WHY THE DEATH PENALTY NEEDS TO MAKE A COMEBACK …
|| By FITSNEWS || The state of Utah made big national news this week when its lawmakers approved a bill authorizing executions by firing squad in the event drugs aren’t available for lethal injection.
You know what? Good for them. Capital punishment has become an absolute joke in the United States, and we’re frankly glad to see that at least one state is giving it some bite. Heck, South Carolina – whose citizens are about as “fire and brimstone” as they come – hasn’t executed anybody (by any means) since 2011, and no executions are scheduled for the next two years, either.
Is this because there aren’t people here who deserve to die for their crimes? No … it sure as hell isn’t.
Just ask the family of 29-year-old Beverly Hope Melton of Kershaw, S.C., who was raped and bludgeoned to death with a baseball bat three years ago by 26-year-old Nickolas Jermaine Miller.
Miller has confessed to his crime. He also admitted to police that his victim begged for her life while he beat her again and again with the bat. Again. And again. And again. With a friggin’ baseball bat. Until she couldn’t beg anymore.
Yeah …
While prosecutors were dropping their death penalty prosecution against Miller, South Carolina’s “leaders” were busy putting on another dog-and-pony show aimed at convincing the public they intend to do something about “violence against women.”
Sheesh … what a joke.
Oh … and what about Timothy Ray Jones, Jr., the Lexington County, S.C. man who savagely murdered his five children last summer? He’s confessed to his crime, too. Will he also get off like Miller?
Wanna stop “violence against women?” And children too? Sit murderers like Miller and Jones down in a chair and fill them up with lead. Because such a fate would be a million times more merciful and compassionate than the brutal, bloody deaths they give their victims.
As libertarians, we’re well-versed in the arguments against capital punishment – and given its finality, we don’t believe it should be sought lightly as a sentence. In fact, we believe capital punishment should be reserved for those cases in which the accused murderer either confesses to his or her premeditated crime (as Miller and Jones have done) or is implicated by an overwhelming amount of physical evidence.
No one – we repeat, no one – should ever be sentenced to death absent these conditions.
Here’s the thing, though …
There are loads of cases which fit those conditions … dozens if not hundreds of them every year. But rather than dispensing true justice, our court system has instead chosen to give the savages who perpetrate these acts free food, clothing and shelter for life.
While forcing taxpayers (including the families of their victims) to pay for it!
Seriously … in what way, shape or form does such a policy advance the preservation of life and liberty? Isn’t it just incentivizing additional savagery?
Anyway … we support Utah bringing back the firing squad as a standby capital punishment option. More importantly, we support the broad reestablishment of capital punishment in South Carolina as a method of effectuating justice, deterring violent crime and saving taxpayers’ money.
What do you think? Vote in our poll and post your thoughts in our comments section below …
154 comments
Those illegals with Taxifornia drivers licenses are exempt? Three illegals murdered a little old lady here two weeks ago. Good thing they did not try it in Utah.
It will be interesting to see what this does for the need for capital punishment, Utah compared to the other states, fur instance.
You do realize (of course you don’t) that capital punishment is not a deterrent.
And you do realize (of course you don’t) there are a substantial number of people who have been exonerated from prison who gave confessions that were either coerced or otherwise given because their wills had been worn down through the interrogation methods.
You think Fits gives a damn about any of that?
Hes the biggest”Don’t Confuse Me With The Facts” guy around.
Deterrent or not, the son of a bitch will never do it again.
He wouldn’t do it again if he were in prison for life either, and he would have plenty of time, the rest of his life in fact, to contemplate his actions.
Do you think those animals sitting in prison for life without parole sit there and think about what they have done? Maybe for the first two or three months, then it’s just living off the taxpayer’s dime. Three meals a day, a warm bed and access to cable television, the internet, free medical attention, and shopping at the little prison store for snacks.
