Whatever purpose it used to serve --- and I would debate that it ever did serve a purpose, let alone justice --- I too would prefer it did not exist.Morgaln wrote:I personally think the line should be drawn at 'no death penalty whatsoever'.
That said, in order for the US to join those progressive nations which do not use the death penalty some large overhauls of our justice system need to take place:
- no chance of parole for capital crimes
- for individuals for whom the death penalty would have been warranted, no chance of release. They need to be confined to a maximum security facility and kept there.
- no amenities. Simple provision of a clean cell, clean bedding, nutritious food, basic exercise, and any medical care needed within reason (some of ours actually make it to transplant lists, which I really don't think is fair at all).
- psychiatric treatment (obviously, if you kill someone or you brutally mutilate them you have something gone wrong in the psyche)
Part of the problem is, we still don't know why these people commit their crimes. I don't think the US knows how to deal with them. I am certainly not advocating pity or soft handling because some of these crimes are truly horrendous (actually, all of the ones which would warrant death are in that category) but some effort should be made to figure it out. Our FBI, which handles the profiling and often the capture of these people, has maintained the attitude of "We don't care why, we just want to capture them" for decades. It would seem to me that finding out why would be crucial to solving the problem and needing to put no one to death.
Some of them are undoubtably non-releasable back into society. I still see no reason to execute them.
Another part of the problem is the overall type of offender which receives the death penalty. When interviewed, the general tendency is to tell whoever is doing the interviewing --- law enforcement, psychiatrist, researcher, reporter --- whatever it is they think the person wants to hear. I recently finished reading the taped interviews of Ted Bundy he gave just a few months before he was executed. I find a sort of pathos in the whole thing. Certainly, there are times when he's leading the interviewer on. Other times, there's a grain of truth there. I remember one section of the book in which he actually said, "I don't know why I do what I do. I'd kill me too."
That's painful to hear, and it's echoed in the final statements of quite a few of those on death row.
This is a UK article on statements which were published out of Texas alone:
The Last Words of 376 Prisoners Executed in Texas since 1982
And here is the actual file from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice:
Last words of executed Offenders
There are so very many of them expressing remorse and asking forgiveness that it does indeed lend credence to your own stance. To me, it's a waste of life, literally and spiritually. What better way to make sense of someone's senseless death than a life spent in remorse and penitence?
We don't. As I mentioned earlier, I was forcibly called in to give testimony regarding sentencing for the man who shot my beloved. While I did not wish to see him die --- it would change nothing --- I do wish the man could have been punished properly. He begged out his sentence for witness protection since he had information on another case. That man will NEVER pay for his crimes and he killed three families and attempted to eliminate mine. He gets a changed identity and a new start. I'm left to pick up the pieces and hope my beloved can cope with the life changing, life altering injuries he received.Also, I don't think the relatives will feel better just because a murderer was executed.
Were it up to me --- and they didn't really ask the families --- I would much rather have seen the man serve time in a facility without privileges.
That's impressive. I don't know about gun control over there but I am wondering: can the average citizen own a gun? I know that in Great Britain they cannot and their murder rate is also correspondingly lower. While I love my firearms and find them actually necessary to my lifestyle (no police coverage out there and no way to deal with dangerous four footed predators who might take the livestock), I would gladly give them up if it would produce similar results. I just wonder if access to potentially deadly and relatively anonymous weapons has an impact on whether someone would consider murder a solution in the first place.TxCat, as an example: Germany doesn't have death penalty, ever since 1949
I'm also wondering if the statistics are better because once you send them to prison, you KEEP them there.
Thanks for the alternative perspective. While my thinking doesn't conform to the US norms, it's nice to know I'm not the only one who thinks these things.