Now they want to end life-sentences too???? For fuck's sake you guys...

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/02/national/02life.web.html

Now look, I'm a strict opponent of the death penalty - but that's not even the issue here... I thought we all had pretty much unanimous support for the fact that life imprisonment was a good substitute for the electric chair. It just goes to show how morally bankrupt liberals are that they'd devote so much energy to reducing penalties for murderers, rapists, and other violent criminals.

[Edited on October 2, 2005 at 8:19 AM. Reason : s]

10/2/2005 8:18:26 AM

it's called a second chance

the purpose of prison is to rehabilitate

life isn't sacred, we're all going to die, why throw someone's potential contributions to society away because they threw someone elses potential contributions to society away? two wrongs don't make a right.

10/2/2005 8:54:08 AM

I thought the primary purpose of prison was to punish individuals for their action(s), and to take them away from society because of that action.


[Edited on October 2, 2005 at 9:01 AM. Reason : +-]

10/2/2005 8:59:45 AM

10/2/2005 8:59:51 AM

i always love the way people throw around these phrases "morally bankrupt" and such... only other place i ever hear them are on those radio talk shows... as much as they say liberals get there talking points from the " mainstream media" theres just as much goin on the other way around....

10/2/2005 9:15:14 AM

life sentences are stupid. if you're in for life, why not just die already?

10/2/2005 9:33:54 AM

you can always hang yourself with a sheet or something

10/2/2005 9:45:25 AM

them's fightin words

10/2/2005 10:05:07 AM

ok you don't like morally bankrupt - how would you describe the never-ending efforts by liberals to further reduce any penalty for violent criminals, murderers, and rapists? First it was all about ending the death penalty - so its use has been curbed a great deal in most states, and people are getting life sentences.... now they want to get rid of life imprisonment.

Do you guys see the trend? Why do liberals have to pick these kinds of fights? They just come off looking like dicks to everyone else

10/2/2005 10:09:34 AM

And we all know going against the public opinion is morally wrong.

10/2/2005 10:14:06 AM

god dammit


god invented ropes and trees for a reason.

10/2/2005 10:14:38 AM

i'd say that out of all the social battles that could be fought, why in the hell are they fighting for this morally questionable opportunity to set free murderers, rapists, and violent criminals.

10/2/2005 10:15:44 AM

I think life sentence is appropriate for certain crimes. However, I thought Christianity which this country is supposedly so big about is all about forgiving. Or maybe at least about some compassion towards the "bad people". I mean, it's kinda easy to be good to good people. I don't see where your accusations of immorality come from. Misplaced energy better spent elsewhere - I'd probably agree with that.

10/2/2005 10:20:02 AM

life sentences are worse than death. If you get rid of death sentences, its hypocritical to keep life-length sentences.

10/2/2005 10:21:54 AM

fuck christianity


life sentences are better than death penalties because it allows us to release somebody if new evidence surfaces that exonerates them. can't do that with a death penalty.

[Edited on October 2, 2005 at 10:22 AM. Reason : s]

10/2/2005 10:21:57 AM

I'd agree with that, too.

[Edited on October 2, 2005 at 10:23 AM. Reason : including the edited in portion]

10/2/2005 10:23:13 AM

i meant a life-length sentence is worse than death if it has the same length as your life, also if its 20 years or longer

10/2/2005 10:29:27 AM

I'm not so sure it's worse than death.

Just give lifers access to painless suicide and we can see.

Wouldn't that be fair?

10/2/2005 10:34:22 AM

fuck that. give prisoners guns

10/2/2005 10:35:50 AM

then they'd just kill each other... or, more likely, the guards

besides, that's not painless and not 100%

10/2/2005 10:36:49 AM

its not supposed to be painless. its supposed to reduce the prison population

10/2/2005 10:39:34 AM

I thought the problem was that life in prison was worse than death...?

10/2/2005 10:40:49 AM

you think theres only 1 problem? That level of ignorance should be a crime

10/2/2005 10:41:38 AM

Quote :

"it's called a second chance"

We Americans are a very forgiving people. We believe in second and third chances. But there is a line of criminal activity that we won't accept nor grant any further chances. Currently, cold-blooded murder is on the other side of the line.

I wonder with Excr. why those on the left wish to move that line so that those with a history of murderous activity are re-released into our midst.

The justice and prison system have lost a lot of credibilty with their history of locking up non-violent, victim-less criminals. Our prisons should return to their original function of locking up violent criminals.

10/2/2005 10:49:54 AM

murderers should be slowly tortured

10/2/2005 10:53:21 AM

Quote :

"you think theres only 1 problem? That level of ignorance should be a crime"

You dingbat, you brought it up:

Quote :

"life sentences are worse than death. If you get rid of death sentences, its hypocritical to keep life-length sentences."

That's what I was responding to.

10/2/2005 10:59:55 AM

Quote :

"We Americans are a very forgiving people."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

25 years to a woman hooked on pain killers after a delivery that went wrong. Yeah... VERY forgiving.

10/2/2005 11:01:47 AM

fine we'll talk about that one problem....

to give them painless deaths, give all prisoners BIGGER guns and instruct them to only shoot other prisoners in the head

10/2/2005 11:03:02 AM

^^UH OH

LIBERTARIAN FIGHT!

