USA Death Penalty/Life sentence

[SlammerG_89]

It's not so much "bleeding hearts" as it is the 8th Amendment.

You say Potato i say Potatoe. I am all for rights and the constitution i just think these guys get off easy. Prisoners get a better life than half of america who work hard and bust their ass. They get to eat, have a place to sleep out of the elements for the most of them and when they go to meet the maker they get a nice big meal and then get to fall into an eternal sleep on a gurney. Lots of people would kill or die (no pun intended) to get that treatment.

 

[LightningCrash]

im just tired of all kinds of money being spent on people that get to sit in a cell and do nothing all day and get food.

That's definitely a legitimate concern if it's significant enough.

I've been googling trying to find out the prison population breakdown by length of sentence... anyone know anything about this?

That OKC ninja playground guy can go in for 2 years... and really, does he warrant the cost of 2 years in prison? What would having him serve 2 years do for us?
And that's the measure for all of them there: what does it do to benefit us, all of us, as a whole?

Unfortunately it is likely that some of the best answers are ones I will not like.
That's cooperative solutions for you though.

 

[Werewolf]

That's definitely a legitimate concern if it's significant enough.

I've been googling trying to find out the prison population breakdown by length of sentence... anyone know anything about this?

That OKC ninja playground guy can go in for 2 years... and really, does he warrant the cost of 2 years in prison? What would having him serve 2 years do for us?
And that's the measure for all of them there: what does it do to benefit us, all of us, as a whole?

Unfortunately it is likely that some of the best answers are ones I will not like.
That's cooperative solutions for you though.

Benefit: Keeps scumbags, the irresponsible and evil doers of the streets where they can do no harm to the innocent for as long as they are locked up.

Which is why I am a proponent of the 3 strikes and you're out penalty that is life without possibilty of parole. Keeps 'em off the streets forever. Unfortunately the 3 strikes rule has been implemented poorly.

For example: getting caught with some dope for personal use 3 times wouldn't warrant life without parole (stupid ought to hurt but not that much).

The 3 strikes should be as violent crimes, class 1 felonies etc. Maybe an automatic review of each conviction by a citizens review board. I don't know but somehow a 3 strikes rule could be implemented with some fairness and sense behind it.

 

[kinggabby]

If you are a Bible believer then this should say it all. Genesis 9:6

New International Version (NIV)

6 “Whoever sheds human blood,
by humans shall their blood be shed;
for in the image of God
has God made mankind.
Now if you are not think about this. Look up the Texas 7 . Escaped convicts who end up killing. Now anytime you keep a violet offender alive in prison you risk them getting out and hurting or killing someone innocent. I don't know about you but it would not sit well with me if someone I loved got hurt or killed by someone who escaped .

 

[J.P.]

30 days after sentencing, to allow for reasonable appeals, streamline paperwork, move on with life

Unfortunately the justice system is far too discombobulated for "30 days" to actually be realized as a fair/reasonable time frame.....in almost every circumstance.

isn't a rimfire executioner kinda like a donkey punch except with an airsoft gun? or am i thinking of a different thing?

Um....yeah, a "Donkey Punch" is something completely different....it's loosely related to a "sex rodeo" type situation.

Prisoners get a better life than half of america who work hard and bust their ass. They get to eat, have a place to sleep out of the elements for the most of them and when they go to meet the maker they get a nice big meal and then get to fall into an eternal sleep on a gurney. Lots of people would kill or die (no pun intended) to get that treatment.

Are you serious?
I'm sure there are *plenty* of prisoners who'd gladly make that trade.

 

[LightningCrash]

Benefit: Keeps scumbags, the irresponsible and evil doers of the streets where they can do no harm to the innocent for as long as they are locked up.

And that sounds great. If you look at it, though, it's pretty generic. So I can't say if I agree or disagree. The immediate counterpoint is that having them in jail does harm every citizen supporting the jail system. There are definitely circumstances where putting someone in jail for life is going to harm the country more than not having the prisoner locked up.
I'm used to looking at things through ROI. So I'm doing research.

It's definitely easier to quantify with murderers.

 

[Captain Fuzzybritches]

I have no problem with use of defensive lethal force during a violent crime - NONE WHATSOEVER. I do have a problem with purely democratic VOTE of 12 strangers on who gets to die and who gets to live, after hearing a story told by a well paid bullshitter (my apologies to all the lawyers present).

I believe crimes should not go unpunished - I just don't think we, as a society, should have the power to vote what behavior deserves death. Values change, people change, science changes, culture changes.

bingo.

also people are wrongly convicted all the time based on faulty evidence, only to be released years later after the truth comes out. you can't take back killing a guy.

 

[gl89aw]

I believe in the death penalty, especially for those who maliciously kill another person. I also believe that keeping a convicted killer in prison for 20 years thinking about how that electric chair or gas chamber is going to feel is cruel and unusual punishment, the time limit for appeals should be kept to one or two years. I also think that if more than one eye witness is involved in a murder that the execution should be carried out within 3 days of sentencing. Plus I am tired of supporting convicted killers for years. I would make one exception at the moment, I would like for the man who was released to Libya and was involved in the Lockerby plane crash taken up to about 10,000 feet and kicked out of the plane, any more and he might pass out and not enjoy the flight down.

 

[Dave70968]

If you still believe in eyewitness testimony, go read http://reason.com/archives/2011/08/29/injustice-in-plain-sight. Excerpt:

Jennifer Thompson can vouch for that. In 1984, as she was being raped at knifepoint, she forced herself to study and note "every single detail on the rapist's face" so she would be able to identify him.

At the police station a few days later, Thompson found her attacker in a gallery of photos. She picked him again out of a physical lineup. She took the stand in court to point him out, and he was convicted.

But 11 years later, DNA evidence pointed to someone else. "The man I had identified so emphatically on so many occasions was absolutely innocent," she wrote later.

Thompson had many minutes to get a closeup view. Often, arrests are made on the basis of brief glimpses, sometimes in dim light or at a far remove. But even in these instances, eyewitness testimony can obliterate other evidence, as well as common sense.

[emphasis mine]

Your "3 days" would have missed the mark by about 10 years, 11 months, and 27 days. Still ready to pull that trigger?

 

[RidgeHunter]

If you still believe in eyewitness testimony, go read http://reason.com/archives/2011/08/29/injustice-in-plain-sight. Excerpt:

Your "3 days" would have missed the mark by about 10 years, 11 months, and 27 days. Still ready to pull that trigger?

Good post. Here's a 60 Minutes on Jennifer Thompson and the dude she thought raped her.



Lots of interesting studies have been done on eyewitness testimony, and what people remember.

It's just hard for me to trust a government I don't trust to do any other damn thing with executing people. Even harder to trust 12 idiots they pick out of a line at Wal-Mart with making that decision.