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Texas executes woman last night


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Of course, by looking at the photo of the woman, it would be hard to classify her as female:

 

http://www.chron.com...lly-5208635.php

Man, being jumped on by a 300 lb woman? That's the worst way to go I've heard of in quite some time.

 

I've always struggled with the death penalty, and I'm still unsure. I understand the arguments, I think, but, the right thing is still not clear to me. I really don't know.

 

Of course, you read about something like this, and say: oh yeah the death penalty is warranted. But, then there's the next article that says innocent man executed to do lawyer/police incompetence, and the "innocence project", etc.

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Man, being jumped on by a 300 lb woman? That's the worst way to go I've heard of in quite some time.

 

I've always struggled with the death penalty, and I'm still unsure. I understand the arguments, I think, but, the right thing is still not clear to me. I really don't know.

 

Of course, you read about something like this, and say: oh yeah the death penalty is warranted. But, then there's the next article that says innocent man executed to do lawyer/police incompetence, and the "innocence project", etc.

 

According to the 'Innocence Project', every thug on Death Row is innocent. Despite all the misleading comments you hear, has there actually been a case of someone executed since 1976 that was later proven innocent?

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According to the 'Innocence Project', every thug on Death Row is innocent. Despite all the misleading comments you hear, has there actually been a case of someone executed since 1976 that was later proven innocent?

I've read about a few. Of course I have no way of verifying what I've read. But, Dershowitz seems to a level-headed guy, sure he comes at this from his own POV, but, he comes across as reasonable. One thing I know for sure: the Innocence Project has proven over 100 people innocent with DNA(EDIT not just of capital murder, lots of crimes). I have never heard of them making wild claims. They just stand behind their numbers.

 

This whole thing is difficult. It's easy to just phone it in and say the boilerplate on this, I think it's important not to, because we are talking about life/death. It's the same thing for me with abortion. I don't see either as black and white at all. There's no consistency, for every story you have, somebody has another, etc. Stats are practically a waste of time, because each story has it's own circumstances, and they matter. We can't throw anything away as an "outlier". Each situation matters, as much as the next.

 

I guess if I had to come down on it: I'd say, both the death penalty and abortion should be options, because there are circumstances where both are the right call, and unless you are personally involved in/affected by those circumstances, it's none of your business, or mine, so it's best we stay out of it.

 

Unless, we are presented with information we can't ignore, like late term abortion Gosnell disgusting behavior, or things like the innocence project. But again, it's all asymetrical. This is why we have judges, and a legal system in general.

 

It's equity vs morality in some ways, but in other ways it isn't. You can say both abortion and the death penalty are immoral. However, I might say, a solution to a problem, that is massively inequitable, is also immoral. If the death penalty/abortion is the only solution that is equitable, then restricting them is immoral.

Edited by OCinBuffalo
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A few numbers that jumped out. It can mean absolutely nothing, but they jumped out:

 

Approx. since 1976, over 1400 men were executed and 14 woman. Over 500 executions in Texas since 1976. WTF is going on in Texas that isn't happening in the other 49 (or less, I don't know which ones have the DP)?

Edited by ExiledInIllinois
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Despite all the misleading comments you hear, has there actually been a case of someone executed since 1976 that was later proven innocent?

none that I know of in Texas, but it wouldn't surprise me if it has happened. a few years ago there was a man named Anthony Graves who was released from death row after DNA evidence cleared him of the crime. he spent 18 years in prison for something he didn't do, and he refused to cop to a lesser charge in a plea deal. another man, Michael Morton, spent 25 years in jail for killing his wife, but was just released last year because the DA had withheld DNA evidence (a bloodied bandana found at the scene) from the trial.

 

I'm not against execution, but I believe that we can apply stricter measures as criteria before handing down a death sentence. I would rather a few guilty people got life in prison than risk putting an innocent person to death.

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A few numbers that jumped out. It can mean absolutely nothing, but they jumped out:

 

Approx. since 1976, over 1400 men were executed and 14 woman. Over 500 executions in Texas since 1976. WTF is going on in Texas that isn't happening in the other 49 (or less, I don't know which ones have the DP)?

 

This tells me that there is a serious gender bias and we need to kill more women.

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none that I know of in Texas, but it wouldn't surprise me if it has happened. a few years ago there was a man named Anthony Graves who was released from death row after DNA evidence cleared him of the crime. he spent 18 years in prison for something he didn't do, and he refused to cop to a lesser charge in a plea deal. another man, Michael Morton, spent 25 years in jail for killing his wife, but was just released last year because the DA had withheld DNA evidence (a bloodied bandana found at the scene) from the trial.

 

I'm not against execution, but I believe that we can apply stricter measures as criteria before handing down a death sentence. I would rather a few guilty people got life in prison than risk putting an innocent person to death.

 

Well said.

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I'm not against execution, but I believe that we can apply stricter measures as criteria before handing down a death sentence. I would rather a few guilty people got life in prison than risk putting an innocent person to death.

 

Hear, Hear

Edited by JuanGuzman
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The advent of DNA identification procedures appear to have paved the way for more certainty in terms of enforcing the death penalty. The death penalty is a sure-fire deterrent in that it is quite certain that the person executed will never commit murder again.

Edited by Keukasmallies
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The advent of DNA identification procedures appear to have paved the way for more certainty in terms of enforcing the death penalty. The death penalty is a sure-fire deterrent in that it is quite certain that the person executed will never commit murder again.

A government empowered to kill it's citizens will always kill it's citizens.

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Kill em all.....reduce taxes so we don't have to pay for these a holes meals for 40 years.

And what of the ones who are wrongly convicted?

 

(you also fail to account for the fact that it costs more to execute someone than to imprisson them for life)

Edited by TakeYouToTasker
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That's because the world (especially when lawyers and govt is in involved) is full of unnecessary red tape. A box of bullets only costs so much. Not sure how much the needle runs but I fail to see how that can run more than 30 years of goulash and sheriffs pay to watch them.

 

With DNA testing and cold hard evidence I fully support the death penalty.

 

Kill / rape someone lose your rights......life is hard....eff em i say.

Edited by Ryan L Billz
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Ignoring the fact that your argument seems to seek to do away with due process and the rights of the accused...

 

Then why do we continually have individuals being exonorated of criminal wrong doing within our system?

 

What of the fact that prosecutors are very reluctant to reopen closed cases, even (read:especially) when new evidence looks to overturn a conviction, for political reasons?

 

Given that we have a record of individuals being wrongly imprisoned, even under a system which works politically against that discovery, isn't it reasonable to suspect that it may just be the tip of the iceberg?

Edited by TakeYouToTasker
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I just think executing people is wrong. Do some "deserve" it? I guess. But what does it accomplish? Revenge? Seems to me so much of it is about that. Does it make a better society to have the government kill people? I don't think so. It does not stop crime in any way? No. Does it cost more to kill a person? Yes.

 

So what good does it accomplish?

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