why do we kill people who kill people to show people that killing people is wrong?

[primroseburrows]

WHY are we still doing this?

It's been proven over and over that the threat of capital punishment isn't a deterrent against crime at ALL. And that's not even taking into consideration that it's hypocritical and not our decision and morally wrong.


Besides, most of the cool kids are quitting.

We're not.

Wake up, America.

Comments

[jenn-unplugged.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear!

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

SRSLY.

[aphephobia.livejournal.com]

I really don't get the logic behind capital punishment, and I have HUGE issues with it, particularly when you think about how loud money talks in the US legal system. (Have you ever seen Oz? OMFG... Episode four, S1, Capital P... amazing stuff.)

Looking down the list... am totally unsurprised by Norway. :) Norway's attitude towards the criminal justice system and how to deal with offenders is fucking amazing.

But... fuck. It really gets me. When I was a little kid, I remember seeing a thing on it and the whole cruel-and-unusual thing-- it was something about a guy being gassed and they actually showed footage of him dying and how long it took, and just watching it-- and the people watching him-- really got to me.

All that said, though-- if someone hurt one of my kids or my friends, you betcha I'd have the desire to go after them. People like Ellie Nessler? I can understand that reaction. But... that doesn't make it right in the legal sense. But vigilante justice is just that-- it's outside the law. The law is meant to be better and more dispassionate than people who do that.

Not to mention what I think it does to the people surrounding it. I think working in palliative care would SUCK. The thought of working in a prison and knowing that healthy, young human beings were being looked after so they can be killed really, really would bother me... and I keep thinking... I'm fairly detached regarding what I do. If that would bother me-- what the hell would it do to your average worker?

Fuck, it just makes me sad.

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

Norway's attitude towards the criminal justice system and how to deal with offenders is fucking amazing.

Norway's attitude towards pretty much everything is fucking amazing. They have the eighth lowest infant mortality rate, for one thing (Australia is #20 and the US is #40). Their healthcare system seems to work well. And they have Gjetost, the most badass cheese ever. Mmmm...

The thought of working in a prison and knowing that healthy, young human beings were being looked after so they can be killed really, really would bother me.

It bothers the condemned, too--a lot of them want to die. Not because they feel remorse and want to atone with their death, but because the torture of knowing they're condemned is too damn much for them.

[aphephobia.livejournal.com]

Yep... and personally, I find that heartbreaking.

Suicide is not encouraged, yet... this is? What kills me (no pun intended) is that they wait until these people are healthy before killing them... yet... what about their mental health? Someone who has been on death row for some time is not going to be mentally healthy. *sighs*

[cirakaite.livejournal.com]

Executions are known to have been carried out in the following countries in 2007:

Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Botswana, China, Egypt, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Japan, Korea (North), Kuwait, Libya, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, USA, Viet Nam, Yemen.

Seriously. Look at the company the US is keeping. (Although I admit, I was surprised about Japan.)

I can't believe the supreme court actually upheld lethal injection. Not only that, but it wasn't all over my flist, by any means. -sigh-

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

I was a little surprised about India, too, but then I'm ashamed to say I know squat about their legal system. *adds 'learn more about India' to dorky 'to do' list*

I can't believe the supreme court actually upheld lethal injection.

I'm not at all surprised, but I don't get it, in the same way that I'm not surprised but I don't understand why Americans can't marry other Americans of the same sex in their own country (except in the Great State Commonwealth of Massachusetts, yay!).

[patchfire.livejournal.com]

It really freaks me out when you link to the tv station that I watched growing up. Just sayin'.

(Will you be around anytime soon, or do I need to call? Slight change in dates for trip.)

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

Hey, it was the first link I came across.

I'm not sure when I'll be crashing tonight. If you don't see me, call?

[patchfire.livejournal.com]

Still, what're the odds?

Will do... :)

[newleaf31.livejournal.com]

If nothing else, shouldn't our government at least feel massive shame that MYANMAR is apparently, in practice if not in law, more civilized than we are? I mean, Myanmar -- the country known for persecuting monks and keeping its popularly-elected president under house arrest for, like, a skillion years. C'mon now. *cajoles* Don't you wanna be like the UK, America? We always wanna be like the UK, right? I mean, Dubyuh would consider them the most civilized nation on the planet besides us, right? Even THEY abolished the death penalty in 1998, and for God's sake, this is a country where public hangings used to be HIGH ENTERTAINMENT.

[nmalfoy.livejournal.com]

I'm torn. I mean, capital punishment... sure, doesn't seem to be a deterrent. But there are some crimes that are so awful (rape and murder of an infant, say, or a child, or a repeat offender) that I have a hard time knowing my tax dollars are keeping the SOB alive, in prison, complete with gym and cable TV.

I do also know that many death row convictions are being overturned on DNA evidence. So I just really don't know how I feel on the matter. Some acts are so horrendous that how can we allow that to go on? Life in prison without possibilty of parole? Sure, great idea. But the prisons are so packed now with guys busted for selling an ounce of pot to a friend that we can't keep the really bad ones locked up.

The "war on drugs" has caused a lot of the social problems we now face.

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

But there are some crimes that are so awful (rape and murder of an infant, say, or a child, or a repeat offender) that I have a hard time knowing my tax dollars are keeping the SOB alive, in prison, complete with gym and cable TV.

See, this is where I think it's the prison system that needs to be reformed. Also, I think that the people who are actually living a pampered, privileged incarceration aren't nearly as many as we've been led to believe.

But the prisons are so packed now with guys busted for selling an ounce of pot to a friend that we can't keep the really bad ones locked up.

Prisons are hella overcrowded, people are in prison who would do fine on home confinement (I'm thinking nonviolent crimes here), and I honestly believe that there are ways to rehabilitate people that don't involve incarceration at all). Prisons, IMO, don't do a heck of a lot to help people change their life.

And pot? Should be decriminalized, if not legalized, like yesterday.

And besides, Americans (and humans in general) aren't God and we need to stop acting like we are, on about a million levels.