

Originally posted by C.Ann
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And you don't have a problem with maximum security prisons cropping up on every corner - next to your schools and churches - right next door to you? We don't even have enough room left for single-home dwellings - where are all of the additional prisons that are currently needed - and the additional ones that will be needed to accomodate prisoners languishing in jail for life sentences if the death penalty is totally abolished - going to be located?

There have been less than 1,000 executions since the death penalty was re-instituted in 1976. I don't think eliminating the death penalty would require maximum security prisons to crop up on every corner.

 

[caitycaity]

But I have to ask - if some slick lawyer comes along and manages to get a multiple violent murderer out of jail on some technicality, you would have no problem with this multiple murderer moving in next-door to you?

well he wouldn't be a multiple murderer if he wasn't convicted now would he? i don't have control of who moves next to me, i only have control of where i live. if someone that i find unsavory moves next to me i can either deal with it or leave.

And you don't have a problem with maximum security prisons cropping up on every corner - next to your schools and churches - right next door to you? We don't even have enough room left for single-home dwellings - where are all of the additional prisons that are currently needed - and the additional ones that will be needed to accomodate prisoners languishing in jail for life sentences if the death penalty is totally abolished - going to be located?

i haven't seen maximum security prisons cropping up on every corner in states that don't have the death penalty.

 

[C.Ann]

Originally posted by KarenC
There have been less than 1,000 executions since the death penalty was re-instituted in 1976. I don't think eliminating the death penalty would require maximum security prisons to crop up on every corner.

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I will take the number you have posted for face value - but WHY is that number so low? Because violent offenders are entitled to appeal after appeal after appeal - and it takes years and years to actually carry out the death penalty..

If the system were "fixed" and the murderers were not given more rights than the victims, you would see that number rise dramatically..

 

[MHopkins2]

Originally posted by C.Ann
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If the system were "fixed" and the murderers were not given more rights than the victims, you would see that number rise dramatically...

Here's hoping...

 

[C.Ann]

Originally posted by caitycaity
well he wouldn't be a multiple murderer if he wasn't convicted now would he? i don't have control of who moves next to me, i only have control of where i live. if someone that i find unsavory moves next to me i can either deal with it or leave.



i haven't seen maximum security prisons cropping up on every corner in states that don't have the death penalty.

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You don't actually believe that just because someone is "convicted" there is no way that a slick lawyer can get them out of jail - do you???

As for your ability to move - yes - you can - IF you know the history of the person living next door.. With criminals continually being giving more rights than the victims, it's not uncommon for people to not have a clue as to who is living next-door..

As to your other point, I've already answered that in my response to KarenC..

 

[faithinkarma]

Originally posted by C.Ann
Here is a link to an article regarding the murder I spoke of..

http://www.aim.org/media_monitor_print/420_0_2_0/

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To those who feel that death sentences should be converted to life sentences instead, may I ask just how "many" times one person should be allowed to commit murder - and how "many" victims there need to be before it IS acceptable?

How many people actually serving a life sentence have committed other murders while in prison?

 

[MHopkins2]

Originally posted by faithinkarma
How many people actually serving a life sentence have committed other murders while in prison?

No idea how many, but I have anecdotal evidence too. My mom is an OR nurse now, but she used to work in a prison infirmary. She had to go "onto the block" to try to save an inmate who'd been (as it turned out, fatally) stabbed by another one. The guy was already in for life - he didn't have much to fear.

 

[C.Ann]

Originally posted by MHopkins2
No idea how many, but I have anecdotal evidence too. My mom is an OR nurse now, but she used to work in a prison infirmary. She had to go "onto the block" to try to save an inmate who'd been (as it turned out, fatally) stabbed by another one. The guy was already in for life - he didn't have much to fear.

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My best friend was also a nurse in a prison and this kind of thing is far more frequent than outsiders would think.. Also - you are right on the money with the reasoning - "I'm here for life anyhow, so why not?"

 

[caitycaity]

You don't actually believe that just because someone is "convicted" there is no way that a slick lawyer can get them out of jail - do you???

no that's not what i said.

As for your ability to move - yes - you can - IF you know the history of the person living next door.. With criminals continually being giving more rights than the victims, it's not uncommon for people to not have a clue as to who is living next-door..

yep, you're right, but there are too many crazy things in the world to worry about the doom and gllom and the what ifs.

