death row prisoners

Re: Re: Re: Re: Execution costs far more than life

I saw the police officer's wife debate actor Mike Farrell on the O'Reilly Factor.

Farrell admitted he had no proof of Abu-Jamal's innocence.

I, even as a boxing fan, never believed Rubin Carter was innocent of his crimes either.

Unfortunately, the race card gets played in most of these situation.

Granted, there has been and still is police profiling, but not to the extent we are led to believe.

Still it exists. As an example, nearly evertime I see a minority pulled over I see several police cars and officers with the person. I seldom, if ever, see this with whites.

Granted, I never knew the details, I will admit that. But I did live in the South for most of my life.

One of the best books I have ever read on police profiling is RACIALLY BIASED POLICING: A PRINCIPLED RESPONSE, by the Police Executive Research Forum.

A free copy can be obtained here.

I see new items are now available since I received mine. I used this as one of my references in a research paper for my course on cultural diversity at CCHS.

I just noticed also the hardbound copies are no longer available but an e-book is.

I have great respect for law enforcement. My cousin used to be a police officer and is now a secret service agent. Probably the only thing Clinton did that was productive was placing 1,000 more police on the streets.

 

Well, it is a public forum.

I just don't want to carry this on. If Don Quixote is your alter ego, then do as you will, ha!

Your Scriptural references are good ones. We could spend the rest of the year examining those and debating the metaphors, allegories, and idioms of Scripture.

Yes, I use isolated and singular incidents to support my beliefs. I see no problem extrapolating these into the larger and general context of the faith.

Now, as I said, I am going to end my part of this discussion. I have a paper to research, an exam for which to study, and some new (Trinity) courses on the way.

I didn't know that about Channing. Thank you for the information.

I follow Jesus, not Channing.

 

I have actually talked on a prison pen pal forum with a few people who are pen pals with death row inmates. All of them have told me that their pen pals, don't feel sorry for them selves at all. They said that they are just very happy to have a friend on the outside to talk to.

 

Steve,

I don't think so. Sorry to disappoint you Steve but I am not the Marriage type. Also I am not doing this to find a husband or a boyfriend. If I wanted one of those I could find plenty on the outside.

 

Re: Re: death row prisoners

Thanks for your input. I am kind of debating if I want to become pen pals with death row inmates or drug offenders.

 

Seekinghelp,

I want to talk to you because I was just reading the last post I posted to you it kind of came across like I was trying to be a bitch to you and that was not my intention.

Let me tell you a very personal story. When I was 19 years old I was also the victim of a very violent attack. I was at a night club with a few friends and didn't feel good so I decided to leave early and told my friends to stay and enjoy themselves and not worry about me. It was around 2am, very cold outside and I could not get a cab. So I decided to take a short cut through the ally to get home faster. When I was walking a guy ran up to me with a baseball bat yelling "Die Fag". Before I knew it he started striking me with the baseball bat. He hit me four times in my torso and once in my head and ran off leaving me on the ground to die. I remember laying on the ground, covered in blood and not being able to move from the pain, thinking that this is how I am going to go. But then something inside me told me that I refuse to die like this. So I tried to scream for help but was had no luck. However I did notice that my cell phone was laying on the ground about 5 feet away from me. So I don't know how but somehow I got the strength to reach over for my cell phone and dial 911. Shortly after the ambulance and police arrived and I was rushed to the hospital. At the hospital I was treated for 2 broken ribs, 1 broken coaler bone and receiver 5 stitches on the side of my head. After I got out of the hospital I went into a depression and spend over 8 months staying and home all day, feeling sorry for my self and asking "I have always been a good person and never did anything wrong to anybody, so why me?" Then one of my best friends got very angry at me and started yelling at me telling me that I might as well died in the alley that night, because I am defiantly not alive now. Here words really got stuck in my head and when she got off the phone I could not stop thinking about what she said. And then it hit me. I realized that if I keep feeling sorry for myself and living like this, then I let the guy who did this to me win and there is no fucking way in hell that I am going to allow that. So I decided that tomorrow I am going to wake up and take back control of my life and thats what I did. I remember the next morning I woke up with a smile on my face and was thankful that I am still alive and healthy after what happened to me and how so many people that have been through what I have been through don't have the luxury of still being here.

Also if after what I have been through wasn't enough, shortly after I got another hit in the face, but this time it was from my country's justice system. The Police did capture the guy that did this to me. However the guy ended up getting off with only community service and probation. So not only was I a victim of a horrible crime, but the justice system in my country has failed me.

So if I wanted to I could spend the rest of my life crying and feeling sorry for myself because of what happened to me. Instead I came out of this stronger and better then I was before. I truly hope that you find the strength to do the same also.

Good Luck,
Bo

 

Yes, I was a little shocked by your response and I appreciate you coming back and explaining it. At no time was I trying to get sympathy from anyone.

