Poolplaya9 said:
I also do not see any problem with that line of thinking. Even if you don't happen to agree with his opinion, it is a commonly held one and can hardly be seen as not coming from a "right thinking person." If that belief qualifies one as not being a "right thinking person", then I would venture to guess that 50+% of the adult US population are not "right thinking people."
You express yourself in a very articulate manner. Would you be proud to have posted that gentleman's remarks?
But with respect to his rather mindless comments about the death penalty, please consider the following from a recent New York Times article.
"The most far-reaching study of the death penalty in the United States has found that two out of three sentences were overturned on appeal, mostly because of serious errors by incompetent defense lawyers or overzealous police officers and prosecutors who withheld evidence.
The study, an examination of appeals in all capital cases from the time the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty, in 1976, to 1995, also found that 75 percent of the people whose death sentences were set aside were later given lesser sentences after retrials, in plea bargains or by order of a judge. An additional 7 percent were found not guilty on retrial.
I DISPISE CRIME but I am also aware that the criminal justice system in this country is FAR from perfect...and in fact is SERIOUSLY flawed.
I know two people who were railroaded into jail by cops. Once in Chicago and once in Memphis. In another episode in Chicago a close friend of mine was aggressively opposing a property condemnation for the purpose of expanding a precinct building. She was warned to butt out. She refused and her 16 year old son was stopped by the cops for supposedly slow rolling a stop sign...and guess what??
Two ounces of pot was found in the glove box.
And consider this. HUNDREDS of people convicted of violent crimes have been found innocent due to advances in dna testing.
In Illinios alone, in 2001 more death row prisoners were found innocent and released than were executed that year (13 vs.12).
And get this! Since the death penalty was reinstated in 1976, for every eight people executed, one was eventually found NOT GUILTY. And if we had dna testing between 1976-86 MORE than 1 in 8 would certainly have been found not guilty.
But the gentleman want's them all whacked within 6 months which would make appeals IMPOSSIBLE due to the case loads in our court system.
I am ALL FOR serious deterrents against crime...I own LOTS of guns and would not hesitate to unload a clip into an intruder. But on the other hand, mindlessness such as the gentleman spouted is....well...mindless.
Regards,
Jim
http://www.speakout.com/activism/issue_briefs/1231b-1.html
