Why We Have the Death Pentalty.

[bambu.]

Aren't you from outside the US? What is the law in your country?

We had the death penalty abolished decades ago.
The govt man/state having the right to kill us in death chambers...given what goes on worldwide in legal cases/trials?
We said "oh no you don't".
We marched in the streets, white hot anger there was in protests...politicians were TOLD...they capitulated, no more executions.
In Melbourne we marched, the Cross and the noose leading the parade of protest.

Ronald Ryan was hanged, but he was the last one.

Ronald Ryan was the last person executed in Australia, hanged on February 3, 1967, at Pentridge Prison in Melbourne. His execution, following a conviction for the murder of a prison guard during an escape, sparked significant public outcry and contributed to the eventual abolition of capital punishment in Australia.

***
Thing is, the majority of Americans seem to favour the death penalty...but slowly that number is falling as people become aware of its sickening horror and the possibilty of the killing by the state of innocent people.

 

[yidnar]

I'm curious what your point is.

There may be "lower crime rates" in a totalitarian state such as North Korea, but we certainly don't want a totalitarian state just on the off-chance that it might lower certain crime rates.

Your argument appears to be based on pure emotion rather than reason.

I think the law that exists is a better judgment of what reasonable punishments for specific crimes are, and if you believe a specific punishment is unreasonable, then you would need to cite some statistics on things such as recidivism rates. But, on the internet, people can simply chant "death penalty" for anything the want to, even if it would be patently absurd.

Actually the real crime violent deadly crime rates are much higher in communist countries .. they just arent viewed or reported as crimes by the government because its the government doing the killing and imprisoning ..

 

[the watcher]

I don't think the death penalty was ever much of a deterrent, I don't think crooks used to care about it in the past and certainly not today. Kids will kill you for looking at them. If anything, it is more likely to cause them to not leave any one alive to identify them. It all depends on what kind of a world do you want to live in. Do you want to stockpile a lot of these psychopaths and crazies and take food away from someone to extend their lives? That's what the life in prison does, it enables these assholes and marginalizes victims. The reason that most if not all prosecutors jump for plea deals is the massive cost of death penalty trials, which cripple their budgets. It is time consuming, and most cases drag out for 15-40 years with appeals, writs and filings, and in fact really doesn't exist anymore in reality. Then there is the real situation with juries that just don't have the balls to reasonably judge a case, plus all the pretrial publicity in the media which can taint the jury even more. The guy that hilled the 4 kids in Idaho has no place in society, why pen him up (How Much Does it Cost to Keep Someone in Prison in 2023 – Prisons Review) which seems crueler to me? Think about the living next time your heart starts to bleed, not the misfits that could care less about you.

 

[Meathead]

First, it's not retribution.

It's accountability.

Second, please tell me where that axiom is written as such.

You can file all the appeals you want. Not over 15 years.

You'll always jail and execute some innocents.

Not in these cases.

And BTW: Don't want to be criminally charged and executed....don't get to close to the line.

Beyond a reasonable doubt and you are history (or should be).

It is neither about retribution nor accountability, rather it is about justice, a word derived from the common word just meaning equal to, no more (or less) than.

 

[Leviticus]

This scene from Hang'em High was always thought provoking. There are two teenage boys on the gallows. Eastwood's character pleaded for them but the judge was clear...this was the LAW. In this case, you balance the fact that they were stupid associated with a crime (but not really the perpetrators), but still just kids.

Clearly this is not retaliation. But consistency (at least in the judges mind) in the application of the law. If we had that, we'd be having executions every weekend. We might not stop anyone else, but the convicted would be held accountable (and we'd be minus a few killers/rapists).

In the US you can't be executed for simply being associated with a crime. You can get life in prison for it but not the death penalty.

It's called being charged with felony murder. All that it takes is that you were present and taking part in a crime in which someone was killed regardless of whether you pulled the trigger or not. It's kind of like the Rico version of murder charges, since anyone who took part in crime can be charged with it if someone is killed.

Examples being, if two guys commit a burglary and one of them shoots the homeowner, if neither of them is willing to testify against the other and there's not enough evidence to prove which one actually committed the murder, but there's enough evidence to prove that one of them did, they can simply both be charged with felony murder.

