Okay so I am definitely a lover not a fighter but sometimes..... While this opinion will earn me flack I am sure, I happen to be for the death penalty.
The prosecutors in the Casey Anthony murder trial have finally grown a pair and decided to pursue the death penalty. I think it is about dang time. Any one who kills a child whether their own or another should not be allowed to breath. Harsh, sure, even cruel probably. Children are the only innocents left in the world and they darn well deserve some old fashioned justice.
I hope they pursue the death penalty in the Melissa Huckaby case. As soon as they included the 'rape by instrument' charge I decided I would happily volunteer to flip the switch.
I think honestly serial child rapists and child murderers should be automatic capital cases. I am all about forgiveness and growth and chances, I really am, but some circumstances just do not deserve forgiveness.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
3 comments:
We love comments! We are happy to answer questions, join in debate and conversation, or just say hi. All we ask is for respect. Respect us and others. Keep it civil. Obviously we aren't afraid of cussing but we don't like anyone degraded or invalidated.
We also know we make mistakes. Feel free to call us out. You can't improve things that need it if you aren't aware of it.
If you have an opinion share it but know if it is going to cause hurt to someone we care about we will not approve it.
Most of all have fun!!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I read a novel, B.W. Clough's Crystal Crown. There was mentioned a system of criminal punishment.
ReplyDeleteNo crime could earn a sentence longer than seven (7) years. The only harsher sentence was lapidation.
Lapidation starts at noon, laying out the condemned in the community quare, covering the miscreant with a wood platform (like a barn door). The citizens walk by and pick up a rock from a handy pile, and lay one on the platform - one rock only per citizen.
If the miscreant is still breathing at sundown - let the sucker go. But the judge that passed the sentence gets to try his luck the next day.
Thus, "trial by jury of peers" is implemented, abuses of the court system are moderated, and community values are respected.
What concerns me about picking one heinous crime over another as justification for supporting the death penalty is the emotional baggage.
I consider the court system to be the "protection of last resort". Society - not the police or the courts - is responsible for being safe for its citizens. When someone is harmed, the courts can only protect indirectly.
I favor the death penalty when the death sentence prevents harm to other people.
I see extended sentences for crimes that garner media attention (i.e., advertising revenue), when really the object should be increasing safety of the community. I think *exile* should be an alternative punishment, or used in conjunction with jail time. Exile from the community or state, or even nation. Provided we can work out somewhere to send them. Penal colonies have worked in the past - resulting in the United States and Australia, among others.
The French Foreign Legion was a way for felons and malcontents to create a new beginning, after a brutal 10 year enlistment. Perhaps we could consider constituting such an option for our prison population.
I 1968 the national high school debate topic was about abolishing the death penalty. One of the facts presented was that Great Britain experienced a significant decline in murders - when they abolished public executions. Perhaps the single biggest thing we could do to halt the copycat murders and mass shooters - would be to stop publishing their stories. Stop reporting on their trials.
We need the reports so that every citizen tracks corruption and injustice. But we should stop letting crime be a topic for polite conversation. Let criminals understand they become scum for committing crime, not celebrities.
I have to disagree with a lot that you say Brad. You can't have a system that gives all criminals the same sentence. Lapidation would work with executions of most that deserve it. But 7 years is not enough for some criminals.
ReplyDeleteThough glorifying criminals is not a good thing, their executions should be very public. Letting death row inmates sit in jail for 20 years before they are executed does nothing for deterring crime. They should get a fair trial, one appeal and then executed the next day. It would make some think twice before they commit a serious crime.
If you look at some countries around the world that have very stiff penalties for criminals and execute prisoners without delay, their crime rates are a lot lower.
One thing that i do agree with is a penal colony. But it would have to be an island somewhere that there is little chance of escape.
Getting to the post we are responding too, i think both women should face execution for their crimes and it should be very swift.
Keep up the good work on your blog.
John
Hey guys! Thanks for commenting!
ReplyDeleteYou both say things I agree with. I do think we give these people way to much attention. Casey Anthony's case has been on Nancy Grace most every night since Caylee was reported missing. She has 'fans' who send her money in jail. She seems the type to feed on the attention so all the publicity only gives her that enjoyment. If the world had no clue who she was and her name was forgotten I think it would be a good thing and go much farther in justice for Caylee.
In the Huckaby case she actually seems contrite or at the very least fearful which I think she deserves. She brutally murdered her own child's playmate. She used a foreign object to rape the child. Death is exactly what she deserves.
I actually like the thought of lapidation simply because it allows the citizens the chance to express their judgment. I love our judicial system, though it does have flaws, simply for the jury of peers. In a lot of ways I wish they had more input, were able to question witnesses more, were able to really examine evidence.
In most cases a penal colony situation would work very well, I think, but some crimes are really so severe that a penal setting would just give the offender more chance to commit the crime they love. Put a passionate serial killer in a population of victims free to plunder and not only would he kill but I imagine he would escalate. Death for that killer is a much better justice.
The death penalty should be carried out faster. To many on death row die there rather than at the time of execution and I think that is to kind for them. People are put on death row because the crime is so heinous as to demand it.
We could get into all those falsely sentenced and incarcerated but that is a whole different topic.