Where Does Our Death Penalty Passion Come From

[Glenn]

I've had two friends who've murdered their husbands after being horribly abused. They pled out to invol manslaughter, and were out of the pen in 3-4 years. It usually takes alot to anger a woman to make them want to kill you. I felt no remorse whatsoever for their abusers.

[Isadora]

I worked with victims (children, women, men) of domestic violence and sexual assault/rape for about 30 years. I have seen it. I have heard it. I have witnessed it. I have survived it.

[Laerkin]

I am fiercely against the death penalty. My sister a public defender, defending the poorest and the least educated and the troubled, sometimes in unspeakable crimes. The stories of abuse, racism, blatant disregard, and hatred that so many of her clients have faced are shocking. That's not to say they're necessarily innocent of their crimes, but it's certainly taken my compassion to a whole new level.

I've been a bystander in a violent crime and I've had friends and loved ones affected by violence.

However, I still do not bend when it comes to the death penalty. Murder is murder.

(I am certainly not de-valuing anyone else's experiences or beliefs, simply stating mine with passion .)

Deepest peace to all...

[Rook]

I'm not a Victim, I'm a Survivor..

That being said, my 2nd girlfriend's Father was acquitted from what they called a Crime of Passion, I'm not sure what the details of it all were, it did make the local paper when it happened, my g/f and her brother kept it, as proof of what their Father did to their Mother..
He also got custody of them..
It was painfully evident his preference towards my g/f's step-siblings..

The "system" is seriously Flawed..
That much is Painfully evident for many more reasons than I can verbalize...
I don't advocate Death Penalty, mostly because I believe they should Live with their conscience, small price for taxpayers, lifelong agony for Convict...
Death Penalty is the "easy way" out of their Guilt.
The convicts Death won't bring back their victims to the Families involved, they'll have some sort of closure, but, that's it...

[MsDemeanor]

Originally Posted by Laerkin

I am fiercely against the death penalty. My sister a public defender, defending the poorest and the least educated and the troubled, sometimes in unspeakable crimes. The stories of abuse, racism, blatant disregard, and hatred that so many of her clients have faced are shocking. That's not to say they're necessarily innocent of their crimes, but it's certainly taken my compassion to a whole new level.

I've been a bystander in a violent crime and I've had friends and loved ones affected by violence.

However, I still do not bend when it comes to the death penalty. Murder is murder.

Replace 'sister' with 'husband'; add ramblings about systemic false/misleading/evasive testimony by police, buddy-buddy judges who help out DAs, and crime shows/nightly news scripted to keep suburban white folks scared. Replace 2nd paragraph with 'step brother murdered'. Ditto everything else.

[AtLast]

I support the death penalty for violent and sexual crimes of murder against children. "State sponsored murder" is meaningless to me as an argument against the death penalty. I do not accept cruel & unusual punishment arguments against the death penalty. Make it as painless as possible, but what was done to the victims in these cases was nice a painless or horrible death.

I also support the Innocence Project and using scientific evidence like DNA to exonerate anyone falsely charged or convicted and believes that any and all death penalty convicts should have the right to have these tests done to prove innocence and paid for by the state/locale they are incarcerated in. I don't want an innocent person put to death. But, death to me is just punishment for these types of crimes.

I do not support the death penalty for minors (at the time of the crime or otherwise), for developmentally delayed or mentally ill persons. Sociopaths do not fall under this distinction.

I do believe that POC are far more often and convicted of all crimes and that is just plain wrong. I also know that other people are adamantly against the death penalty. I respect your feelings, yet disagree. Presently, in CA, the death penalty cannot be administered. We have had several periods in which these were stopped and death penalty related measure to vote on.

In the past, I was against the death penalty. That all changed as I worked as a victim’s rights advocate for child sexual abuse and later as an expert witness. Of course, I have a bias.

Yes, have been the victim of violent crime and know others that have been personally. We all do come to personal conclusions based upon our life experiences.

[LaneyDoll]

Today is really not the day for me to answer this question. Earlier today, I read the story about a 10 year old boy whose parents punished him for wetting the bed, by holding all his liquids for 5 days in 100 degree plus Texas summer heat. His BROTHER (same age or close) watched it happen and even noted that when the poor child was fed peanut butter, the parents refused to allow him liquids. The same brother feared offering help b/c the parents may punish him too.