 

[the watcher]

I don't know if anyone remembers Richard Speck, who killed 8 nurses in Chicago in 1966 when I was in Great Lakes at boot camp. Total failure as a person, no reason to exist. This is what life in prison is like, and if you think this is more humane so as to not assault your feelings, try again. This is avoiding real accountability, something we are doing now as juries morph into justice warrior wannabees. This is long so go to the last 4 or 5 minutes to see the outcome for your civilized thinking. You can't assign your values to people like this, it's more likely they will impose their values on you.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

We had the death penalty abolished decades ago.
The govt man/state having the right to kill us in death chambers...given what goes on worldwide in legal cases/trials?
We said "oh no you don't".
We marched in the streets, white hot anger there was in protests...politicians were TOLD...they capitulated, no more executions.
In Melbourne we marched, the Cross and the noose leading the parade of protest.

Ronald Ryan was hanged, but he was the last one.

Ronald Ryan was the last person executed in Australia, hanged on February 3, 1967, at Pentridge Prison in Melbourne. His execution, following a conviction for the murder of a prison guard during an escape, sparked significant public outcry and contributed to the eventual abolition of capital punishment in Australia.

***
Thing is, the majority of Americans seem to favour the death penalty...but slowly that number is falling as people become aware of its sickening horror and the possibilty of the killing by the state of innocent people.

An innocent person has not been executed in this country in many years. Technology and the courts have progressed to the point that proof is almost certain, which is far beyond a reasonable doubt.

I really don't give a shit about Australia and what you do. Why should you care about what my country does if you are not subject to our laws?

Are you just one of those busy bodies that like to stick your nose in other people's business?

 

[there4eyeM]

If there were no ultimate punishment (death), then taking another person's life in order to commit a crime would only make that person's life equivalent to some material object that might be stolen.

 

[Paddlefoot]

Your link says a week. Reading is fundamental.

They put her in a coma with a tube down her throat as they knew she would soon be not breathing. She would have been dead in a day if she wasn't rich for them to do that.

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

They put her in a coma with a tube down her throat as they knew she would soon be not breathing. She would have been dead in a day if she wasn't rich for them to do that.

You have serious mental issues and cannot read for comprehension. Seek help.

 

[Paddlefoot]

So, the guy fights his way into the building with a can of gas and all the guy does is runs out the door. Somebody in that building should have had a gun like that guy at the grocery store.

 

[HikerGuy83]

You will never get the death penalty if he survived the attack. If you want the death penalty for certain crimes, talk to your state legislators.

I would agree with both points.

I am simply pointing out that our conciousness has shifted way to far away from what (I believe...and I am very much aware that this is my opinion) it should be.

This is becoming all to common because we are normalizing it.

It's time to ratchet up the other side of the equation.

 

[HikerGuy83]

Even

Convicted of doing so.
Sentenced to death.
In prison she was, waiting her turn in the chamber of death.
Those fighting for her life got her a new trial...at which she was found to be innocent.
Luckily the popular "execute without delay - make them pay" brigade weren't running anything then.

Sabrina Butler...now Sabrina Butler-Smith

*****

Evenly applied laws? [seems to be a myth]

Thanks.

But I'll need a link to the story.

I sat on a jury where a man was accused of attempted murder even though no one was hurt. I am all to familiar with having to discern things you can't technically detect.

BTW: Found my own link (or IOW I did your homework for you). And this kind of thing is an apples to oranges comparison to what I've put out there so you can shove it for providing he deflection.

A man is witnessed to throw gas on another man and light him on fire. If that story holds up in court, the man should die. There is no trying to discern what happened or turn circumstances against him (like they did against her.....and BTW you don't know that she didn't beat her child to death.....only she knows for sure.....nobody was there).

In this case....EVERYBODY was there. Completely different.

Try again.

And yes......the law is supposed to be evenly applied. It certainly isn't and it's time to do so.

 

[HikerGuy83]

Death penalty needs to be abolished...yesterday!

Nope. Needs to be carried out more often.

 

[HikerGuy83]

Here we go...this is what the death penalty is;
The taking of human life, by the 'govt man', also known as the state.
Death penalty needs to be abolished...yesterday!

