death penalty

[brian spencer6]

This is a very sensative subject like abortion or gays in the military etc. And you know its very easy to get emotional and spew hypebole or talk about child molester murdering lowlifes. Lets face it who does not get emotional when you see the headlines in the papers or the faces of allegid killers smirking in a courtroom.
But the fact still remains that the american people have been worked up into a lather by politicos who want to be tough on crime and we need to wake up from our overzealous lust for revenge. The fact is many people ARE excecuted who are innocent and blacks are more likely to receive the death penalty for killing whites then the other way around (im not making this up this is a statistical fact). Until we begin to address some of these issues and the fact that most westenized counties in the world dont have one (death penalty) then to me its a mute subject. Sure i dont want violent criminal that kill with little disregard for human life to see the light of day but we really need to think about our thirst for revenge and thats what it is revenge not justice.

 

[Knox The Hatter]

hey, Monkey, don't feel bad about jumping in on the last page...who's got time to wade through two hundred posts?
The fact is, the system that allows innocent people to be executed is irreparably flawed, the system that allows prosecuting attorneys to suppress exculpatory evidence in order to execute a human being so that it could ease his transference into politics or even higher office is evil, and any assertion that Capital Punishment is a deterrant is hogwash. The only way it might act as a deterrant is if a)you committed the crime on Thursday b)you were arrested on Friday
c)your trial was on Saturday, and d) you were executed bright and early Monday morning, without fail. Even then, it's not certain. Hey, wait a minute! That sounds like...Saddam's Iraq!
Sure, there are people on death row that, once you became familiar with their cases, you'd wanna throw the switch on. I could name two death row inmates here in New Jersey that automatically would trigger that reflex in you. And I understand that feeling. But, until we fix this system, we can't count on it. I see nothing wrong with taking these death row inmates and putting them in dark isolated rooms and throwing away the key. Death for them's a release. And I don't want to see them released. Ever.

 

[BigJim]

I have to agree with all of the recent posts on this subject. Y'all seem to be quite tuned in to most of these things.

One thing I HAVE to point out though. This is mostly an American debate, although most of us are involved to one degree or another. As it's an American debate, would any of the recent posters care to comment on the argument put forward by two (at least puclicly so; more members might agree but not speak about it here) American TMF'ers during this thread. That argument was in short........

"So long as the majority of people executed are guilty, I'm not too worried about a few innocents getting mistakenly executed."

Oddly enough both people who said this I would consider to be good friends; but this opinion truly appauls me. It really makes me think that life has gotten utterly degraded, dark and sad.

 

[Dragon321]

i personally find the fact that apartheid still exists within the justice system, and the double standards imposed by primarily white and male lawyers and justiciaries appalling. however, although the system is flawed, it is the only one available. it needs primarily to be purged of corruption, by a series of sackings. however, when this occurs, the purgers are almost inevitably corrupted either through nepotism or blackmail. nepotism above all things sickens me. hypocritical as i am, i recognise that i have succumbed to nepotism on occasion.

 

[BigJim]

As it's an American debate, would any of the recent posters care to comment on the argument put forward by two (at least puclicly so; more members might agree but not speak about it here) American TMF'ers during this thread. That argument was in short........

"So long as the majority of people executed are guilty, I'm not too worried about a few innocents getting mistakenly executed."

Guess not...........