Posted on 04/25/2010 2:27:22 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
SAN FRANCISCO – Chelsea King's parents reluctantly agreed to a sentence of life in prison for their daughter's rapist and killer, calling the death penalty in California "an empty promise."
The Kings join a growing list of victims' families, law enforcement officials and other capital punishment proponents who have grown disillusioned with California's death penalty. The decision to forego capital punishment for registered sex offender John Gardner, who this month admitted killing Chelsea King and another teen girl, has once again thrust the gridlocked system into the spotlight.
Five more inmates joined California's death row this year, pushing the population past a record 700 inmates, by far the nation's largest.
Florida is second with 394 inmates on death row, and Texas is third with 333, but both of those states regularly carry out executions.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Anyone who has been touched by the tragedy of senseless killings knows a convicted murderer on Death Row stands a better chance of dying of old age or suicide than by the actual act of execution... but you hope and pray for justice anyway, someday.
We need Judge Roy Bean; Trial in the morning and Hanging that afternoon.
Sounds good to me .. Heck, Utah is gonna let a convicted murderer pick the method, he wants firing squad. I say oblige him..
People might be a little less disillusioned if California actually used it more than once or twice a decade.
Anyone remember the LA Chief of Police, Ed Davis?
I believe that he once said about airplane hijackers that they should “give a quick trial and hang em at the airport”.
Sounds good to me.
Let’s see, liberals monkey-wrench the system and then say the system has failed. Yeah, that’s the trick.
Whether it is actually carried out or not, criminals still fear it, and many will choose the life without parole plea bargain.
Given how pro-criminal California is this scumbag will be out on the streets ASAP.
In theory at least I've got nothing against hanging somebody like Manson, Dennis Rader, Paul Bernardo, John Mohammed...
Here's the problem: I'd want several changes to the system before I could feel good about capital punishment anymore.
1. Guilt should be beyond any doubt whatsoever; the usual criteria of guilt "beyond a reasonable doubt" doesn't cut it for hanging somebody.
2. The person in question must represent a continuing threat to society should he ever escape or otherwise get loose. The "bird man" of Alcatraz would not qualify, John Mohammed clearly would.
3. I'd want all career/money incentives for convicting people of crimes gone which would mean scrapping the present "adversarial" system of justice in favor of something like the French "inquisitorial" system in which the common objective of all parties involved was a determination of facts.
4. I'd want there to be no societal benefit to keeping the person alive. Cases in which this criteria would prevent hanging somebody would include "Son of Sam" who we probably should want to study more than hang, or Timothy McVeigh who clearly knew more than the public ever was allowed to hear.
Given all of that I could feel very good about hanging Charles Manson, John Muhammed, or Paul Bernardo, but that's about what it would take.
In fact in a totally rational world the job of District Attorney as it is known in America would not exist. NOBODY should ever have any sort of a career or money incentive for sending people to prison, much less for executing people. The job of District Attorney in America seems to involve almost limitless power and very little resembling accountability and granted there is no shortage of good people who hold the job, the combination has to attract the wrong kinds of people as well.
They expected DNA testing to eliminate the prime suspect in felony cases in something like one or two percent of cases and many people were in states of shock when that number came back more like 33 or 35%. That translates into some fabulous number of people sitting around in prisons for stuff they don't know anything at all about since the prime suspect in a felony case usually goes to prison.
I’m telling you, you don’t need the death penalty for child rapists/killers. Just put them in prison in general population and the inmates will take care of that for you...No muss, no fuss...
Dysfunctional is one more reason to describe the entire operation of the State of California.
This is not impossible. This alone would prohibit the death penalty. The argument that we might wrongly execute someone inadvertently highlights the reason why we need the death penalty. Both depend on holding the value of a human life so highly.
This is not impossible.
Care to document that?
No, it isn't. There are many self confessed murderers on death row. There are others who were caught in the act. Still others have incontrovertible evidence such as bodies in the basement, like Gacy or Dalmer.
Your example of the “bird man of Alcatraz” is poor. He was a repeat murderer and pervert. Check out his REAL full record and see if you would really want him living near you.
I agree with what you said except for the first statement. The way Wendy1946 phrased it, she seems to be talking about epistemological certainty, which we cannot have. We can argue that a self-confessed murderer may not have actually done it but confessed for some psychological reason or to protect someone else. Those who are caught in the act are still subjected to a trial and the witnesses may be impeached. And bodies can be planted. My point is that absolute certainty is not possible. That is why we have the standard we do, “certainty beyond a reasonable doubt”.
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