THE SHORE FROM WHICH NO ONE RETURNS . . .

A glacial trend, dog.

We had a lively thread on this topic when Gov. Ryan commuted the death sentences of all of the inmates on Illinois' death row.

It's in General News' Featured Topics, or it's also here, and it's germane to answering your question.

I'm agin' killin'. Killin' is wrong. Killin' somebody 'cause they killed somebody is way wrong.

C'mon, everyone knows that all prisoners on death row are innocent...good on Taft there....it ain't my tax dollars at work, they are hard at work right here in Canada, where there is no death penalty.

I believe under certain circumstances the death penalty is justified and indeed warranted. There should be a strengthening of the laws by which it is applied. Possibly a three or five federal judge panel who reviews the case and approves or sets aside the sentence of capital punishment. In any event it should nor be barred as an option.

I agree with au1929. It is always easy to make a prima facie case that "all killing is wrong, therefore, execution is wrong." However, I find that the issues are a little more complicated than that. There are people out there who truly cannot exist in society, who cannot be 'rehabilited' (that is such a crock, and a failed experiment, IMO), and who should not be supported by the state. One could argue that a lifetime of imprisonment is actually a worse fate than execution, but humans are incredibly adaptable, and I don't buy it. Special tribunals for special cases are a good idea, as well as stricter application of the sentence, but no, I do not think it should become a thing of the past.

Yeah I was just thinking. A freemans city. Let someone build a city for the future. Up north high in the mountains where come havoc and climate change this would be our Noahs Ark of Humanity. A library with all the fundamentals of civilization as well. Every inmate who participates and builds this wonderous new place would be free there at the city. They would also take the extream punishment of death by choice injection is any rule is ever broken. Freedom at a price but a crack at saving humanity.

The immediate trend, I think, is to get a close review of the cases where people have been sentenced to death. It's a good trend. I think the death penalty is necessary in a few extreme cases but it has been way overused.

108 people have been released from death row in the United States due to actual innocence since 1976.

Actually no-one really knows, how many more innocent have been executed.
But quite some people seem to have been were sentenced to death after trials tainted by misleading forensic evidence and testimony from jailhouse informants.

Additionally, Walter, there is an increasing trend for appeals based upon malpractice by defense attorneys--the Supremes just granted a stay for exactly that reason.

Will check in occasionally to see if this takes any turns that the other thread didn't take. No point in floggin equus.

You know, PD, Equus may not appreciate the implication that he is moribund . . .

Ave, Setanta, moriturus te salutat!

Ah, yer a bad man, Boss, so ye are . . . heeheeheeheeheeheehee . . .

Agreed.

So, in spite of your Irishness and Germanness, it would appear that the two of you are Latin lovers.


(Goddamn, I kill me.)

(Yeah, i know what ya mean, i crack me up all the time . . . )

Walter said, "Hail, Setanta, we who are about to die salute thee."--which refers to the gladiators' salutation to the emperor, before beginning the "games" . . .

I know what salute I'd be giving in those circumstances...

patiodog

Walter didn't say that but: 'Hi there Setanta, the one who is moribund, salutes you'

(Boss, you should have noticed the singular, paddy-you!)

Ah well, my latin was learned in a sty, so i'm not particular about gender, number, case . . .

I have been pro death penalty, with some stout reservations, all my life. Just lately, I am starting to bend. It's come to seem like every other organized activity in our country - too screwed up to be allowed.