[Edited on October 2, 2005 at 11:07 AM. Reason : earthdogg and mathfreak, not insaneman]

10/2/2005 11:03:18 AM

these are not libertarian ideas. they're the ideas of a MADMAN

10/2/2005 11:05:12 AM

Quote :

"to give them painless deaths, give all prisoners BIGGER guns and instruct them to only shoot other prisoners in the head"

"Hey mister murderer, here's a desert eagle... please be sure to only shoot your fello-"

BANG!!!

10/2/2005 11:06:28 AM

prison guards deserve to die. they serve the system

10/2/2005 11:11:21 AM

yer just all over the place, ain't ya bud?

10/2/2005 11:12:23 AM

only in other peoples' bathrooms

10/2/2005 11:13:20 AM

As I thought.

10/2/2005 11:14:52 AM

since we're heading down the slippery slope anyway, you know with the Patriot Act, eminent domain, soylent green initiatives, and a handful of other big brother policies

when it comes to the chronically criminal/violent crime offenders, we might as well develop a rehab program that resembles this:




instead of commiting murder ourselves, or wasting tax money to cage them up their whole lives--incubating and exponentially increasing their negative energies, why not turn them into pacifist drones that may contribute something productive to society?

10/2/2005 11:23:12 AM

i like this pic

10/2/2005 11:26:55 AM

yes, a reasonable argument for such a program could be made

eh, we'll have ub3r AIs in a few years anyway

they'll solve all our problems for us

10/2/2005 11:29:43 AM

Im mostly for life imprisonment, but specific situations like that disgust me. Here is a 50-year-old man who was put in prison when he was fifteen and they denied him parole. Perhaps there is a crime that could justify that, but a single first-degree murder isnt worth it.

The victim's own father was advocating for the man's release.

[Edited on October 2, 2005 at 12:18 PM. Reason : .]

10/2/2005 12:17:26 PM

hey dont lump all liberals into this morally bankrupt shit. generalizations are so passe.

now i dont get this, you can't have your cake and eat it too.

I agree that the purpose of prison is to "rehablitiate", but sadly our justice system has skewed that into something else. Prison is now just that. A cage.

Here's an idea, how bout we educate people, spend the money on the chitlins, thus reducing the problem of a country half behind bars. (hyperbole)

10/2/2005 12:21:42 PM

The problem is not that prison sucks. Its supposed to suck. The problem is there are too many laws.

10/2/2005 12:26:11 PM

if he had gotten the death penalty, there wouldn't be a problem

10/2/2005 12:35:29 PM

regardless of how much they fight the death penalty, it will always be punishable by immediate death to attack a cop in any way, or to run from him

10/2/2005 12:37:03 PM

^^^ Too True.

Quote :

"I thought Christianity which this country is supposedly so big about is all about forgiving"

God forgives so we don't have to.

[Edited on October 2, 2005 at 12:51 PM. Reason : ^]

10/2/2005 12:51:22 PM

Quote :

"We Americans are a very forgiving people. We believe in second and third chances. But there is a line of criminal activity that we won't accept nor grant any further chances. Currently, cold-blooded murder is on the other side of the line."

I'm with you here. I'm definitely think the goal of our criminal justice system should be rehabilitation. It just makes economic sense. And, I don't think we are doing as good a job as we could. However, there is a line that can be crossed when you aren't worth our compassion and help. I'd say pre-meditated murder definitely crosses that line.

Though the age at the time of the crime is a significant factor here. I don't think we as a society generally hold people responsible for things they did in their youth. Just look at GWB. If he had been arrested for DWI, suspected of using drugs, an alcoholic, and had at best a questionable military service record nearer to when he ran for President, he'd have been laughed off the stage. But that was before he found Jesus. I don't know if its much different here. Hell, maybe this guy has a future in politics.

I'm torn over the death penalty though. On one hand, why should we pay to imprison someone for the rest of their life. On the other hand, what right do we have to kill another person. I'm not so bothered by the latter, except for the fact that in many cases its difficult to be certain that someone is guilty. It's one of those situations that if were are wrong just once, we are just as guilty as they are.


[Edited on October 2, 2005 at 1:05 PM. Reason : ?]

10/2/2005 12:59:46 PM

Quote :

"However, I thought Christianity which this country is supposedly so big about is all about forgiving. "

well mr. murderer, since i'm a christian i forgive you, and that makes it ok. just dont do anything like that again, even though i'll forgive you in the future anyway. hell, just do whatever you want, it's ok because i'll always forgive you as long as you say you're sorry.

10/2/2005 1:05:07 PM

Quote :

"On the other hand, what right do we have to kill another person."

Murderers believe in the death penalty for their victims. We must respect their beliefs by giving the same to them.

10/2/2005 1:06:26 PM

Well, I support it in every case where we can prove that the person is guilty. But that's easier said than done. Then there is the issue of the inequity between races who committed the same crime.

[Edited on October 2, 2005 at 1:14 PM. Reason : ?]

10/2/2005 1:14:15 PM

If u cant prove they're guilty, arent they supposed to be found NOT GUILTY?

10/2/2005 1:16:45 PM

No, you have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt. That still leaves a margin of error. Plus, jurors are human. They are subject to prejudice, assumptions, intimidation, judgement of their peers, etc.

10/2/2005 1:48:11 PM