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Capital Punishment


toria

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ST the chilling thing is that this news item was of so little interest it was tucked away at the bottom of the page. It sort of suggests that execution is commonplace in Saudi, which of course it is :(

 

Yep, even despite the (presumably) extraodinary chain of events leading to the shooting of the brother - Where do we find it, tucked away in the corner almost - Life is cheap, eh :unsure:

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But since you bring it up Pumphypete...

 

"The death penalty is about revenge and hate, and revenge and hate is why my daughter and those 167 other people are dead today."

 

Bud Welch, father of Julie Marie Welch,

victim in the Oklahoma City bombing

 

Also...

 

Did You Know. . .

 

Since 1973, more than 115 innocent men and women have been released from death rows across the country (Northwestern University, DP Information Center). Researchers Radelet and Bedau found 23 cases since 1900 where innocent people were executed (In Spite of Innocence, Northeastern University Press, 1992).

 

In 1999, the American Bar Association, a conservative group of 400,000 lawyers, reiterated its call for a moratorium on executions because of serious concern with racial disparity in death sentences and the failure to provide adequate counsel and resources to capital defendants. In January 2000, Republican Governor George Ryan called for a moratorium on executions in the state of Illinois and in May 2002 Governor Paris Glendening did the same in Maryland. In January 2003, Governor Ryan pardoned four men and commuted the sentences of 167 death row inmates to life without parole or less because he found the death penalty process "arbitrary and capricious and therefore immoral". The men currently on New Mexico's death row could not afford to hire their own lawyers. In January 2002, Republican Governor Gary Johnson declared New Mexico's death penalty to be bad public policy because it was not applied fairly and innocent people could be executed.

 

A recent New York Times survey found states without the death penalty have lower homicide rates than states with the death penalty. The gap between the cumulative murder rates of death penalty and non-death penalty states actually widened in 2003, from 36% in 2002 to 44% in 2003. "The two states with the most executions in 2003, Texas (24) and Oklahoma (14) saw increases in their murder rates from 2002 to 2003. Both states had murder rates above the national average in 2003: Texas - 6.4, and Oklahoma - 5.9. The top 13 states in terms of murder rates were all death penalty states. The murder rate of the death penalty states increased from 2002, while the rate in non-death penalty states decreased." (www.deathpenaltyinfo.org).

 

A 1993 Duke University study showed that the death penalty in North Carolina costs 2.16 million dollars more per execution than a non-death penalty murder trial. Research in other states indicates executions are three to six times more costly than life imprisonment. In 1999, the New Mexico State Public Defender Department estimated the state would save $1 to 2.5 million dollars per year on Public Defender costs alone if the death penalty was replaced with an alternative sentence.

 

Since the U.S. reinstated the death penalty in 1976, over 40 countries have abolished it. In December 1998, the European Parliament called for immediate and global abolition of the death penalty, with special notice to the U.S. to abandon it. Abolition is a condition for acceptance into the Council of Europe, leading countries such as Russia and Turkey to abolish the death penalty. Recently, South Africa, Canada, France and Germany have all ruled against extraditing prisoners to the U.S. if death sentences would be sought. The World Court, in a unanimous decision reached on February 5, 2003, ruled that the U.S. must delay the execution of three Mexican citizens while it investigates the cases of all 51 Mexicans on death row in the U.S. The Mexican government asserts that the U.S. has violated the Vienna Convention by not informing its citizens that they have the right to contact their consulate when arrested. The death penalty has long been a source of tension between the U.S. and countries that oppose capital punishment.

 

Most major denominations -- Roman Catholic, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, Unitarian, Quaker, Jewish and many others -- maintain strong statements condemning the use of the death penalty. Pope John Paul II has repeatedly called for abolition of the death penalty and New Mexico's Catholic Bishops, along with the NM Catholic Conference and NM Conference of Churches, have taken similar stands. Many Jewish, Protestant, Buddhist and other faith group leaders support alternatives to the death penalty and encourage their congregations to pray and study about this issue.

