Sad the child was si severely mistreated & died.
Am seriously wondering if my anti death penalty stance is wrong, at least in some instances. Hope these degenerate waste products get the ultimate penalty, however it is administered.
In some parts of the U S at least, it is getting difficult to fill vacancies in the police department when officers retire, or leave for civilian jobs. Having to handle investigations of the lowest elements of society, it’s obvious why so few want this job.
The problem with the DP is innocent people getting executed. At least two in Texas: Cameron Willingham and Ruben Cantu. Hundreds if not thousands before the Furman vs Georgia case in the 1970’s when the Supreme Court temporarily abolished the DP so that the things leading to innocents getting executed could be fixed.
Problem is we live in an imperfect world where mistakes are made. A 18 year old girl in my state was murdered back in 1996 and a guy arrested and convicted the next year. People were calling for his head and would have hung him on the spot back then if they could have. Doubts started creeping into the case when the DNA left behind in didn’t match the guy but it still took 20 years for him to get released. Now just a few weeks ago police finally matched the DNA to someone thanks to sifting DNA through a genealogy site which led them to a grandparent of the person who left the DNA behind and then finally the real killer who confessed. The first guy though still lost 20 years of his life and still has a murder conviction on his record though that hopefully will get expunged in the coming months.
Its actually a fascinating case that will undoubtedly become a movie someday. The mother of the victim is the one who first came to the conclusion that the guy in prison was innocent and had been exhausted into a false confession by cops after days of grueling interrogation. She became his champion to get his conviction overturned and hugged him in the courthouse the day he went free. Her determination is what got the states innocence project involved and helped expose the flaws in the case which ultimately led to a deal where he would be released after 20 years but the murder conviction would stay. At the same time the original cops who majorly screwed up in their zeal to arrest anyone had retired and new younger cops, many of whom were just small children when this originally happened, were willing to look at the case again with an open mind which led them to trying things not available 20 years ago like using genealogy sites to try and find a DNA match. Now the real killer is in jail awaiting trial.
Point is I lived in the city where this happened back when the murder and conviction happened. I remember well people calling for the death penalty in this case and the anger many had when he didn’t get it. And he was innocent all along.
What is more tragic, the most vile criminal spending the rest of his life behind bars, or someone who is innocent being put to death?
I have always battled with that question.
Innocent to death without question.
Contrary to what many think max security prison is a hard life. You live in a 6 x 8 cell 23 hrs a day and never see the outside.
I think that no one should be executed as long as Susan Smith and Andrea Yates are still alive.
There needs to be independent IN DEPTH reviews of all death penalty convictions, perhaps even at the federal level for state convictons if legislation that can pass constitutional muster could be crafted.
Excellent point!
Seems many feminists want so called equality—except when it comes to unpleasant duty.
ALL death penalty cases ultimately come through the federal courts at some point or another, whether state or federal.
When final adjudication and pronouncement of penalty are made in state court, the first set of appeals are the direct review. Then there are state collateral appeals.
Then you get into federal habeas review. At one time these were comprehensive. However, the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 greatly restricted federal habeas review. It is now extremely difficult to get a conviction or sentence overturned on habeas review and the Supreme Court has been strictly enforcing the act.
Congress needs to repeal the habeas restrictions of the act,but that is pretty much not going to happen.
Exactly.
It destroys your humanity because you no longer have anyone to relate to, whether negative or positive. They eventually go insane.
It’s a fitting punishment for the worst dregs of society.
That might explain some things then. I just knew something was badly amiss based on I see happening. That is (occasionally) people on death row being found innocent years and even decades after being convicted oftentimes with evidence that was available to someone looking hard enough in the right places. That’s why I emphasized IN DEPTH. When a life is at stake, it’s what we absolutely must do.