It is three meals with bare minimum calories, trust me, I have had extended family members in jail – it’s no joy ride. They are hungry, they sleep on concrete floors, the prisons are over crowded, the toilets broken. It is not happy 3 warm meals a day, warm bed, and they can’t even get a freaking tylenol without seeing the “prison” doctor. 3 Tylenols on hand is enough to send you to what they call the “hole” – the medical attention is horrible beyond imagination, and most are disavowed by family members so they don’t have the luxury of shopping at the “little prison” store for snacks.
A sort of “free spirited ” girl of 21+ who flitted in and out of our crowd was sent to the Richland Detention Center for 30 days. The night before she was to be released they served her with a charge for another 30 days. She just about freaked out because of it because she WANTED OUT! Then they did it again at the end of those 30 days.
We each sent her money for the canteen. When I managed a visit (very difficult to do) I was given one hour, but it took 15 minutes to get me from the front desk to the visiting room. During that visit she began to cry. The girl had saved half a candy bar for the next day and her cellmate (a murderer) had stolen it. She told me that they got canteen visits only once a week.
I may be off on some of this but it’s the best I can remember. One of the deputies told me on the way out that they wanted the prisoners to be miserable — it might keep them out later.
Lesson Learned – Don’t do dumb shit that will land you in jail.
It is difficult to manage a visit and when prisons are over crowded they put petty drug users in cells with murders.
I am sure the Wardens, Deputies and so on have a difficult job, but good grief in the case of my family member, every person who came to visit some one, was treated like a criminal. Had another family member visit and was telling me about an old woman who was there visiting, I think it was her son, and how poorly she was treated. Not to mention how long they make you wait.
I had hoped my family member would be in jail long enough to get clean, none of dreamed he would be in there roughly 3 years over that $50 drug transaction.
I finally drove to another state, waited HOURS to go before the parole board. His case was the first to be heard. I had already rehearsed everything I was going to say and knew I couldn’t say it without crying. In closing I said, “the best thing we can person in life is a chance…”
You could see the look on their face when I was finished, I think some of them were struggling not to cry.
That day EVERY ONE who went before the board paroled out.
So you’re taking credit for getting a bunch of convicts paroled? Well good for you, half of them are probably back in jail for another crime committed.
All I did was make them think.
You should hear some of these questions these boards ask. For example, this person was an opiate addict as a result of a surgery and prescribed opiates for a long period of time – years if I remember correctly. Interesting enough the doctor who performed the botched surgery last I heard was in prison for malpractice, I heard he didn’t even have a license and that is what landed the doctor in prison? Anyways, In order to parole out, they extract some confession that something “other” than long term prescription use is what caused the addiction.
By this time this person had been moved to a low risk facility. We aren’t talking murderers here that paroled out.
It pays to know who your doctor is.
Well then, do you think your friend learned anything breaking the law? If she did, and she won’t break the law, that’s great. However, now that she knows what awaits her if she goes back to jail, do you think it will keep her from breaking the law?
This was about 7 years ago and she didn’t learn a damn thing. She got to a point where we stopped inviting her to events. The last we knew of her she was living on the streets, filthy, smelly, and doping with some punk guy.
Sorry, but my “Give-A-Fuck” meter appears to be broken.
They should spend all day breaking big rocks into small rocks instead of trying to figure out how to scam and buttfuck each other.
My family member was in jail for a $50 drug transaction….He served appx 3 years of a 1-15 year sentence in some of the most horrible places. I actually went and spoke before the board, after refusing to help, because I felt he needed a lesson – little did I know I was the one getting schooled!
Don’t do stupid shit, and you’ll stay out of jail. Some people can’t learn anything but the hard way.
Actually his sentence was UP TO 15 years. There is more to it. He was an addict. Someone else got in trouble, made a deal with cops, was wearing a wire.
He was trading to get the opiates I think it was. What he had done, due to lack of cash, was cut the coke/crack or whatever it was with aspirin or tylenol. He was charged with manufacturing, distribution and something else.
He couldn’t afford an attorney and the state appointed atty could have cared less about his case. 1-15.
Sounds to me like he got off lightly for his stupidity. Served 3, could have served 15.
What was he trading… stolen items?
