Posted on 06/10/2007 10:42:01 PM PDT by Tall_Texan
Anti-death penalty forces have gained momentum in the past few years, with a moratorium in Illinois, court disputes over lethal injection in more than a half-dozen states and progress toward outright abolishment in New Jersey.
The steady drumbeat of DNA exonerations - pointing out flaws in the justice system - has weighed against capital punishment. The moral opposition is loud, too, echoed in Europe and the rest of the industrialized world, where all but a few countries banned executions years ago.
What gets little notice, however, is a series of academic studies over the last half-dozen years that claim to settle a once hotly debated argument - whether the death penalty acts as a deterrent to murder. The analyses say yes. They count between three and 18 lives that would be saved by the execution of each convicted killer.
The reports have horrified death penalty opponents and several scientists, who vigorously question the data and its implications.
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.myway.com ...
Sorry. I did the drill.
However, anyone who reads this thread, I’d recommend you click on the link on Reply #2. It gives a fuller account of the story than the one at the orginal link does along with replies.
Sort of surprised this isn’t getting more play here. When the MSM confirms a conservative viewpoint, it’s a rare day indeed.
Well, Duh is my answer too.
As I stated on my own small blog earlier on this, “I don’t need the studies or scientists to lead my thoughts on the Death Penalty, when warranted. In fact, it is very simple.”
“A dead legally executed murderer cannot kill again!”
Well, I’m going to make myself real unpopular again and say that I am agin restoring the death penalty in my home country, and Ill tell you why.
Whenever you see TV documentaries about murder, whenever you see “in-depth” analyses, or read about it in newspapers, magazines or even talk about such things with others - the emphasis is always on the murderer, how they operated, how awful they were, how terrible their homelife was, or whatever. Hardly ever do people talk of the victims, or even remember their names, not unless they are related to them or something.
Now for myself, I just find the whole process whereby these selfish SOB’s are given any attention at all, let alone turned into “celebrities”, utterly repugnant.
Exactly.
You can’t control the media coverage but, actually, most death row executions die in relative obscurity. They’re a one-day story unless they happen to fit the liberal we-should-feel-sorry-for-the-killer template.
I’m willing to accept the media distortion although I wish they counterbalanced the execution with more details about the crimes they committed.
If you take somebody like Timothy McVeigh who killed 169 people in Oklahoma City with a truck bomb, I’m sure the community feels a sense of justice that this man was tried and executed rather than getting three square meals a day in a federal jail for the rest of his life while hundreds lost their husbands/wives/sons/daughters/sisters/brothers/friends. The death penalty can’t bring their loved ones back but it makes a statement that some crimes are so heinous that the convicted perpetrator should pay with their own life.
I endorse that notion.
p.s. - the likes of Charles Manson and Sirhan Sirhan will never be executed and yet they are still given celebrity treatment when they come up for appeal every few years. Is that any better than the celebrity status Tookie received?
I’d forgot about the appeals circus...
Maybe we should bring back Viking “Wergild” justice.
They should not be able to drag the thing out for 10-20 years. I heard Neal Boortz talking about this on air a year or two ago. I couldn’t find his entire dialog, but have posted his Nuze that I could find.
Here is Neal Boortz’s take on it.
“If we are going to keep the death penalty, let’s get serious about it. Congress should set up a special federal appeals court that does nothing but hear death penalty cases. This would the the only federal appeals court that can consider death penalty cases. The trial court would deliver a complete transcript to the death penalty appeals court within 30 days. The defense counsel would submit his appeal brief at the same time. The court would then have 30 days to reach a decision. If the death penalty is upheld the murderer gets executed the very next day. One more thing. He dies the same way his victim died. In the case of Arthur Rutherford, he would first be stabbed, then drowned.
Pay-per-view could cover the costs.”
In my not-so-humble opinion, this should weigh FOR capital punishment. As our technology to establish culpability improves, then criminals confirmed to have committed a capital offense should be put on a fast track to the executioner.
Does this mean the "truth" is not the goal of many scientists? Hmmmmmm
The death penalty is the ultimate deterrent. Dead people don't kill again.
I feel that much scientific research takes the position:
“We believe this...now go out and find it.”
How else do you describe the nonsense coming out about global warming, as well the attempts to prove that homosexuals are “born gay”?
Of course! Repealing the death penalty is sort of like legalizing gay marriage. It just doesn’t have popular support!
If it deters great, But its punishment and I dont see where locking someone up for life deters crime...
Guess I should send this to my local paper. They had some whiny little diatribe on just this subject yesterday.
well,it’s a sure cure for recidivism
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