In very few instances, the DP should be enforced, this is one of them!

[Catherine Vincent]

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/front/2042633

That poor baby!

[demsrule4life]

1. In cases like this I don't agree with the DP

that is to fast and easy. They should be released into the general population of the prison.

[roughsatori]

7. It is not constitutional for punishment to come from the General Pop.

That is the job of the courts. If you support the death penalty for any reason--you support it. It is not equivocal. If you honestly think child molesting scum should be slowly tortured to death, then the system must administer that punishment; not the men in the general population. Torture is also against the law at this time--so you will need work to make that legal. Or we could just return to vigilantism. Expecting and approving of inmates to administer justice only hurts all of us in a society.

Also, he has not been convicted or signed a plea agreement by a jury of his peers yet.

I have been an advocate for victims of child-abuse and have counciled many. But my own belief is that taking a life at any stage, for any reason, is destructive to all sentient beings.

[alfredo]

20. Sooner or later someone

will get to him, you can take it to the bank. Child molestors and child killers will die horrible deaths. In the prison system they are the lowest of the low.

The prison staff can only do so much to protect them.

[Catherine Vincent]

8. That's how I feel about it really,

it's just that I get so mad when horrible stuff like this happens. He should be sent to prison forever, no parole, and hopefully he'll think about what he did every minute while he's there.

[roughsatori]

10. Sometimes when I watch the news

and see something about a horrible abuse of a child I will say:
"That guy needs to be shot right now without a trial." It is anger and I do not mean it at all. The death penalty is just not an option in my belief system.

[papau]

2. Agreed.

but I wish I had not seen that story.

:-(

[plcdude]

3. I agree

horrible horrible story. eventhough I am opposed to the dp in some cases it seems to be the best we can do.

[salin]

4. Personally

I think the DP is the easy way out. Why did McVeigh want it? Didn't like the idea of being confined forever.

Let this person have to live for a very, very, very long time with the reality of what he has done.

Let him have to negotiate a confined life where he is reviled by others (reports are that child molesters and murderers are detested by other prisoners).

[LoneStarLiberal]

5. Cruel and Unusual Punishment

I don't agree with the death penalty in any case (don't like the idea that the state can murder citizens). I have no problems with cruel and unusual punishment in the place of the death penalty, though.

The interests of punishment would be better served by locking this guy up for the rest of his life in solitary confinement. No human contact for the remainder of his natural life. Leave him with his thoughts and his crime and he will undoubtedly die in far more agony and bewilderment than if the state murders him.

[zizzer]

6. I don't support the DP ever

Period, end of sentance.

To vasilate on topic like this shows a weekness of conviction.

I'm sorry but that's the way I see it.

And our Judgicial system makes the "What if it were your daughter/mother/friend" argument pointless, as I would not and should not be a part of the jury pool or the judge.

Zizzer

[DS1]

9. You're correct, we should find him guilty in a court of law first

Wait, you meant Due Process right?

:eyes:

[roughsatori]

12. DP is death penalty

But yes due process would be nice before sanctioning a person to death via the state.

[supernova]

11. DP never justified

in my book. I can't get behind the concept of state-sponsored revenge, which is what the DP is. It doesn't atone for the first murder; it doesn't bring the first victim back.

It's a gussied-up, legalized version of blood feuds with the state serving as stand-in for the agrieved family.

And that bit about criminals being "ready to die" is spot on. Yeah, if I killed someone and was sentenced to death, I'd sure as hell take that over rotting in jail for the next 5 lifetimes.

Not so fast bucko! Why should they escape the moral suffering in their heads by dying so quickly? I support locking them away permanently so they have a nice, long time to live with what they've done and the moral revulsion (if they genuinely aren't mentally ill) that comes with it.

[RC]

13. The flaw in your thinking is

you assume they think like normal people. They do not.
Quite often they really do think they are innocent, even when caught in the act. Or they justify their crime in some way, the 'she was asking for it' excuse.
Feeling guilty about the pain they have caused is an unknown concept to them.

[supernova]

14. You say that like you know every murderer

personally. Highly unlikely.

Like I said, if they aren't mentally ill -- which is what you are thinking --, they will come around to it eventually. All they have is time.

[RC]

15. Bone up on your criminal mentality/psychology. n/t

[supernova]

16. Still doesn't justify DP

in my view, whether the murderer acknowledges the crime or not (Tim McVeigh, Ted Bundy), is not the only point. It's one of many.

You seem to be saying that people who don't acknowledge their crimes may as well be killed anyway b/c they don't care.

Not buying it.

The DP still puts the state at the same level as the murder.

[RC]

17. Where did I express pro or con on the death penalty?

I just stated a fact. They do not think like the rest of us.

[roughsatori]

18. "They do not think like the rest of us" ??

That is too broad to be true at all. Many murderers think just like us and kill anyway. And afterwords, just like the rest of us, some will feel remorse, some won't.

I could not care less about their remorse, or lack. I guess if I believed in the Christian idea of saving a soul I would want to keep them alive to have a chance to Evangelize them for Jesus--but I don't.

I am against the death penalty in all cases, regardless of the thoughts the criminal has after receiving life in prison without parole.

I understand that you did not give an opinion pro or con. But your "fact" is truly not a fact.

If you had said "psychopathic murderers are not like the rest of us" forensic psychology would back you up. But to put in that category
the murderer who kills his business partner over money or wife over cheating would be false. That is what I mean by "too broad."

[CBGLuthier]

19. try em

and fry em.

I have no qualms at all about being a death penalty supporter and no interest in debating it.

Some people deserve to die. Baby killers tend to top the list for me.