YOU KNOW WHAT ERKS ME

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

O'Malley to reform the death penalty/doesn't make sense


I was listening to the radio the other day and the news flash told how our new Governor wants to reform the death penalty in Maryland. Since he cannot abolish it (many attempts have failed) he wants to reform it to say that the death penalty should only be used in cases when the deceased is a police or corrections officer.
I read this article the other day "O'Malley Seeks End To Md. Executions" Snippets of the article highlight O'malley's points. False convictions have been overturned, freeing the wrongly accused b/c of DNA evidence. BUT.. my point, those free'd were from the 70's and 80's. DNA had not been perfected. But now, another point of the article, you have DNA evidence, forensics, 3 separate juries that convict you and find you guilty beyond a resonable doubt for the murder of two innocent people. Where is the confusion there O'Malley? And if you say that you are scared of wrongful convictions, then why is it okay to convict if the victim is law enforcement? Could you still have the wrong guy?
In the New York Post this week was an article about a major drug lord caught and convicted on a murder charge in New York. He pleaded saying he would confess to other crimes if the death penalty were taken off the table.... could the police have ever guessed he would then confess to more than 30 murders? And he gets to live the rest of his life, yes behind bars, but he still lives.
What about those that rape, mutilate and murder children? They do not deserve the death penalty. I shiver at the thought.

15 comments:

Aeneas the Younger said...

Boy ... you Americans really like to "string people up" don't you?

You call this civilised?

EJL said...

I wouldn't like to srting anyone up Aeneas.... One of my friends said that the death penalty was a deterrent... I don't think so. If your brain works that way it isn't going to stop to say hey wait a sec..we have the death penalty don't we? There are different degrees of murder, it is the especially haneous crimes that get the death penalty. I think that midifying the death penalty to say one life is valued over another is wrong. Who's to say the child that was murdered would have grown up to do great things? O'Malley's point of wrongful conviction is contradicted by his reform policy.

Southern (in)Sanity said...

I don't care if it's a deterrent or not. To me, there are certain crimes out there that should result in someone losing their life.

A good friend of my father's was gunned down in cold blood by some idiot. That guy gets three meals a day and watches television in prison. His widow and several close friends get to go to his prison every other year or so to participate in his parole hearings and try to keep him in jail.

That is not fair to the families of the victims. They never get to put it behind them. They are always faced with the person who harmed them.

The DNA evidence issues are all from old cases, as you said. Sooner or later, all of those cases will be gone.

EJL said...

You brought up a great point RWA...the fact that the some families in the cases of life with the possibility of parole, have to relive thier grief over and over to make sure justice keeps getting served.

O'malley wants the criminals that face the death penalty to have life without parole. Bit I still do not agree. There are some crimes that are an eye for an eye.

e.Craig Crawford said...

I have long had mixed feelings about the death penalty, but the fact that it's the taking of a life has nothing to do with it.

Nowadays I lean toward DNA evidence being the deciding factor in awarding the death penalty. And, if the conviction is based on DNA, no appeals.

On the other side of the coin I might argue that life in prison with no chance of parole is pretty strong punishment. Regarding crimes against children, there is a certain appeal to me in the thought that those sickos would be mingling with an inmate population that detests such persons.

EJL said...

you might have dna evidence but it all has to be line ecraig. I don't think that an appeal would be denied if the evidence was strong enough for an appeal, someone would get it. And not only that, but the murder has to be haneous enough to warrant the death penalty.

I know that jail mates love to get the kiddie offenders, but I would much rather see the killer be executed, then know that he was living and the child was not.

Nicole said...

This is such a hard subject and I am really torn. For the most part, I am against it. I go by the two wrongs don't make a right.

But I have to say, when we decide that it is fair to let the murderers have the fate of being tortured\raped and beaten, possibly murdered themselves by the general population in prison, by inmates who decide to be the dishers of just punishment, does that not make us just as guilty?

I mean, esp. if you consider yourself to be a religious person, eventually you will have to face the music to your actions as well.
From all I have ever read about Jesus, I am quite confidant that Jesus sure as hell wouldn't be thinking..."let them get it in prison", albiet if they deserve it. I just can't justify that way of thinking.

