US: The Arkansas executions, first blood

[Tyrianth]

Why doesn't your article mention that the man in question was convicted of 2 other rapes and stood trial for another rape-murder in which there was a hung jury and he was not re-tried due to his conviction and sentence in this case?

Because that's irrelevant. Those are separate crimes with separate trials that have no bearing on each other. Especially so since he wasn't found guilty in his previous trials.

[Nerovar]

I'm just glad that I live in Germany where the first paragraph of article one of our constitution is:
"Human dignity shall be inviolable. To respect and protect it shall be the duty of all state authority."

Everytime I hear stories/reports about American prisons I feel the urge to vomit.

[Masark]

I'm just glad that I live in Germany where the first paragraph of article one of our constitution is:
"Human dignity shall be inviolable. To respect and protect it shall be the duty of all state authority."

Indeed. They did a much better job with your reconstruction than they did with their own.

[Nerovar]

Having that in our constitution verbatim probably wouldn't drastically alter how we handle such things, given that the fact we are allowed to execute prisoners means it's not considered cruel or unusual punishment.

It's a different mindset. However it is still beyond my comprehension.

[Venant]

Because that's irrelevant. Those are separate crimes with separate trials that have no bearing on each other. Especially so since he wasn't found guilty in his previous trials.

He was found guilty in the rape trials. In the other murder trial he was not acquitted, it was a hung jury and would have been re-tried. The rational approach to such a situation is not to just assume this completely innocent convicted rapist just happens to keep being in the neighborhood when people happen to get raped and murdered.

The problem I see here is this trendy leftist belief that there are no evil people, only people who do evil things because 'muh oppression'. In this case, one of the main points of groups like the ACLU was that the defendant came from a bad home and had a mother who abused alcohol while he was in the womb. I find it disingenuous for this man to be presented as if he's just a victim of the 'evil law system'.

[Blur4stuff]

Death penalty shouldn't be used until justice system is 100% mistake free.

[Shibito]

If he was innocent why would he refuse to give a dna test?

[kail]

The same reason you punish a child for misbehaving. The same reason you punish a thief for stealing. Society has set the punishments for certain crimes to be death. I know not all societies do so, but in the US, the Constitution allows the various states to make that determination for themselves. I don't rejoice a thief being jailed nor a murderer executed. I am pleased that justice was served but that doesn't equate to pleased that a person lost their life.

You don't punish a child or thief for the sake of punishment. With children, you hope to teach them in bettering themselves. With thieves, you attempt to dissuade the lifestyle and (often times) have them compensate for the damages. None of that is achieved through execution. Simply answering "justice" is weak support, you can call skinning a shoplifter justice and who's to say it isn't? ATM the best support for the DP is emotional rewards, people want to see a perp dead so he/she ends up dead.

[derpkitteh]

quite a shame. no evidence should be allowed to be ignored, all evidence should have to be used if someone's going to be jailed.

i'd also prefer that they don't kill people.

[Heladys]

How could you possibly know that it wouldn't prove anything? You can't and you don't.

I love the disparity between the people in favour of this though. You have people like Thwart who actually contribute with meaningful responses that instigate discussion. Then on the opposite end of spectrum you have people like Super Friendly Kitty Cat who try and shut down discussion by calling anyone who disagrees with them a shit poster and other petty insults.

Let's say the blood on him is from a goat. Is he innocent now? No, he was convicted on other evidence.

Let's say the blood on him is his own. Is he innocent now? No, he was convicted on other evidence.

Let's say the blood on him is from his wife's time of the month. Is he innocent now? No, he was convicted on other evidence.

Let's say the blood on him is from the victim. Is he innocent now? I'm sure you'll think of some way he is.

[Deleted]

First blood?

I think we're heading towards a rampage.

[derpkitteh]

Since when?

i'm against the death penalty. the only way in which i'd see death as an acceptable outcome is if they were being used for experimentation first, and death would not be the goal but a possible outcome.

i'm agnostic, i don't know if there's an afterlife, and i don't want us to send people to it for no other reason than to avenge their crimes. but if their death could benefit all mankind in the future through scientific experimentation, then it's an acceptable loss.

[Heladys]

You can fix a wrongful imprisonment. You cannot fix a wrongful execution.

Absolutely and provably false. You can never give them back the time they were imprisoned or undo the damage that was done.

Regardless of *what* punishment you hand out, you accept in the doing it that it is irrevocable.

[derpkitteh]

How in the actual fuck can you claim you're against the death penalty when you advocate for torture and execution for practically any and all reasons (and this is only an extremely small sample of the sort of shit you say on a regular basis)?

my views have simply changed over the years. i used to not fear death the way i do now.

now i only see death as an acceptable measure if there's no alternative, or it is simply a byproduct of experimentation.

[Nihilist74]

I have no problem with putting murderer's to death but I don't trust a justice system. When we have idiots like Trump who a science denier appointing judges.

[Ehrenpanzer]

Arkansas executions: first prisoner killed after legal challenge fails

He most likely was innocent.



I don't have any words for this. I think the UN should intervene and punish every1 involved. We can't stand by and do nothing while we let this massacre go ahead.

Based on their incredible track record of NOT standing by and watching massacres right? If they aren't willing to do anything to stop the murders of hundreds of thousands of innocents in cold blood in Rwanda, Kosovo and Bosnia, what possible chance do you think there is of them doing something to punish a country for executing one guy who MAY be innocent?

[Tyrianth]

Let's say the blood on him is from a goat. Is he innocent now? No, he was convicted on other evidence.

Let's say the blood on him is his own. Is he innocent now? No, he was convicted on other evidence.

Let's say the blood on him is from his wife's time of the month. Is he innocent now? No, he was convicted on other evidence.

Let's say the blood on him is from the victim. Is he innocent now? I'm sure you'll think of some way he is.

It doesn't matter if he would be convicted otherwise. All that matters is that it MIGHT have been weakened the prosecutors case to lower it from death penalty to life in prison.

I never once said I thought this man was innocent or not. I don't know and frankly, I don't give a fuck. What I care about is state sanctioned murder without first looking at every piece of evidence.

[kail]

Ok, can you tell me what the goal of punishment should be?

Depends on who is giving it. For the practical part, punishment does play a hand in rehabilitation. Some criminals don't want to relive another prison sentence so they "turn a new leaf" so to speak.

If we are extending the question to imprisonment alone, it also serves to keep those proven dangerous out of society.

[Ghostpanther]

Depends on who is giving it. For the practical part, punishment does play a hand in rehabilitation. Some criminals don't want to relive another prison sentence so they "turn a new leaf" so to speak.

If we are extending the question to imprisonment alone, it also serves to keep those proven dangerous out of society.

Actually the rate at which criminals return to prison may surprise you.

I looked it up...

According to a report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) about 68 percent of 405,000 prisoners released in 30 states in 2005 were arrested for a new crime within three years of their release from prison, and 77 percent were arrested within five years.

[pateuvasiliu]

Capital punishment is absolutely barbaric.

It's fucking hilarious that Americans deem themselves more civilised than the countries they oppress or the immigrants they ban based on their background, but they're OK with this shit.