 

[C.Ann]

Originally posted by caitycaity


yep, you're right, but there are too many crazy things in the world to worry about the doom and gllom and the what ifs.

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Well I guess we've reached a meeting of the minds then.. You don't care if there is a violent murderer living next-door to you and I do..

 

[minniepumpernickel]

Last night Larry King had a show about the case. They discussed some pretty graphic evidence. It must have taken a really sick mind to commit these murders. I can't see the murderer ever being able to be rehabilitated. For these types, I support the death penalty.

 

[caitycaity]

You don't care if there is a violent murderer living next-door to you and I do..

no, it's not that i don't care. but if i don't know, i'm not going to sit in my house all holed up and worry about who my neighbors MIGHT be.

 

[N.Bailey]

I am in favor of the death penalty, but ONLY if and when a case has been proven "Beyond ANY Doubt" regardless of the type of evidence that had been presented. Can we always be sure that's what's happening? Probably not, but it does take 12 juror's to vote the same way, so I hope it's happening in, if not ALL cases, most of them.


As for prisons popping up on every corner, well, we should be building many more. We have too many criminals (and not always murderers) walking our streets and because there are not enough prisons to house them, our courts are forced to put them back on the streets. There are no easy answers though, because let's face facts, do we have the funds available for things like this?

 

[MHopkins2]

I will not get started on drug sentencing... I will not get started... I will NOT....

 

[Ash aka sky]

I haven't read the whole thread but to answer the OP... if he is found guilty beyond any doubt (100% guilty) fry him... an eye for an eye etc. However from what I have heard about this case so far I doubt it will happen as every so far seems to be circumstantial... I guess time will tell.

 

[N.Bailey]

Originally posted by MHopkins2
I will not get started on drug sentencing... I will not get started... I will NOT....

I wasn't really referring to drugs either. My reference is more from the Joseph Smith's that are walking our streets. He hadn't committed murder, yet he'd done enough that if we had more prisons to house him, he wouldn't have been on the street.

I remember the case that C.Ann spoke of on the prior page too. The inmate was caught because he had unusual dental impressions. This inmate, wasn't he given more liberal rights within the prison for good behavior? He was maybe in charge of running a wood shop or something like that? And he was really trusted by most everyone. He over powered her, I'm thinking he raped her, then tossed her out in the garbage? I'd have to refresh my memory on that one!

Let's also not forget that Jeffrey Dahmer was murdered while in prison either. I know, we all mourn his passing, but still.....

 

[MHopkins2]

Okay, I *tried* not to get started...

I wasn't really referring to drugs either. My reference is more from the Joseph Smith's that are walking our streets. He hadn't committed murder, yet he'd done enough that if we had more prisons to house him, he wouldn't have been on the street.

He also wouldn't have been on the street if the existing prisons weren't chock full of non violent drug offenders, serving mandatory sentences.

 

[meandtheguys]

Originally posted by MHopkins2
Okay, I *tried* not to get started... He also wouldn't have been on the street if the existing prisons weren't chock full of non violent drug offenders, serving mandatory sentences.

Oh...do you have a PROBLEM with that?

 

[N.Bailey]

Originally posted by MHopkins2
Okay, I *tried* not to get started... He also wouldn't have been on the street if the existing prisons weren't chock full of non violent drug offenders, serving mandatory sentences.

I can agree with you, to a point. I am all in favor of people serving sentences that are on the streets selling drugs to our kids. I am certainly not in favor though, of paying $50,000 a year to house anyone that was caught with an ounce of marijuana that they had for their own use.

I'd be much more interested in getting the Joseph Smiths behind bars.

 

[southernclass]

I for one do not believe in the death penalty for any circumstance. Now wait before you go crazy and say "well what if your child was raped and murdered?" This is what I believe. AN eye for and eye. I believe that the person wronged or hurt should have the right to avenge their loved ones or themselves. I do not think that some judge who snorts cocaine on the weekends and hires prostitutes should decide the fate of the world. God is the only judge and I think that courts are ludicrious. Certainly we need some sort of legal system with the way most people act today, but I just have no faith in most elected officials because they are stilll people like you and me and that is it. Just people. Why the heck should I entrust my life to someone who sins more than I do?? That is my take on it.