Court Schedules Oct. 16 Execution for Robert Roberson

(Anderson County, Texas, July 16, 2025) Despite the overwhelming evidence proving that Robert Roberson is innocent, today District Court Judge Austin Reeve Jackson granted the State’s request to schedule his execution for October 16, 2025. Attorney General Ken Paxton recently asked the court to schedule Mr. Roberson’s execution even though the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) is currently considering new evidence further proving his innocence.

To date, no court has substantively reviewed the mountain of evidence proving that the tragic 2002 death of Mr. Roberson’s chronically ill toddler daughter, Nikki, resulted from illness, medical error, and accident, none of which was Mr. Roberson’s fault.

Remember this guy:

Nidal Hasan - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

He just lost his final appeal. 14 years later. He was able to be delay things by claiming he was shaved against his will.

13 people killed. No doubt he did it.

He needed to go 13 years ago.

 

[HikerGuy83]

Here we go...this is what the death penalty is;
The taking of human life, by the 'govt man', also known as the state.
Death penalty needs to be abolished...yesterday!

Court Schedules Oct. 16 Execution for Robert Roberson

(Anderson County, Texas, July 16, 2025) Despite the overwhelming evidence proving that Robert Roberson is innocent, today District Court Judge Austin Reeve Jackson granted the State’s request to schedule his execution for October 16, 2025. Attorney General Ken Paxton recently asked the court to schedule Mr. Roberson’s execution even though the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals (CCA) is currently considering new evidence further proving his innocence.

To date, no court has substantively reviewed the mountain of evidence proving that the tragic 2002 death of Mr. Roberson’s chronically ill toddler daughter, Nikki, resulted from illness, medical error, and accident, none of which was Mr. Roberson’s fault.

You keep citing cases that those that should never be there.

I don't get what you think this is about.

And there is no overwhelming evidence of innocence. That is simply propaganda. But there is no overwheliming evidence he is guilty either. The whole case is technical and should never have gotten this far.

If you look at the case of the guy who offed his girlfriend and then ran over her body.......totally different story in terms of "evidence".

He deserves to go.

 

[HikerGuy83]

It is neither about retribution nor accountability, rather it is about justice, a word derived from the common word just meaning equal to, no more (or less) than.

Agree justice is involved.

Don't agree it is not about accountability. That is part of a just system.

People with money are able to avoid it. We should be talking more about that.

 

[HikerGuy83]

We had the death penalty abolished decades ago.
The govt man/state having the right to kill us in death chambers...given what goes on worldwide in legal cases/trials?
We said "oh no you don't".
We marched in the streets, white hot anger there was in protests...politicians were TOLD...they capitulated, no more executions.
In Melbourne we marched, the Cross and the noose leading the parade of protest.

Ronald Ryan was hanged, but he was the last one.

Ronald Ryan was the last person executed in Australia, hanged on February 3, 1967, at Pentridge Prison in Melbourne. His execution, following a conviction for the murder of a prison guard during an escape, sparked significant public outcry and contributed to the eventual abolition of capital punishment in Australia.

***
Thing is, the majority of Americans seem to favour the death penalty...but slowly that number is falling as people become aware of its sickening horror and the possibilty of the killing by the state of innocent people.

10 facts about the death penalty in the U.S.

Here’s a closer look at public opinion on the death penalty, as well as key facts about the nation’s use of capital punishment.

www.pewresearch.org

Six in Ten favor the death penalty in cases of murder. I suspect 95 out of 100 would not have a problem with Hasan or the clown from Michigan taking the drop.

The time to get someone to the chamber has tripled in the last several decades.

 

[HikerGuy83]

One to watch:

MSN

The suspect is white, which almost makes me relieved. I worry that law enforcement rushes to find "someone" to cool off the public. We'll see what kind of evidence comes forward.

This would be another case of circumstantial evidence. Harder to analyze.

 

[HikerGuy83]

This is one where I am not sure I could support the death penalty (and am not even sure about a conviction for the accusations). However, this woman needs to pay some kind of price for a lot of other stuff.

The conviction supposes we know why?

Unless she stated this was her intent, which she claimed was not true.

So, this is where I don't think it applys.

Again much different from the guy from Michigan who openly admitted what he did.

MSN