Squishy, did you read what I typed? He was trading drugs.
So he was trading drugs to get opiates? Where did he get the money for the initial drugs?
That was the problem…LOL. I guess someone gave it to him? It was an insignificant amount and not his drug of choice. That is why he cut it with tylenol or something similar, to make it look more than it was. The actual value of drug was probably far less than $50 because it had been cut. But I “think” the value was based on the trade value.
I know you aren’t a big sympathizer, but I’ve seen it so many times – people get injured or have surgery, doctor prescribes an abundance of opiates, there is no weaning process and they become addicts.
There’s always an excuse… now it appears it’s the doctor’s fault he was in prison.
Do you know how many kids get addicted to opiates because doctors over prescribe? They have started limiting that, but there was a time that Oxy was written in volumes.
A lady in another state recently died from prescription medication. Doctor put her on pain medicine, I think Oxy knowing that she had several health issues. She took the medicine as prescribed and never woke up. This woman was probably 42 or so?
I loved it when Pam Bondi (sp?) called it what it was, “Pain Clinics are nothing more than drug dealers in white coats.”
Well… I can’t name one that I’ve ever known.
Nice story, I guess a malpractice suit is in order. Just because you’re a doctor doesn’t mean your smart or incapable of making mistakes. Even the person who finishes last in medical school is still called “doctor”. I know of a instance locally where a woman went in for a nose job and died on table, sometimes shit happens.
This person was not responsible for the malpractice suit, by the time anyone realized what the doctor had done, I “think” the doctor was already in prison.
Sometimes shit does happens, but sometimes can be avoided.
It is not my hope to be offensive, but when you see someone you love, who has mental issues, go through that….it changes you. When you participate and have done nothing but visit, one time, and are treated like a criminal. It changes your outlook. When you see how hungry they are….it changes your outlook. When you see how undereducated the Warden is….it changes your perspective. Seeing is believing. Go visit someone in prison, someone you love. It will forever change you. Even if you think you did the right thing by not helping, once you do get there, like me 3 years later – it changes you.
For full disclosure this did NOT happen in SC, was years ago.
Gosh, nice sob story there Tangerine… but I still don’t give a shit or feel sorry for those behind bars. It makes me wonder how the victim’s family feels knowing that the many who hurt them isn’t have a good day.
The point is that sitting in prison your whole life is also a deterrent if the “deterrent effect” you are examining is on the inmate himself. It does not deter others. Proved. It is solely about retribution, and that is fine if that is what you won’t but don’t pretend it is about anything else. It is disingenuous. (what?? someone on this site disingenuous??)
And for some it’s a way of life, I know one lazy SOB from high school that kept violating parole so he could go back. He was a big bastard who was mildly retarded and could take care of himself.
Point being, if you fuck up so bad that you’re sentenced to death, well you’re probably not someone we need alive in or out of prison.
I do believe in the death penalty and I think it should be used quite often. Death row should be an express lane, not a holding area.
As far as prison goes…. It’s two meals per day, not three. SCDC doesn’t provide cable tv, they use HD antennas and you pay $350 for a 7″ tv. Break a significant rule? Included in the price of that tv is the fee to ship it home and you won’t get to buy another until at least a year with no new charges. Healthcare is $3/visit or prescription charged to your cooper trust account. While that’s not a lot, neither is the care they’re provided.
Uhm, you may not be from around here so you may have never heard of Donald Pee Wee Gaskins: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Henry_Gaskins
Good grief! I voted to ban outright, however, in the case of serial killers, they can’t be rehabilitated.
It is sad in one way, most of them, not all, but most of them had some horrible childhood, just like Pee Wee, the abuse/neglect – but killing a 100 people or more?
I think I would make an exception to my ban and say sometimes, for confirmed serial killers.
So what is your cut-off number 2, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100?
That’s a great question. How do you know a serial killer is a serial killer until they have killed dozens? They are far better at hiding until they become arrogant enough to make a mistake.