I was also attacked by a total stranger back in 1976, before you were born, when I was 19 as well. I got on with my life and don't feel sorry for myself, didn't think I was coming off that way in the post. Actually, my response to this thread was the first time I've spoken or written of it in a very very long time. I really think that in the long run it has made me a better person. It's part of the reason I became a nurse. But I still work with trauma patients everyday and sometimes they die because someone decided that it was okay to ack like an animal. Two weeks ago it was trying to save a female firefighter/EMT that was shot in the head by a man who had just killed his wife, she was only 41. Anyway, Jimmy's comment just brought it all out when he spoke of a murderer theoreticallyl being his son. My instant response was what about the person's whose son or daughter was the victim, because I still see victims every few weeks. It's not a philosophical issue for me, it's very very real. People see pictures in the paper of a smiling victim from an old photo, they don't see the mangled messes as they appear at the end after someone is done with them. They don't see the families in pain.

Anyway, I'm glad you recovered and are doing well and turned the experience around. I did too. We are both survivors. I have to hand it to you, I could never correspond with someone I know did something like that to anyone else. Perhaps you are truly a better person than I am. I wish you luck with your hobby. Just be careful. Again, thanks for addressing this.

 

That's an excellent idea. As someone else mentioned, it's very rare indeed in the US for a murderer to be a first-time offender.

The only time that someone will do jail/prison time (at least in MA) is if they are convicted of a really, really serious crime, or they have about a dozen or more convictions for lesser misdemeanors.

The system is indeed a joke, and I don't particuarly enjoy playing out the punchline every night.

 

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Execution costs far more than life

For the record, Maureen Faulkner had to move out-of-state because of constant harrassment from supporters of her husband's murderer.

No doubt, the same crowd that preaches "tolerance" and "diversity".

 

That's a very fair assessment, Steve.

For what it's worth, I think the same of you.

 

That would be satan's work. Innocent - who's innocent??

In Canada, we have not had an execution since 1962 and have missed some wonderful opportunities for true justice.

Robert Picton has been charged in the deaths of at least a dozen of the 50 missing Vancouver prostitutes. He was a pig farmer and recently the RCMP have asked that anyone who still has meat that they received from him to turn it over to police. The RCMP have spent 2 years with backhoes looking for specks of DNA. His maximum possible sentence - life with possible parole in 25 years with a court review in 15.

 

Wow. Remember the movie "Eating Raoul", with the late Paul Bartels and Mary Woronow?

 

To: Jeff Hampton
Subject: Response

I'm still waiting for your response to my question;

"Jeff....name one innocent person that has been put to death in the United States".

That shouldn't be difficult, considering how much you like to post about the 100+ people that have supposedly been found "Not Guilty" by the "Innocence Project".

One name, Jeff.

One.

 

Today, I had strong cause to ponder the question raised in this thread.

A murderer stood in court after killing his two infant children and his wife to punish her. He was relaxed, happy, and well cared for. He had actually gained weight. Fear was absent and he had not a care in the world.

He is going to gaol for life, but a life where all his medical needs will be met, the meals will be excellent compared with what is he used to eating. Old people who worked all their lives do not treated that well. The system will attempt to rehabilitate him after the next 12 - 15 years before he can apply for parole. He, no doubt, will be released with the aid of a lawyer and the passage of time has dulled the rage.

What won't change is the fact that those children will never grow up, will never experience the joy of swimming in the sea or excelling in sport or education. They had no time to ponder the question of morality, they could barely say their name, yet alone spell it.
He is so confident of his environment that he is pleading guilty so he can be taken out of remand and placed in the main stream gaol with its benefits. How can this be justice when the penalty is viewed as so trivial that a quick plea of guilty is entered to get an increase in benefits?

There is only one fitting consequence for his act and he will not get that penalty. He will never be rehabilitated if he has only concern for himself now. He has no worth as a human being and the world will not benefit one bit from his continued existence on this planet.

There is no justice there that I can see.

 

Maybe his prison buddies will take care of him in prison. I've read that here prisoners do not take kindly to men who kill babies.

Right after I moved here, three men were convicted of murdering a minister and his two boys, the 8 year old was forced to hold the family dog while one of the men gutted it, then they made the little boy place his head in the toilet and shot him in the back of the head with a shotgun. These three guys were all dead within 2 years of going to prison. One mysteriously burned up on his cot and the other two were stabbed to death in the general population. Perhaps there were tears shed for these three, but I find it unlikely given what they did.

 

I have also heared that child killers and child molesters are usually in protective custody, because the prison officials are worried that once it gets out what their in for other inmate will attempt to kill them.

I like to think of myself as a very open minded and forgiving person, but child killers and child molesters is where I draw the line. I would never consider being pen pals with an inmate thats in for something like that.

 

Sorry for the delay, Bruce. It's SXSW time in Austin, and I was a bit preoccupied.

You make a good point. As far as I know, there has never been anyone who was indisputably innocent who has been put to death in the U.S.

Of course, you are probably well aware of the reason why. Investigators are not allowed access to crucial evidence -- DNA -- in cases where the alleged perpetrator has already been executed.

By the way, the 143 people that I mentioned who have been exonerated from death row were not "found not guilty by the Innocence Project." The Innocence Project does not have the power to release people from death row. State governments do. And it is the state governments that released these people.

By the way, I certainly understand your insuation when you say "not guilty" rather than "innocent." In some of these cases, the victim was raped by the perpetrator. The semen did not match the DNA of the person convicted. And every one of these cases is based on some type DNA evidence. DNA that the police investigators said belonged to the perpetrator.