If my own children were brutally murdered, I do not think I would take satisfaction in knowing that the killer(s)were bein paid back by being tortured and raped themselves.

Now, somebody could come on here and say that I don't know for sure because I am not in that situation and they are correct. I don't know for sure, but just thinking about it sickens my stomach.
Sadly, in alot of cases most people are products of their environments. Ever see the movie Gridiron Gang? It shows how these young boys and girls too, live a vicious cycle. When you live in a cylce of violence it gets repeated over and over. Instead of being so quick to OFF all the criminals who have committed heinious crimes, I wish more was being done to prevent the crimes from happening in the first place.

I absolutely hate grasshoppers. But in the summer, instead of killing them, I just avoid them. If one crosses my path I just try to make sure it doesn't jump on me. Even spiders in the house...I catch and release. I am two steps away from being a vegetarian and not for health or diet or any of those reasons. Because of the fact of eating living, breathing creatures. So, for these reasons alone, that is why I struggle with the notion of ending another's life.
But that's just me, of course everyone has their own views!! :)

EJL said...

You know Nic I used to be torn about the death penalty as well. But when I had my son, my views changed. I think that I have divulged this before, but I was molested by my grandfather. I think I turned out okay. I am sure that patterned abuse has it's effects and I think that when a trial is heard that is a factor that is taken into consideration. "State of Mind" and "Pre-disposition". The death penalty isn't handed out in Maryland like candy. 5 death setences have been carried out since 1978. So in 29 years, 5 peoples crimes were haneous enough to warrant the death penalty.

I am not sure if you know much about the sniper that was here 2 years ago. He would park across the street from a gas station, bus stop, school, whatever, and pluck people off like flies. No one could figure out where he was hiding out. He was caught 2 miles from my work and 1 from where I pump gas. Talk about scary. He was from Washington State I believe...clear across the country. He is facing the death penalty in Maryland and Virginia.

EJL said...

Look at Scott Peterson in California... took a mistress when he and his wife got preganant (planned)... Decided when she was 7 months pregnant to kill her. They found the baby in the bay a month later and his mother a day after that. He is facing the death penalty.

Nicole said...

I know about each of those cases.
I remember that sniper...I think his name was even Lee malvo or something.
For me, and I am only speaking for my feelings, but for me, having them executed does not bring back those that were murdered. Lacy and her baby will never be returned to her family. Lots of the time, loved ones of those murdered want the death penalty as a means of revenge.
There are no right or wrong feeligs about this.
If something happened to one of my kids, I might have a gut reaction to want revenge as well, but after time, the satisfaction of knowing the other person has suffered and is in jail ( no death penalty here in Canada, for as long as I can remember) would still not end my feelings of grief or suffering.
My main point though, is when I hear of people say just sick the general population on them, to me, is just as wrong as what they have done. That is deliberate and callous and shows a complete lack of respect for human life, even if they do "deserve it". I can't justify when I don't believe that 2 wrongs don't make a right.

Rhianna said...

The death penalty is the best punishment out there. In Texas we just don't use it enough.

Sexual crimes should get death.

Drug crimes - DEATH.

Cop killers (includes firemen, ambulance, hospital attacks, etc) should get - DEATH.

Gun runners - DEATH.

Child criminals - DEATH.

I have no issues with "stringing them up". I also have no qualms about "Old Sparky". You did the crime, now pay the price.

Lethal injection is no deterent because they feel nothing, they go to sleep then their heart and lungs are stopped.

Nicole said...

I have the urge to walk right out thru all the snow and kiss CANADIAN soil!!!

lol

Nicole said...

Did you watch LOST last night Ellie?

I actually thought of your thread, when it showed the scenes with Sahid and the woman he had tortured.
What she said about the cat she had saved, with the children throwing firecrackers in the box really struck a chord with me.
She didn't want to become the same as the children.
I could totally identify with her sentiments.

EJL said...

Oh Nic, Lost isn't on until 10 here now, so I normally watch it on Thursday through my tivo.

Nicole said...

alright...well watch it and close to the end...think about what I said.

It was a gooder too!