So then we should just get rid of anyone who has been found guilty of murder. That way we don’t have to worry about putting these people back into society or babysit them while they rot in prison.
While we’re at it, any sentence over 30 years is a death sentence.
I don’t agree. It is fine with me that you believe that way, but I don’t agree.
Curious, what would you do in the case of the 14 year old that killed 3 family members?
http://m.goupstate.com/Section/389/Article/150319893
You mean after I strung him up from a sturdy limb in the backyard and left him for the rats to finish their meal?
You don’t have kids do you? ;)
thank you
Not a deterrent? Do you think anyone put to death will ever commit their crimes again? Recidivism rates are 66% within three years and 74% within 5 years. Over half of released prisoners will be rearrested within 365 days of release.
Why is it not an effective deterrent? We don’t carry it out efficiently and effectively. Saudi Arabia has this down to a science – you go from the court to the chopping block within days not decades. I’m not suggesting we follow their model, just that it must have some effect on their almost nonexistent crime rates.
The government may be incompetent at everything else, but surely it is competent to assign the death penalty.. haven’t we learned that yet?
“executions by firing squad” — and it only hurts (for a little while)
It only hurts if the guy with the real bullet has bad aim.
got it!
I am assuming that is your witty sarcasm at work again?
I oppose the death penalty — not because I’m squeamish about death or pose moral objections to it, but because it is unfairly applied and lacks deterrent value. Only poor whites, blacks and Latinos are sentenced to death in America. The well-to-do pay for the hotshot lawyers to get them jail time. All these problems with the drugs are the inevitable result of trying to turn execution into a clinical procedure. It’s not — it’s an execution! There should be a certain unpleasantness to it. The firing squad is a method which has withstood the test of time. Go for it. If Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were sentenced to face the firing squad (I realize his case is federal and not in Utah). I’m okay with that. He deserves it.
Sure as hell cuts down on recidivism, though.
Mormon’s require this as a mthod of execution because of the doctrine of blood atonement.
If you have committed murder (spilled the blood of another) you can only be redeemed by spilling your blood in death.
The judge called the prisoner into his chambers and said sadly, “I’m afraid clemency is impossible in your case. The Governor just got indicted!”
LMAO!
The DA stared at the jury, unable to believe its verdict. Bitterly he asked, “What possible excuse could you have for acquitting this man?”
The foreman answered, “Insanity.”
The DA said, “All twelve of you?”
That is hilarious!!!!!
There are rare occasions I believe in capital punishment, then I guess a firing squad is as good as any.
It’s cheaper due to the appeals process. The death penalty really boils down to someone wanted to right a wrong, an eye for an eye, or vengeance.
If someone truly wants vengeance, what better way to get it than leave them locked up for life with no hope of parole? Time to think of nothing but the wrongs you have committed.
In cases of people like Ted Bundy, I wouldn’t have been the one to take his life, unless heat of the moment where I am fighting for me or mine, but I can’t say I miss him.
A felon was convicted and sent away to the state
penitentiary with no chance for parole. His wife came to see him. As they talked, she remembered something and said, “Oh, honey, I just had to tell you— I’m not frigid anymore!”
You are killing it!!!!! LOLOLOL
A lovely girl is explaining to the Sheriff why she was filing
a complaint against her boyfriend.
“He made violent love to me after he won my heart
completely,” she tells the Sheriff. “I thought at last I’d had found the one thing every woman dreams of. I gave him my all. My life, my love, my money, my soul. He took everything. And then he drove off, leaving me alone
with bitter memories.”
“The cad!” exclaims the Sheriff.
“No, he took the Chevy.”
Dying laughing, that reminds me of Zsa Zsa Gabor:
” I am a marvelous housekeeper. Every time I leave a man I keep his house. “
Slogan: “To hear Jesus loves you is good – unless you’re in a Mexican prison”
They should broadcast it on PPV television.
It’s a shame that they waste all that ammunition when a single rope could be reused.
Every time you elect a Democrat, or suck off a liberal judge…you are advocating light treatment of brutal murderers…So don’t attack them, w/o looking in the mirror, and realizing your guilt…
You sure seem to have a fetish for homosexual activity, you talk about it daily.
