Debate: Why I Am Against The Death Penalty

[Golden_Shores]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/21/AR2005112101384_pf.html

Witness Clears Man Executed In Texas for 1985 Slaying

Associated Press
Tuesday, November 22, 2005; A02



HOUSTON -- A decade after Ruben Cantu was executed for capital murder, the only witness to the crime is recanting and his co-defendant says Cantu, then 17, was not even with him that night.

The victim was shot nine times with a rifle during an attempted robbery before the gunman shot the only witness.

That witness, Juan Moreno, told the Houston Chronicle for its Sunday editions that Cantu was not the killer. Moreno said he identified him at the 1985 trial because he felt pressured and feared authorities.

Cantu, who had maintained his innocence, was executed on Aug. 24, 1993, at age 26. "Texas murdered an innocent person," co-defendant David Garza said.

Sam D. Millsap Jr., the district attorney who handled the case, said he never should have sought the death penalty in a case based on testimony from a witness who identified a suspect only after police showed him a photo three times.

© 2005 The Washington Post Company
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I'd rather pay for 100,000 people to sit in jail for a milliion years than to send one innocent person to death.  But hey!  That's just me.

[EC]

I agree.  I think the death penalty is wrong on about a billion levels.  

One of which is the complete fucking hypocrisy of it all in relation to other death issues.  ie euthanasia and the like.

[peanut butter puddin surprise]

The curious thing about the death penalty is that it's not really a deterrent.  Long incarceration is a deterrent, but we still have horrendous crimes.

However, crime as a whole, esp. violent crime, has been steadily going down for a while now.  Too bad the media doesn't hype that instead of the latest shooting.

I once ate a Christmas dinner with Kentucky's death row inmates, back in the day.  What a trip that was.  Eddyville's prison is one scary ass place, that's fer sure.

[Golden_Shores]

Actually, no punishment is a deterrent.  Career criminals are not scared to go to prison.  As a matter of fact, many career criminals wear their prison sentence like a badge of honor.  

[peanut butter puddin surprise]

Actually, no punishment is a deterrent.  Career criminals are not scared to go to prison.  As a matter of fact, many career criminals wear their prison sentence like a badge of honor.  

Well, what percentage of people are "career criminals"?  I'd venture a bet that more than 50% of our jails are filled with people who are nonviolent, first time drug offenders.

[aMillionDreams]

your right. we shouldn't punish anyone for anything.  

I don't support the death penatly either but that argument is a slippery slope.  I just think it gives government too much power.  And the government's abuse of power in matters of life and death is nearly unforgivable.

[peanut butter puddin surprise]

I didn't say that, at all.

[Golden_Shores]

Well, what percentage of people are "career criminals"?  I'd venture a bet that more than 50% of our jails are filled with people who are nonviolent, first time drug offenders.

You're jumping into a seperate debate.  Should drugs be decriminalized or even legalized?  

But let me rephrase then, most people who are willing to commit a crime are not scared to go to prison.  Most people who are willing to commit a crime think about getting caught and then tend to commit the crime anyway.

[aMillionDreams]

oh, my bad.

[Golden_Shores]

your right. we shouldn't punish anyone for anything.  

I don't support the death penatly either but that argument is a slippery slope.  I just think it gives government too much power.  And the government's abuse of power in matters of life and death is nearly unforgivable.

People who are a threat to society should be seperated from society.  Prison is that seperation.  But should the State sanction legalized murder?  I don't believe so.  

[aMillionDreams]

I'd love to play devil's advocate in this thread, but I'm afraid I have neither the time or energy for that today.  Party on, party people.

[Golden_Shores]

I'd love to play devil's advocate in this thread, but I'm afraid I have neither the time or energy for that today.  Party on, party people.

The beauty of a message board is you can always come back to it.  Open the can...

[peanut butter puddin surprise]

I'm just looking at the issue of crime from an enforcement standpoint, not necessarily a legal standpoint.  If we tell our cops to lock up people everytime they smell reefer, they aren't patrolling looking for the real bad guys.  Our frenzied approach to law enforcement, in regards to "street crime", has definitely cleaned things up, that's for sure..but at what cost?  

[40206]

1. It is arbitrarily sought by the State.  (FYI:  Media coverage and/or the wealth/notoriety of the victims prevent the prosecution from seeking a plea deal. If two white kids from the suburbs are shot in Downtown by somebody of the opposite race, do you really think a plea bargain is an option? If you reverse the victim and the alleged criminal, I venture to believe that a plea would be obtain.)

[40206]

Another reason:

2. The only individuals qualified to sit on a death penalty case as jurors have to be in favor of the death penalty.  All those opposed are excluded from the jury pool.  Do you really think the defendant is given a "jury of his peers" when the only individuals eligible to determine his/her fate are pro-death.   Additionally, people that are pro-death are far more likely to find in favor of the State/Commonwealth in the guilt/innocent phase.

*I may be biased because I am public defender.

[peanut butter puddin surprise]

let's just say I'm against the death penalty, for sure...

[ben grimm]

A cop got shot here (U.K.) at the weekend and now the radio stations are having this same debate, saying our cops should now be armed and that we should have the death penalty for anyone who murders a cop! I feel for the cops family don't get me wrong (She was a mother of five)
but if they'd shot my Mum I don't think the manhunt would be on the same scale.

[Golden_Shores]

If humans were infallible, I would be a bit more easily swayed on this issue.  But humans make mistakes all the time.  How is it that so many of us are so capable of writing off innocent people who are killed by the state?  Is it so that we feel comforted knowing that if somebody killed one of OUR loved ones that we could watch who we presume to be that killer die?  What if the wrong person was fingered?  It happens all the time.  What if my father was accused of murdering somebody and was sentenced to death and I knew he was innocent?  

[Easy Morning Rebel]

I'm against Death Penalty because killing is wrong. And if there is death penalties then the folks that decides this is murderer too.

[dragonboy]

I've posted my support for these guys a couple of times but they need all the help they can get.

The story of the West Memphis Three is simply horrifying! Gross mis-justice with 3 boys on death row for a crime I, and a lot of other people, believe they didn't commit. All the Pearl Jam fans should know about this one - Eddie is a big supporter.

Check out this movie:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AYEIY0/103-5660301-1079012?v=glance&n=130&s=dvd&v=glance

And give their website a hit:

http://www.wm3.org/splash.php

I am strongly against the death penalty.