Why Massachusetts Needs the Death Penalty

Creatures like this need to be put down.

Comments

Ah yes, nothing like an appeal to reason. Execute them all I say, because that's what Jesus would want.

[carpundit]

I don't care what Jesus would want; never have.
And I didn't say execute them all.
Execute the remorseless, savage, cold-blooded murderers - just the same way you'd put down a dog that bites.

Glad to see you're willing to make an intelligent argument for the death penalty. I suppose you're the one to determine who the remorseless savage murderers are but that would be kind of hard when all you can think about is revenge. Pathetic.

[carpundit]

I'm not the only one who thinks this guy is a savage, and I did not argue that I should be the one to impose to the death penalty.

I am arguing that some people are so dangerous and remorseless that they forfeit their right to live. That is a perfectly intelligent argument.

If you and your imaginary pal don't like it, that doesn't make it wrong.

Let's see, they're so dangerous and remorseless that they forfeit their right to live. And you know this how? Seems to me that you're indicating that you know who should be put to death and who shouldn't. Nice ego you have.

Should the state sanction murder? I guess the answer in your case is yes.

[carpundit]

Again, I didn't say I wanted the decision to be mine. I was operating under the assumption that we all understood that a death penalty would have to be properly-applied and comport with due process. With that as background, I am opining that a death penalty would be a good thing to have, because after we apply due process, we'll find a bunch of people who need to be executed.

The guy sounds pretty freakin mentally ill. It is possible to feel compassion for both guys. The Herald insists on taking sides in everything though, because it appeals to concrete thinkers.

[carpundit]

So he's mentally ill. So what? He killed an officer in the performance of the officer's duties. He knew what he was doing and he knew that it was wrong and he's gloating about it.

Death Penalty Poster Child.

[Erik Schwartz]

I think if a prosecutor fails to turn over exculpatory evidence in a capital case and the person is executed they should be subject to the death penalty too. If the person is merely convicted (but later freed) the prosecutor should be subject to attempted murder charges.

I think if the police coerce a confession out of an innocent person in a capital case, they too should be subject to the death penalty. If the person is merely convicted (but later freed) the police should be subject to attempted murder charges.

Accountability is accountability.

Accountability will pull politics and overzealousness out of the process.

"67% of capital convictions are eventually overturned, mainly on procedural grounds of incompetent legal counsel, police or prosecutors who suppressed evidence and judges who gave jurors the wrong instructions.[4][5] Seven percent of those whose sentences were overturned between 1973 and 1995 have been acquitted. Ten percent were retried and resentenced to death.[5]"

If you work the math out there, roughly 1 of every 20 people sentenced to death, are eventually aquitted. Capital punishment is not acceptable with a 5% error rate.

http://www2.law.columbia.edu/instructionalservices/liebman/index.html

http://www.justicedenied.org/landmarkstudy.htm

[Luke]

What is mentally ill is feeling compassion for Lang. Really. Mentally ill. Irrational. Seek help. Also, add a name to your posts. You can make it up if you like.

[Erik Schwartz]

One other thing...

The eigth amendment refers to cruel and unusual vis a vis the person being punished not the onlookers.

China knows how to execute people in a non cruel way. They shoot them in the back of the head. No pain, no suffering, just dead. But it is messy...

Gas and lethal injection are used for the comfort of the spectators, not the person being punished. Guillotine is messy, but far less cruel to the person being punished than gas, electrocution or injection.

Laughing and gloating in the middle of a courtroom about having killed someone is not something a person of sound mind does.

[carpundit]

Erik,
I don't have time to check those stats, but I doubt them as an initial reaction; still, I take your point. I agree that actual coercion and failure to disclose exclupatory information should be strongly punished. The problem is that there is a lot of grey in the definitions of "coerce" and "exculpatory" in the law.
CP

[Erik Schwartz]

Just as soon as you nail down the infallability thing, then go ahead and have a death penalty.

[carpundit]

I am willing to accept a certain error rate for the greater good.

[Erik Schwartz]

Well there's a slippery slope if I've ever heard one...

The "greater good" argument has been quite popular through history.

[carpundit]

There. I made it. 16 comments. A Carpundit record.

[eeka]

17! What do I win?

[carpundit]

As my father used to say, "My undying gratitude, at least for the next 17 seconds."

[Erik Schwartz]

20!!!

We've hit TWENTY!!!