So that’s admission that you DO it…is it not?…
And if you are so intent to promote your lifestyle on others….why do you use it as an insult so often…self-loathing?
Is that an admission that you have a homosexual voyeuristic fetish? GT, is the best part of a porn video the part where all you see is the guy getting his dick sucked?
Always playing catch-up…aren’t you…LMAO…
Always on this blog aren’t you… as if anyone here thinks you have a life outside of your keyboard. Too dumb to realize that everyone here thinks of you as nothing but a loser. LMAO too.
Everyone knows he is, but every good blog/forum has its jerk….off.
10+ …
I wouldn’t even give him the satisfaction of being on the receiving end…LOL. I think he is likely on the front end and dismissive when the service is done. Maybe that is why he is so angry all the time? Hmmm….. bless his heart.
You are ruthless Squishy! :)
FITS and a blind hog. You are right…As for SC being “fire and brimstone”..no, a lot of our people just advocate “law and order” …
So many murders of single women, blacks and maybe even homosexuals (ALL the special interest lives that matter more to the leftwingers)…could have been prevented if not for liberal lawyers perverting the justice system, along with activist judges.
If a life sentence is just as bad as death, why do so many murderous vermin plead for their lives at sentencing, after they’ve taken the lives of others, so brutally?
Start executing more, and I BET YOU the murder rate would decrease…
I have seen now former circuit court judge victor rawl repeatedly release over and over and over again sexual offenders and muggers. Why the vomit ever showed favoritism to a sc magistrate charged with a sexual offense.
Judges should be held accountable for criminals they release, who hurt others…
The Kelly Hunnewell killing was committed by a murder, a liberal judge released ridiculously.
Our circuit solicitors are PART of the problem with OUT OF CONTROL violent crime in South Carolina. Its all shocking, I tell you. Absolutely SHOCKING as to how pathetic they really are!! Its all just a stepping stone for many lawyers that really do not care. Its been this way for DECADES. Put the county solicitors offices under a microscope, and you will see just how poorly run they really are. We are paying good money and benefits to these people, but getting FUCKED in the rear by them.
The Dumb@$$ rule of a unanimous sentence to death – because of liberals – is the problem…
When I first moved to SC, in my younger, more pretty years, I was pulled over repeatedly. They just wanted to know who I am and flirt of course.
Lawyers do care, and the ones that I have known personally, are just as disgruntled at the system as anyone else, but law is law right? A brilliant lawyer once told me – to save the law we must sometimes break the law.
County Solicitors are typically lock step with government compartments that will bring them more money. Imagine this – an atty submits resume to county and all others are destroyed that are competitive. It’s just imaginary….
That is simply how our system works.
“As libertarians, we’re well-versed in the arguments against capital punishment – and given its finality, we don’t believe it should be sought lightly as a sentence. In fact, we believe capital punishment should be reserved for those cases in which the accused murderer either confesses to his or her premeditated crime (as Miller and Jones have done) or is implicated by an overwhelming amount of physical evidence.”
That is fine and well, but it doesn’t bring the innocent dead back to life. It is far cheaper based on studies I have researched for several years, and more humane to put them in prison for life. I would prefer to err on the side of life v. putting someone to death and 20 something years later admit new evidence cleared this or that person.
You’re a full of $#!t liberal….vomiting the talking points of the trial lawyers lobby…
A condemned man’s family cannot be milked dry by dirtbag attorneys. ..Greed is your motivation. …
(flick of fingers) piss off ant….not “much” interested.
Looks like I hit the NAIL on the HEAD!!!…LMAO…
Right much? ….
At least I don’t have an “indictment” of you. You really should look that word up if you are going to continue to use it.
Desperately reach for S#!t much?…LMAO…
Never – if I did, I’d be grasping for a piece of you.
