illegal parking, too
and jaywalking
hell, any lawbreaking should carry death as a potential punishment
― the tax avocado (DJP), Thursday, 22 September 2011 20:54 (twelve years ago) link
And the punishment should be random, so you never know when that jaywalking could get you the needle.
― Kiarostami bag (milo z), Thursday, 22 September 2011 21:03 (twelve years ago) link
what if the punishment was....jaywalking
― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 22 September 2011 21:05 (twelve years ago) link
don't forget "why should we THE TAXPAYERS keep shelling out to keep these people alive"― lex pretend, Thursday, 22 September 2011 12:58 (29 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalinkhaha that's pretty much ron paul's position
haha that's pretty much ron paul's position
while this does sound like the cartoon 'ron paul' position, according to google ron paul actually opposes the death penalty.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Thursday, 22 September 2011 22:46 (twelve years ago) link
why don't we just make speeding a capital offense --the tax avocado (DJP)
finally some real talk itt
― iatee, Friday, 23 September 2011 00:14 (twelve years ago) link
i heard jeffrey toobin on cnn yesterday say that it is untrue that more black people than white people get sentenced to death, but it is true that people who kill white people are more often sentenced to death than people who kill black people are, and black people who kill white people get sentenced to death most of all.
even if there weren't any other grounds for banning the death penalty that should be enough, it is sickeningly inequitable.
― estela, Friday, 23 September 2011 00:54 (twelve years ago) link
That argument won't cause supporters to recant their positions though. What might is a restatement of facts. This is one of the few fact-based arguments which stands a chance at working: the sheer number of cases in which jury members recanted or evidence appeared of procedural mistakes. As long as reasonable doubt exists as a principle of our jurisprudence, this may work.
After all, it worked on me. I supported the death penalty until ten years ago.
― Anakin Ska Walker (AKA Skarth Vader) (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 23 September 2011 00:58 (twelve years ago) link
agreed. i'm not philosophically against the death-penalty, but i don't think it can be administered justly.
― Daniel, Esq., Friday, 23 September 2011 01:00 (twelve years ago) link
given America's history (& in particular of the American south), that "sickening inequity" is precisely why the death penalty remains popular.
― Euler, Friday, 23 September 2011 01:00 (twelve years ago) link
yep
― k3vin k., Friday, 23 September 2011 01:11 (twelve years ago) link
i think amateurist is confusing the death penalty with health care― zvookster, Thursday, September 22, 2011 11:56 AM (8 hours ago) Bookmark
that was the joke
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Friday, 23 September 2011 01:12 (twelve years ago) link
In my experience you'll get nowhere saying, "But blacks suffer disproportionately!" Listeners will reply, "Well, so? They commit more crime!"
― Anakin Ska Walker (AKA Skarth Vader) (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 23 September 2011 01:14 (twelve years ago) link
well yeah and you're just never going to get anywhere with those idiots, unfortunately, not today, not in 30 years - the death penalty shouldn't be a democratic issue in the first place but the only way you're ever gonna make a dent, terrible to say, is to have high-profile tragedies like this and have the media do their best to help. ideally you'd remove the democracy entirely - in the US via the supreme court or like with europe and the EU
― k3vin k., Friday, 23 September 2011 01:23 (twelve years ago) link
many governments seem to have lost the knack for not letting bigots dictate things.
― estela, Friday, 23 September 2011 01:41 (twelve years ago) link
http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/22/justice/texas-last-meal/index.html
― Matt Armstrong, Friday, 23 September 2011 01:56 (twelve years ago) link
"It is extremely inappropriate to give a person sentenced to death such a privilege. One which the perpetrator did not provide to their victim," Whitmire wrote.
lol
― witchho (zachlyon), Friday, 23 September 2011 04:10 (twelve years ago) link
i'm sure out of everyone texas executes in a year, one of them probably did give their victim/s a last meal, just statistically speaking
but for real fuck texas
― witchho (zachlyon), Friday, 23 September 2011 04:11 (twelve years ago) link
― witchho (zachlyon), Thursday, September 22, 2011 11:10 PM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark
but what about that movie hannibal amirite?
