Supreme Court does not protect kids

ban basketball · 07-09-2008, 05:24 PM

With a number this large, how can anyone be certain that people are not being wrongfully executed?! http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/arti...scid=6&did=110

In Illinois alone, 12 people were executed over a certain period of time, but over that exact same time period, 13 others were released from prison and death row for wrongful convictions. It would be ignorant to think that some of those 12 were not wrongful deaths.

JensenS · 07-09-2008, 06:44 PM

After perusing the oral arguments and the opinion, some thoughts.

The Petitioner
Guilty as all hell, and a true scum bag of the highest order. Allegedly called someone on the phone the day his daughter was raped asking how to effectively clean up blood as his daughter had "just become a young lady".

Kennedy's Opinion For the Court
Hinges on several factors. The argument that the death penalty for an individual who hasn't killed anyone is excessive and that this was supported by previous precedent . The argument that there exists a consensus across the country that people shouldn't be killed for raping kids as only 6 of the 50 states have laws on the books allowing the possibility for capital punishment in these cases. Then the argument that mitigating factors would prevent capital punishment from being imposed fairly on convicted defendants in these cases.

There were probably others as well, but Kennedy's opinion was around 35-40 pages and to those who aren't trained in legal babble (ie: Me) stuff kind of tends to run together a little bit.

Alito's Dissent
Went after all three of the above, but his attack of the argument from precedent kind of confused me so I really can't speak much to that. In terms of the "consensus" from citizens about not killing child rapists he argues that previous precedent has made it very difficult for states to enact laws permitting the execution of child rapists that would stand up to challenge. In terms of the argument about mitigating circumstances, he mentions that all states save for Louisiana reserve the capital punishment option for recidivist rapers, and also makes mention of multiple other circumstances that could be written into laws.

My Take
Like I said earlier, maybe its the better call to lock up individuals like this guy for the rest of their natural lives and really, truly throw away the key. That it would reflect better on us as a society to give them 23 in, 1 out every day with nothing else but their thoughts. However, as desirable as this outcome may be with the state of our legal/prison system it just isn't feasible.

With that being said, I agree with Alito that this shouldn't have been univerally shot down. Maybe the mitigating circumstances do need to be further investigated, (ie: Again recidivism, assault/torture combined with the rape, rape that occurred over an extended period of time, or was done multiple times etc...) but the idea the idea that if you "just" rape a child below the age of 13 in this country the possibility doesn't exist that you may pay for it with your life just doesn't quite sit right with me.

RYou · 07-09-2008, 06:59 PM

Psychological death is much more severe than a mortal wound. Eye for an eye ....lop of his gentials and stick him solitary for life without opportunity for parole. Then leave a rope behind.

RYou · 07-09-2008, 07:06 PM

Now Ban, don't gimme any of that garbage about it cruel and unusual, or mistaken identity.

ban basketball · 07-09-2008, 07:12 PM

Maybe we are talking about different things. I was only referring to the death penalty in general (which, by the way, I don't think meets the criteria of cruel and unusual, even though I'm a lifelong opponent of it), where 129 people have been released from death row since 1973 for later being found innocent of the charges.

That is what I was saying and something that our society needs to consider if we are going to willfully opt to kill our own citizens.

Originally Posted by RYou

Now Ban, don't gimme any of that garage about it cruel and unusual, or mistaken identity.

r.payton@att.net · 07-10-2008, 01:08 AM

a thirty year beef might as well be the death sentence -you come out never having seen a cell phone or a PC -you will never find gainful employment and end up just like Brooks Hadley from ''the Shawshank Redemption''-trying to decide whether to go back to prison or hang yourself ...and he had it good compared to today's ex-offenders who will never even find a job bagging groceries -most of the guys I 've worked with come out -get laid -find a gun to buy or steal and begin armed robberies ...

arm-spin · 07-10-2008, 12:55 PM

My take is the US doesn't need capital punishment. So much legal hassle, so much controversy, so much money spent on legal fees, it makes the United States look bad abroad, and it's just not necessary. Lock up child rapists and murderers for life with no chance of parole.

BTW I'm not 100% against capital punishment on principle. If South Africa where I'm from wanted to re-institute capital punishment I'd probably be for it, but I think in America's case the hassle isn't worth the very limited reward (what does excecution really do better than life in prison, other than satiate a desire for retribution?) Besides, killing just ONE person who is wrongfully accused it one too manyh.

Supreme Court does not protect kids

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