This video is just for you GT. Warning, it might make you angry:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE3j_RHkqJc
If you are too stupid to articulate it yourself….I’m not interested in promoting your puppet-masters…
GT we’ve been down this road. I changed my alias, because I wanted the alias Tangerine v. Purple Rain. It was available today. So save your B.S. for someone who cares.
You all change after I embarrass you….I don’t blame you…
If you can’t chew, because I knocked out your F*#king teeth…don’t bite it off…LMAO…
Your ego never ceases to amaze me :)
Or they can do like you do when I own and embarrass you…just ignore and not respond, hoping the truth goes away. You never have a problem responding to those you consider “ignorant F*#ktards”, so I know it’s not because you’re busy. In fact, I’ve given you multiple opportunities to defend yourself and/or correct your proven wrong assertions. Every time I get silence. Meanwhile, your diatribes against FITS, his “puppet-masters”, and general “dumb@$$e$” go on and on and on.
LMAO…you’re one of the most VAPID B@t@rds on here. You puppy dog behind me as if your life depends on my opinion of you…Dumb@$$…
Proving my point once again. What does it feel like to be owned? No substance, no addressing of the points. Just angry ad hominem attacks. We usually call that “VAPID”, but apparently you have an entirely different definition of that word. But that’s what you usually do to cover up your insecurity, like most liberals. You take what you are and do, then project it onto your opposition in order to avoid discussing the point at hand. Congratulations, you and the commenters over at the Daily Kos have lots in common.
Feel irrelevant much??…LMAO…
I repeat: no substance, no addressing of the points. Just the liberal-loving attempt to deflect attention from your failure by trying to put your opposition on defense with meaningless rhetoric.
You forgot to throw in a “Dumb@$$” on that one. You’re slipping, bro.
We are technically the same as ISIS. They execute people, and we execute people.
We are the only western democracy (the only one) that still has executions. Yet, we claim to revere life (the unborn anyway). Very hypocritical and it’s not proven that the death penalty is even much of a deterrent.
I wouldn’t go so far as to call us ISIS, but the hyperbole serves a point ;)
I said we are technically the same, not “the” same.
Just curious, are you picking your nose, or flicking a booger? :)
better?
Dang, can’t see it in big pic, still shows old one, but looks interesting ;)
This could be love…you’ve made me change my avatar to seek your approval. What is happening….head spinning…can’t think straight
<—–laughing so hard it REALLY hurts! Too funny!
Please, I have to meet you…say the Waffle House on I-26 and Piney Grove in 30 minutes? I’m buying :-)
Waffle House? Hmm….I REALLY like you, but….uh…(thinking of excuse), as I said earlier, my daughter is sick. Maybe another time? :)
Fair enough, IHOP it is.
I’m there!
Ok, so I’m ordering now. I got the rooty tooty fresh n’ fruity with some watered down low strength coffee. What can I get you?
Chocolate Chip Pancakes and loaded coffee – already had the wine ;)
Well played. I like your style.
Ditto!
I’ll still slap your arse on Nancy Pelosi….LOLOLOL
arse and not ass? Methinks you are not from here. In fact, you could be from an entirely different country?
LOL, no from SC….but USA :)
LOL – you are funny, while we may not agree on all topics, I really enjoy the funny guys/gals on the site, that we just have fun and still disagree ;)
Anyhoo, there are a couple white collar business partners, I know. One is all about food. They invite a new client, or maybe a new employee to site, who lives in another states. One of the business owners, in all seriousness said, “hey, we really need to get you some southern grits, we need to go to Waffle House.”
Mention Waffle House to my daughter – ohmigosh! I have to counter with “What about Stax?” I used to love Waffle House, but they have been around so long and the food is….uh….greasy.
IHOP, that reminds me of younger days. Really depends on IHOP, some of really good. Some are horrible. Considering I don’t know where Piney Grove is, I’ll take your word they are good :)
I’ll even spring for the bill – ha!
Awww…there you go! :)
Thanks! That picking nose picture … Blah.
Kind of like you’re technically a candy-ass, who has wet dreams of being with Hillary Clinton or Nancy Pelosi.