 

A May 2004 poll by the political consulting firm of Ayres McHenry and Associates found that 66% of respondents support capital punishment for murder, a figure that reflects the lower support for the death penalty found in several polls taken in 2003. (Ayres McHenry and Associates, May 2004) In 2003, polling results published by Gallup Poll, ABC News, and the Pew Research Center all measured support for capital punishment at 64%, significantly below the public's support for capital punishment in the 1990s.A May 2004 Gallup Poll found that a growing number of Americans support a sentence of life without parole rather than the death penalty for those convicted of murder. Gallup found that 46% of respondents favor life imprisonment over the death penalty, up from 44% in May 2003. During that same time frame, support for capital punishment as an alternative fell from 53% to 50%. (www.deathpenaltyinfo.org)

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The prospect of condemning to death a possibly innocent person makes me shudder with revulsion.

 

 

 

But is this not what all those opposed to hanging are doing every time a convicted killer is released only to repeat the same crime, an all too frequent occurrence over the last few years.

Alive without breath,

As cold as death;

Never thirsty, ever drinking,

All in mail never clinking.

 

I`ll just get me rod!!!

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Murderers who are sentenced to "life" serve a life sentence. Some may be released early on licence but they are still under sentence and can be sent back to prison at any time.
And they quite often are after killing someone else!!

 

 

ST the chilling thing is that this news item was of so little interest it was tucked away at the bottom of the page. It sort of suggests that execution is commonplace in Saudi, which of course it is

 

Every Friday without fail, the really odd thing is the blood money reprieve, if family members of the victim take the money offered they are or the hook or should that be chopping block!!

 

Chop Chop Square is a place to be avoided on a Friday any white face spotted is given the VIP treatment of a front row seat!!

I fish, I catches a few, I lose a few, BUT I enjoys. Anglers Trust PM

 

eat.gif

 

http://www.petalsgardencenter.com

 

Petals Florist

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But is this not what all those opposed to hanging are doing every time a convicted killer is released only to repeat the same crime, an all too frequent occurrence over the last few years.

 

That's certainly the impression given by the media. The facts are that murder is, luckily, still a very rare crime, most commonly committed against a close family member, and the re-offence rate is the smallest for any recorded crime (less than 2%). A tiny number of serial killers can achieve lasting notoriety in the public imagination (e.g. Jack the Ripper, Fred West) and create the impression that most murderers are likely to re-offend.

 

Granted, it's no comfort if you or someone you know happens to become a victim, but life is a lottery, and if more people had a firmer grasp of risk assessment and the statistical probability of a particular event occurring once (let alone twice), all the casinos would close down overnight (and noone would do the Lottery).

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But is this not what all those opposed to hanging are doing every time a convicted killer is released only to repeat the same crime, an all too frequent occurrence over the last few years.

 

How frequent is this "all too frequent occurrence"?

Let's agree to respect each others views, no matter how wrong yours may be.

 

 

Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity

 

 

 

http://www.safetypublishing.co.uk/
http://www.safetypublishing.ie/

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Having read the many informative pro-death penalty posts which have all been backed up with such convincing evidence in support I am now in no-doubt that we as a country *should* bring back the death penalty.

 

 

But we do need safeguards! May I suggest that confession evidence would be the best form of safeguard, after all nobody would ever admit to something that they have not done, and if a confession was not forthcoming then I suggest that it is only right that we be allowed to use a bare minimum degree of force or torture to obtain a confession – That way we can always be assured that there will never be a miscarriage of justice.

 

 

It is also clear from these very insightful postings that the law is an ass and has no understanding of what is really occurring in our society today. Day after day I read about people stealing and it makes me sick that there is no suitable deterrent. I am also sick to my back teeth of hearing from 'do-gooder cardigans' about how this could possibly be related to poverty, drug use or some other failing within society – The law is simply too soft on crime!! – There is no reason why we should not take a leaf out of Saudi's fine book and also introduce public floggings and the removal of limbs for any man, woman or child that attacks the very fabric of our society by committing these so-called "minor" offences.

 

 

I would also like to see the return of stoning people to death as this clearly enriched the local community in the way that any group activity would.

 

 

In the good old days when we could burn people for witchcraft there was absolutely no crime in this country whatsoever. That, my friends, is a fact!

 

 

I know that some of you reading this will be disappointed and feel that my approach is still far to 'softly-softly' but we must all remember that we need to keep a balance.

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That's right Tiggsy; we should hang some sense into them.

I am just off to by some rocks and a couple of bags of gravel and go to a stoning.

Tony

Tony

 

After a certain age, if you don't wake up aching in every joint, you are probably dead.

 

 

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