So, do I have objections to the death penalty? Hell no! In fact today, I wish the punishment was more fitting the crime.

[Gráinne]

No, not as our justice system is currently organized.

POC, poor, and the mentally deficient are convicted of capital crimes much more than non-POC and/or wealthy who can afford top council.

If we're going to have the death penalty at all, let's make it more immediate. If a criminal is finally executed 10-15 years later, that's meaningless. It's also horrifically expensive to go through appeal after appeal. I don't want my tax money going for that.

If it is a deterrent, what are the violent crime rates compared to other countries with no death penalty, adjusted for population? I don't think it is.

I'd rather see a complete reorganization and reform of the justice system, abolishing parole and release for "good behavior", and while we're at it, a much more humane way to deal with the mentally ill than prison. Still, I admit there's no answer for a sociopath.

[Reader]

Oh, my. This thread again.

[Nat]

I loved a person very dearly who was convicted of attempted murder.

I also knew a woman whose boyfriend took a knife and murdered her child in front of her and then almost killed her. He got the death penalty.

I also served on the jury for a capital murder trial and helped convict a person - the only black person (who was also legally though not totally blind) in the entire trial - who probably did not pull the trigger. (A russian guy confessed to being the person who pulled the trigger while in jail, according to the testimony of another inmate, but the russian was allowed to return to russia in exchange for testifying for the grand jury against the guy we convicted).

I was the only person on the jury who didn't immediately agree to the guilty verdict. The only person who wanted to go back through all the things that had been said during the trial. It was only after hours of arguing against 11 other jurors that the foreman re-read the instructions which said we were to find him guilty if we believed beyond a reasonable doubt that he had actually murdered the person or if through intentional or negligent action, a reasonable person could have predicted his actions could have led to the person's death. (This is the closest I can come to remembering the instructions - it's been a while). With that instruction, I was able to look at his actions and say they met the criteria. We found him guilty. He was sentenced to life in prison and he'll have no chance for parole until he is 70 years old.

It wasn't a death penalty case. If it had been a death penalty case, I would have been eliminated during jury selection. I would guess that in a death penalty trial, if they eliminate all jurors who disagree with the death penalty, that the jurors left are probably of a more punitive mind and more likely to convict. That's just a guess.

There was one black woman who was near the front of the jury selection, but the prosecutor asked each one of us if we'd be willing to sentence a person to life in prison, and she said no and was eliminated. I still remember the white woman sitting across to me that said, "Come on, Natalie, these people aren't like us!" in response to some question I had. Maybe she wasn't talking about race, but looking back, I really don't know what else she meant. I guess she could have meant "pot dealers" or "criminals." I think she was probably the same age as my mom - everybody in there was older than me by at least 10 years (I think I was 23 at the time).

The defense lawyer did not defend the guy very well. She left huge gaps in his case, she left out critical information. After the trial was over, she caught me in the hallway and asked me for my perspective on the case. I gave her an ear-full about her defense and gave a huge list of things she could have done better. A friend of a friend used to be a prosecutor, and I mentioned her to him, and he said she was one of the best public defenders he'd seen.

So, you know, I think I followed the instructions provided by the court and I do think his actions could have predictably led to the victim's death whether or not he pulled the trigger. It was his idea to rob the guy, it was his idea to take him to a secluded area to do it. It was his idea to invite his brother-in-law and a russian guy who liked to brag about being part of the russian mafia along for the robbery. He wasn't a nice guy. But was he guilty of capital murder? Should a person be convicted of capital murder if he didn't pull the trigger?

I don't know if maybe that trial was unusual, but I suspect it was pretty run-of-the-mill. I wasn't impressed. I wasn't impressed with the way the justice system is set up to work. I don't think he was tried by a jury of his peers. I don't think he had a competent lawyer. I don't think it's fair that the person who bragged about killing the victim is living free with his girlfriend in Russia, and the guy we convicted of capital murder may or may not live to breathe free air again even though he didn't pull the trigger.

I see the justice system as far too flawed to handle the responsibility of deciding a person should be put to death. Death is irreversible.

The Innocence project has cleared the names of 261 people based on DNA evidence alone. Those are just a small sliver of cases where DNA evidence existed and was preserved.