twofingers said:And pay me my 30 bucks vyrus you thief
once a welcher, always a welcher :s4:
twofingers said:And pay me my 30 bucks vyrus you thief
vyrus858 said:Africa man, if they only had middle school pictures in Zimbabwe id consider doing the same, but i move on from pictures from 10 years ago cause im not a pothetic New Jersey bum like you...we were getting along their for a while on the pics forum, but now you have to go back to your smart ass miserable man ways
Agents Biatch said:I'll start by saying up front that I am against the death penalty. Simply, there is something inherently odd about attempting to send the message that murder is wrong, with...murder. You also have to wonder about a practice that was once abolished in this country via the Furman v. Georgia decision in 1972, in which the U.S. Supreme Court found the death penalty to be arbitrary and capricious. The Supreme Court mandated that states rewrite their death penalty laws with the goal that they become more consistent and uniform with set standards (ie; mitigating and aggravating circumstances). Then in or around 1977, states began reintroducing the death penalty based on their "new" DP laws. What was once determined to be cruel and unusual in it's inconsitent and discriminatory nature was suddenly back in a new wrapping.
I am against the death penalty not primarily because of any sort of mushy compassionate standard, or the fact that human beings have been executed for crimes that they later were proven to have not committed (115 condemned people were released due to wrongful convictions between 1977 and 2003, care to guess at a number of innocents actually executed?), or even the very popular (and in many cases true) argument that the financial costs of rendering such a punishment are too great (and lets' face it...if you are going to execute someone, you better make damn sure you are right, and spend the money to do so, and as mentioned we aren't always right).
I am against the death penalty primarily because of the nature of this very discussion. The very fact that we can even debate this using such qualifiers as "he was nominated for a nobel peace prize", and "the victim was a father of 2 girls" (as if, I might add, the loss of life via murder is somehow more tragic because the victim was a father versus a young single man without relatives), speaks to the subjectivty, rather than objectivity, of the entire DP practice. The very fact that we can all sit here and try to argue that Tookie was or wasn't worthy of the death penalty is the biggest indicator that the system is imperfect. What qualifies to one, does not qualify to another. How can it be implemented with any sort of integrity?
I recall someone's comment on here about "only a handful of libs who just don't get it". Get what? What is "it"? Because our loosely interpreted laws regarding the death penalty, and it's implementation (albeit inconsistent), can't really tell anyone in the same manner each and every time, what "it" means. To illustrate my point even more... Someone else said "what makes this sack of shit so special?" Which clearly implies some believe he was special, and some didn't. OPINION that fluctuates from person to person is what we base executions on? Bottom line, no matter how tightly states try to write their laws on DP eligible cases, the system is flawed for many reasons, but primarily, because humans are running it. As long as there is room for error and "qualified" responses to the crimes, the offenders, and the victims, and as long as there is room for a debate to occur, then the "'laws" and "standards" by which we execute people (the mentally handicapped and juveniles included) will remain unclear, discrimintaory, and subject to abuse. AND thus, the longer it remains clear that the DP should be obsolete.
Agents Biatch said:I'll start by saying up front that I am against the death penalty. Simply, there is something inherently odd about attempting to send the message that murder is wrong, with...murder. You also have to wonder about a practice that was once abolished in this country via the Furman v. Georgia decision in 1972, in which the U.S. Supreme Court found the death penalty to be arbitrary and capricious. The Supreme Court mandated that states rewrite their death penalty laws with the goal that they become more consistent and uniform with set standards (ie; mitigating and aggravating circumstances). Then in or around 1977, states began reintroducing the death penalty based on their "new" DP laws. What was once determined to be cruel and unusual in it's inconsitent and discriminatory nature was suddenly back in a new wrapping.
I am against the death penalty not primarily because of any sort of mushy compassionate standard, or the fact that human beings have been executed for crimes that they later were proven to have not committed (115 condemned people were released due to wrongful convictions between 1977 and 2003, care to guess at a number of innocents actually executed?), or even the very popular (and in many cases true) argument that the financial costs of rendering such a punishment are too great (and lets' face it...if you are going to execute someone, you better make damn sure you are right, and spend the money to do so, and as mentioned we aren't always right).
I am against the death penalty primarily because of the nature of this very discussion. The very fact that we can even debate this using such qualifiers as "he was nominated for a nobel peace prize", and "the victim was a father of 2 girls" (as if, I might add, the loss of life via murder is somehow more tragic because the victim was a father versus a young single man without relatives), speaks to the subjectivty, rather than objectivity, of the entire DP practice. The very fact that we can all sit here and try to argue that Tookie was or wasn't worthy of the death penalty is the biggest indicator that the system is imperfect. What qualifies to one, does not qualify to another. How can it be implemented with any sort of integrity?
I recall someone's comment on here about "only a handful of libs who just don't get it". Get what? What is "it"? Because our loosely interpreted laws regarding the death penalty, and it's implementation (albeit inconsistent), can't really tell anyone in the same manner each and every time, what "it" means. To illustrate my point even more... Someone else said "what makes this sack of shit so special?" Which clearly implies some believe he was special, and some didn't. OPINION that fluctuates from person to person is what we base executions on? Bottom line, no matter how tightly states try to write their laws on DP eligible cases, the system is flawed for many reasons, but primarily, because humans are running it. As long as there is room for error and "qualified" responses to the crimes, the offenders, and the victims, and as long as there is room for a debate to occur, then the "'laws" and "standards" by which we execute people (the mentally handicapped and juveniles included) will remain unclear, discrimintaory, and subject to abuse. AND thus, the longer it remains clear that the DP should be obsolete.
I was actually kidding, you do seem very smart if that means anythingAgents Biatch said:I do, but if you are referring to my responses, I would argue they are formed more from my education in criminology and working within a large metro area prosecutors office.
Agents Biatch said:ferdville, abolishing the death penalty because the system is not follproof is exactly the reason I suggest it. And you made my next point for me: I agree not every decision is foolproof, but as you again point out what I would...such decisions don't usually involve human life. I would propose that Tookie get the same sentence that any other guy who committed a similar crime got or gets...life in prison. There are numerous multiple victim murderers out there who were convicted and sentenced to life w/o parole. What made Tookie a candidate for DP and not any of them? His high profile crime? His high profile role in the development of LA gangs? A chance for a political DA to send a message that he or she didn't send with any other similar convicted offenders? Perhaps.
Mcity, interesting points. The length of time factor can be explained by the totally legitmate processes a "civilized" society should go through before they "justifiably" kill someone. As far as the deterrence factor, there is absolutely no evidence that the DP is a deterrant to the crime of murder (regardless of how swift it is) because offenders who committ these crimes do not believe they will get caught. Studies have shown that there was no correspondent increase in murder rates when the Supreme Court stopped the DP, and no correspondent decrease when it was resinstated. So even if the DP is swift, what are we deterring?
Agents Biatch said:Sorry, I should have realized writing complete sentences might be an issue on here.
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