To those who can’t retort, trolling is the only resort.
Said by the man with the classy name.
Let’s be honest, Limbaugh is a fat cunt though.
I have never liked him, even in my youth and most religious, pious, and zealot day. He is a man making money. I’m sure he has convinced himself otherwise, but I tune him out…..haven’t listened to him for years, unless he is mentioned in conversation. Even then, hate to say it, but after years of listening to him, I am more interested in discrediting.
Yeah, but so is Ed Schultz.
That depends on what your definition of is is, too.
In too many respects your “we” is misplaced as well. Neo-cons? All Christians? The Catholic Church? A special services platoon? “Progressive” Fascists? … FEMA?
Boo fucking hoo you fucking Nancyboy. How many western democracies have number of animals we do in this country? Just in the past week I’ve read about a woman who killed her baby by using a circular saw to the neck, a boyfriend who punched a toddler so hard that it killed him and a handful of other similarly offensive murders. So go was the sand out of your twat.
How many of those killed by ISIS are guilty of anything other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time?
America is nothing if not a series of paradoxes. On the one hand we are caring, giving, nice and lead the world in volunteer time and donations but on the other we are a very violent society replete with over representative amounts of gun crime and gruesome acts.
I put it down to our paradoxical birth between competing values of puritanical christendom and capitalism.
I won’t say I disagree with you, but there is an interesting paradox. It seems to be written in black and white?
I think there are some shades of gray. I am more of a capitalist than the former (puritanical christendom), but not in the ruthless sense.
I find it interesting that people are always trying to label others that somehow don’t fit their mold.
I am a capitalist in the purest sense, but not laissez faire. I do believe a man owns what he earns, he has a right to do as he wishes with his earnings – on the same note, objectivists often coin me altruistic. I believe a man (woman) has a right to give where he/she wants. If it makes you happy….
I suppose the picture I’m trying to paint is that America was founded on the twin rails of prophet and profit (bad pun I know). On the one hand our early founders were very, very strict cultists to be honest. So bad in fact they could not find any quarter in Europe and fled as pilgrims to the new land.
On the other hand, they were supported and subsidized by the crown and some private enterprises for the unfettered pillage of resources and indigenous peoples to turn the settlements and early colonies into a veritable ATM for Mother England and western europe.
This eventually eased somewhat of course with the onset of later settlers and more reasonable renaissance thinkers but still the seeds had been sown of the competing ideals of humanitarianism and compassion balanced against the greed and corruption of unregulated capitalism all the while balanced along the knife edge of insurrection and rebellion against the crown to pursue freedom.
The dualities are still in America’s DNA even today.
Awww…the pilgrims. Yes, they had breadkfast, dinner and supper. They had a pact with Indian that last for many decades. 5 or more?
The pilgrims to my knowledge were not subsidized by the crown, they made friends with the Indians who taught them how to plant and hunt for food. They signed a pact.
Mother England? The country most were fleeing? Are you testing my knowledge or do you really believe this? I don’t want destroy any fallacies you might have ;)
I’ve also read about a police couple, both police officers who are being “investigated” for neck/brain injuries. Does that mean they are guilty?
non sequitur, ISIS murders as an act of terrorism. Execution as we use it is a punishment directed by the court when a qualified miscreant hasn’t saved the taxpayers the cost of his “pro bono” defense in the judicial system by committing suicide by police.
There is whole series that was published by CASA at Columbia a few or several years ago, called Behind Bars. These guys did a great job at analysis, but….I’m guessing they were fired or under pressure and resigned, because CASA seems to have changed position and I no longer see these names. I’ll look one up on YouTube and post it.
While this is not necessarily about capital punishment a testament to our laws and some of the underlying problems. Incarceration and substance abuse:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=191zHskhtCs
The majority of people visiting this site vote to use capital punishment broadly? Please vote!
The death should be quick and painless, we should not lose our humanity just because they lost their own. This is about justice and not revenge. We should also limit it to the worst crimes.