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Friday, 23 September 2011 04:28 (twelve years ago) link
What then is capital punishment but the most premeditated of murders, to which no criminal's deed, however calculated it may be, can be compared? For there to be an equivalence, the death penalty would have to punish a criminal, who had warned his victim of the date at which he would inflict a horrible death on him, and who from that moment onward had confined him at his mercy for months. Such a monster is not encountered in private life.
this camus quote was bouncing around amid the tray davis discussion & seems a more valuable lens through which to look at the death penalty than OMG A LAST MEAL
― 347.239.9791 stench hotline (schlump), Friday, 23 September 2011 08:21 (twelve years ago) link
thx for the valuable lens
― Matt Armstrong, Friday, 23 September 2011 08:38 (twelve years ago) link
orwell said once that even ppl who support the death penalty can't actually watch an execution without feeling a vague sense that something 'unspeakably wrong' is being committed. i wish i could believe that were still the case.
― (The Other) J.D. (J.D.), Friday, 23 September 2011 08:52 (twelve years ago) link
http://beingwrongbook.com/blog/memory-troy-davis
kinda sympathetic, mostly horrifying article about wrongful convictions and the lengths some people will go to deny the truth.
― ledge, Friday, 23 September 2011 14:31 (twelve years ago) link
not gonna load all the new answers, but have you seen P4reene's post from yesterday? Most gung ho supporters don't care about dicey convictions.
― incredibly middlebrow (Dr Morbius), Friday, 23 September 2011 14:37 (twelve years ago) link
suspect a lot of the death penalty fans are of the "they're all guilty of something" persuasion
― Dios mio! This kid is FUN to hit! (Noodle Vague), Friday, 23 September 2011 14:39 (twelve years ago) link
FACT: it costs more for the state to execute a person than it does to house them for life in prison
― I saw Mike Love walk by a computer once (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, September 22, 2011 11:48 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark
can't be said enough, and ime this is the only argument death penalty supporters even pay any attention to, like they've already got the "accidentally killing an innocent person" thing figured out
― een, Friday, 23 September 2011 14:47 (twelve years ago) link
Yeah but as mentioned above that's only because of the length appeals process, and a lot of pro-death penalty people would like to see that gone or shortened as well.
― The Eyeball Of Hull (Colonel Poo), Friday, 23 September 2011 14:50 (twelve years ago) link
Nope, in my experience, saying that results in an instant retort of, "That's because we let them file appeal after appeal and let it drag on and on instead of just getting it over with."
xp
― Woolen Scjarfs (Phil D.), Friday, 23 September 2011 14:51 (twelve years ago) link
In re: that "last meal" story posted above, obviously the offender here was a horrible human being of the highest order, but this is some A+ trolling right here:
The Democrat, who represents Houston and parts of north Harris County, said "enough is enough" after Lawrence Russell Brewer ordered two chicken fried steaks smothered in gravy with sliced onions, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, a cheese omelet with other ingredients, a large bowl of fried okra with ketchup, three fajitas, a pint of Blue Bell ice cream and a pound of barbecue with a half-loaf of white bread.The meal request also included a slab of peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts, a pizza and three root beers.
The meal request also included a slab of peanut butter fudge with crushed peanuts, a pizza and three root beers.
― Woolen Scjarfs (Phil D.), Friday, 23 September 2011 14:52 (twelve years ago) link
i once tried to pass a death penalty moratorium in tennessee youth legislature. after my floor speech in support of the bill, which in my mind was on par with some of the better speeches of the young john f. kennedy, i noticed that no one was even listening to me. i shuffled back to my seat.
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Friday, 23 September 2011 14:53 (twelve years ago) link
(i think a total of like 6 people supported it. which was my first clue that politics is not really about speeches)
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Friday, 23 September 2011 14:54 (twelve years ago) link
are you allowed alcohol?
― Anakin Ska Walker (AKA Skarth Vader) (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 23 September 2011 14:54 (twelve years ago) link
instead of the death penalty we should just feed all inmates lard and sugar and possibly arsenic
― Whiney G. Blutfarten (dayo), Friday, 23 September 2011 14:58 (twelve years ago) link
and cheese
― Dios mio! This kid is FUN to hit! (Noodle Vague), Friday, 23 September 2011 14:59 (twelve years ago) link
xps i've honestly never heard anyone argue that the only problem with execution is that it's not streamlined enough, but i guess it would be naive to think nobody's saying that. jesus...
― een, Friday, 23 September 2011 15:19 (twelve years ago) link
Jesus was against the death penalty, I think
― the tax avocado (DJP), Friday, 23 September 2011 15:25 (twelve years ago) link
rong, he is for the enemies of god being slaughtered in such quantities that their blood reaches the shoulder of his white horse
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Friday, 23 September 2011 15:26 (twelve years ago) link
friend posted this on FB, kinda want to shove it in the face of every DP supporter i encounter:
From this day forward, I no longer shall tinker with the machinery of death. For more than 20 years I have endeavored–indeed, I have struggled–along with a majority of this Court, to develop procedural and substantive rules that would lend more than the mere appearance of fairness to the death penalty endeavor. Rather than continue to coddle the Court’s delusion that the desired level of fairness has been achieved and the need for regulation eviscerated, I feel morally and intellectually obligated simply to concede that the death penalty experiment has failed. It is virtually self evident to me now that no combination of procedural rules or substantive regulations ever can save the death penalty from its inherent constitutional deficiencies. The basic question–does the system accurately and consistently determine which defendants “deserve” to die?–cannot be answered in the affirmative. It is not simply that this Court has allowed vague aggravating circumstances to be employed, relevant mitigating evidence to be disregarded, and vital judicial review to be blocked. The problem is that the inevitability of factual, legal, and moral error gives us a system that we know must wrongly kill some defendants, a system that fails to deliver the fair, consistent, and reliable sentences of death required by the Constitution.–Harry Blackmun
–Harry Blackmun
― (♯`∧´) (gbx), Friday, 23 September 2011 15:28 (twelve years ago) link
;_; can we stop calling it DP plz, feeling a little unloved (altho also feeling a little lethal)
― the tax avocado (DJP), Friday, 23 September 2011 15:29 (twelve years ago) link
they're called withers, tracer
― (♯`∧´) (gbx), Friday, 23 September 2011 15:29 (twelve years ago) link
the shoulder of his white whither
― the tax avocado (DJP), Friday, 23 September 2011 15:31 (twelve years ago) link
Jesus is a splendid example of streamlining! The appeal to Pilate was over in one night!
― incredibly middlebrow (Dr Morbius), Friday, 23 September 2011 15:31 (twelve years ago) link
it is seemingly odd and contradictory that so many of the people who contend the government is inherently inept and untrustworthy can't bring themselves to believe that the court system sometimes gets it wrong (except if the defendant is OJ simpson of course)
― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Friday, 23 September 2011 15:32 (twelve years ago) link
― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Thursday, September 22, 2011
yes it was the joke so unfunny & stupidly off-topic that i had to explain it to ppl
― zvookster, Friday, 23 September 2011 15:33 (twelve years ago) link
The Democrat, who represents Houston and parts of north Harris County, said "enough is enough" after Lawrence Russell Brewer ordered two chicken fried steaks smothered in gravy with sliced onions, a triple-meat bacon cheeseburger, a cheese omelet with other ingredients, a large bowl of fried okra with ketchup, three fajitas, a pint of Blue Bell ice cream and a pound of barbecue with a half-loaf of white bread.