10+
Then why do it at all? What is justice? An eye for an eye? What about people who have other emotional/social/mental issues? Should we just kill them, because we don’t know what else to do? Beware, at one time witches were burned at the stake…..unless of course you still believe in witches?
The people who murder others need to be executed as a deterrent to others being murdered. If more murderers were executed instead of given a life sentence then there would be fewer murders.
Do some research, I find nothing of substance to back that hypothesis.
Makes me feel better… so I’m okay with that plan.
I think the punishment should fit the crime. If someone torchers, rapes, or maims someone there should be more to the punishment than just going to sleep and never waking up. That being said the death penalty should be used very cautiously. Almost no well to do people ever get executed and their families have to spend all their life’s work to pay some lawyer. The rich buy their “justice” and the rest of us do the best we can. That fact alone is almost enough to stop the death penalty, but not quite.
I don’t disagree with you, but some “well to do” families, if not most, have also known the hardships.
I think all of us will do whatever is within our power to save our family. Yes, it definitely works better for the rich v. trailer trash. Not only do you work your entire life to pay “some” lawyer, but some can’t even afford said lawyer.
I know sad is NOT popular. Let’s just fuck them all, shoot them down and send them to eternal hell?
Feel better?
It doesn’t really matter to me either way but I’d be willing to bet the families of the victims feel better.
With more and more revelations about convicted people later being found innocent, can we at least have a hiatus on executions until the accuracy of the system is corrected. We can still debate the pros and cons of capital punishment (like at http://makeyourcase.org/topic/capital-punishment-is-an-effective-and-important-deterrent-against-crime ). But if we do them at all, it seems like the one thing everyone can agree on is that it’s essential to never execute an innocent person.
I find it amazing how a state that is overwhelmingly pro life, could so enthuisiastically support taking the life of another person; even a confessed criminal.
For one it’s going against the word of God, and for another executions are often more expensive than life sentences due to legal fees.
Maybe because unborn children are helpless, murders aren’t.
Maybe someday the legal system will get smart, and if you’re sentenced to the death penalty in the morning, a group of men will start building a gallows later that afternoon.
Squishy, you don’t care about saving souls or money do you? By advocating for executing them you’re no better than the criminal.
Their souls aren’t my problem, my taxpayer dollars to house and feed them are. I’m simply reacting to their decisions, I didn’t put them in this situation but I will do my part to make sure they don’t make those same horrible decisions a 2nd time. Caging up an animal serves no useful purpose, at that point they’re nothing more than a liability to society.
“Sit murderers like Miller and Jones down in a chair and fill them up with lead. Because such a fate would be a million times more merciful and compassionate than the brutal, bloody deaths they give their victims.”
Hooray for Gary Gilmore! (A “victim” of the Utah (or Nevada?) firing squad.).
And what ever happened to Charlie Condon’s “Electric Sofa”? Could be of great use now that we seem to have acquired a backlog.
I would not be averse to reinstate hanging as the “preferred method”.
Utah – one of the most disturbing true crime books I have read – The Executioner’s Song.
Has anyone read The Executioner’s Song?
“In April 1976, Gilmore, 35, was released from prison after serving 13 years for robbery in Indiana. He was flown to Utah to live with Brenda Nicol, a distant cousin who tried to help him find work. Gilmore soon met and became romantically involved with Nicole Baker, a 19-year-old separated woman with two young children. Despite his efforts to reform himself, Gilmore’s self-destructive behavior led to fighting, stealing, and using drugs. After Nicole broke up with Gilmore, he murdered two men in two separate robberies. Gilmore was turned in by his cousin and sentenced to death. The execution was stayed on three occasions. Gilmore became a national media sensation after he fought to have his execution performed as soon as possible. He and Nicole agreed to a suicide pact that put them into temporary comas.[3] On January 17, 1977, after appeals filed by lawyers on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union (in defiance of Gilmore’s wishes) were rejected, Gilmore was executed by the method he chose, firing squad, making him the first person to be judicially executed in the United States since Luis Monge died in the Colorado gas chamber June 2, 1967.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Executioner%27s_Song