― Woolen Scjarfs (Phil D.), Friday, September 23, 2011 10:52 AM (57 minutes ago)
yeah i nearly stood up and applauded when i first read that
― k3vin k., Friday, 23 September 2011 15:50 (twelve years ago) link
this is terrifying
McGrath entered the deposition with one unshakable conviction: that Jimmy Ray Bromgard was still the prime suspect in the Billings rape. Maybe, the attorney general proposed, Bromgard raped the little girl but left no biological evidence behind, and the semen and hair in her underwear had come from somewhere else. Like where, asked Neufeld – and here’s where things get so disturbing and bizarre that it’s worth quoting from the transcript at some length: McGrath: The semen could have come from multiple different sources. Neufeld: Why don’t you tell me what those multiple sources are. McGrath: It’s potentially possible that [the victim] was sexually active with somebody else. The victim, you will recall, was eight years old. McGrath. (Or) it’s possible that her sister was sexually active with somebody else. The victim’s sister was eleven at the time of the rape. McGrath: It’s possible that a third person could have been in the room. It’s possible. It’s possible that the father could have left that stain in a myriad of different ways. Neufeld: What other different ways? McGrath: He could have masturbated in that room in those underwear. …. The father and the mother could have had sex in that room in that bed, or somehow transferred a stain to those underwear. … [The father] could have had a wet dream; could have been sleeping in that bed; he could have had an incestual relationship with one of the daughters. So we have four possibilities: the eight-year-old was sexually active; her eleven-year-old sister was sexually active while wearing her sister’s underpants; a third party was in the room (even though the victim had testified to a single intruder); or the father had deposited the semen in one perverse way or another. Neufeld, clearly somewhat nonplussed, concedes that all these scenarios are hypothetically possible – but, he says: Neufeld: You have no basis to believe that happened here, do you? McGrath: Other than I was a prosecutor for eighteen years, and I’ve been in the criminal justice system for twenty-five years. I think it’s a very definite possibility. Neufeld: That’s the sole source of it? McGrath: Which is a pretty significant source. Moving from the biological evidence to the eyewitness testimony, Neufeld and the attorney general discuss the child’s identification of her assailant: McGrath: I thought it was quite significant identification testimony. Neufeld: You thought that when a victim says on direct examination that, “I was 60 to 65 percent sure,” and then when asked by the prosecutor, “Putting aside the percentages, how sure are you that it’s Jimmy Ray Bromgard?,” and she says, “Not very sure,” you consider that to be very powerful ID testimony? McGrath: Yes.
McGrath: The semen could have come from multiple different sources. Neufeld: Why don’t you tell me what those multiple sources are. McGrath: It’s potentially possible that [the victim] was sexually active with somebody else.
The victim, you will recall, was eight years old.
McGrath. (Or) it’s possible that her sister was sexually active with somebody else.
The victim’s sister was eleven at the time of the rape.
McGrath: It’s possible that a third person could have been in the room. It’s possible. It’s possible that the father could have left that stain in a myriad of different ways. Neufeld: What other different ways? McGrath: He could have masturbated in that room in those underwear. …. The father and the mother could have had sex in that room in that bed, or somehow transferred a stain to those underwear. … [The father] could have had a wet dream; could have been sleeping in that bed; he could have had an incestual relationship with one of the daughters.
So we have four possibilities: the eight-year-old was sexually active; her eleven-year-old sister was sexually active while wearing her sister’s underpants; a third party was in the room (even though the victim had testified to a single intruder); or the father had deposited the semen in one perverse way or another. Neufeld, clearly somewhat nonplussed, concedes that all these scenarios are hypothetically possible – but, he says:
Neufeld: You have no basis to believe that happened here, do you? McGrath: Other than I was a prosecutor for eighteen years, and I’ve been in the criminal justice system for twenty-five years. I think it’s a very definite possibility. Neufeld: That’s the sole source of it? McGrath: Which is a pretty significant source.
Moving from the biological evidence to the eyewitness testimony, Neufeld and the attorney general discuss the child’s identification of her assailant:
McGrath: I thought it was quite significant identification testimony. Neufeld: You thought that when a victim says on direct examination that, “I was 60 to 65 percent sure,” and then when asked by the prosecutor, “Putting aside the percentages, how sure are you that it’s Jimmy Ray Bromgard?,” and she says, “Not very sure,” you consider that to be very powerful ID testimony? McGrath: Yes.
― Whiney G. Blutfarten (dayo), Friday, 23 September 2011 15:59 (twelve years ago) link
what the
― k3vin k., Friday, 23 September 2011 16:32 (twelve years ago) link
it's from the link ledge posted above
― Whiney G. Blutfarten (dayo), Friday, 23 September 2011 17:12 (twelve years ago) link
basically: people really, really, really hate being wrong
http://www.flickr.com/photos/22067139@N05/5251556905/
I know this is just 'flickr' but pretty sure the text is from an AP article
― dayo, Tuesday, 27 September 2011 02:16 (twelve years ago) link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Stinney
great now i'm just going to cry
― k3vin k., Tuesday, 27 September 2011 02:20 (twelve years ago) link