Where are you now, Rev. Jackson?Follow

Interesting take on the fight against the death penalty.



So. Does no one care about this execution because he's old? Not personable? Not an author?

You spelled 50% of the words in that sentence incorrectly.



As for the death penalty, activists will more quickly jump to the aid of those seemingly at the biggest disadvantage. With the level of perceived institutional racism in the U.S, that means those with an interest in the death penalty will scrutinize the sentencing of minority convicts more closely than that of white ones.

Not saying that that's the motivation behind the Tookie protesters, or that protesters don't profiteer off media-friendly convicts, but I imagine it holds true for many.

It's not necessarily fair, but then protesters don't have to be fair.

On the protestors' side, however, their actions do parallel our system of justice that protects defendants more stringently than it does the prosecutors.




Edited, Sun Jan 8 18:18:02 2006 by trickybeck

This does bring us into the crux of the matter.

One of the reasons I oppose the DP is that it is applied unfairly, on several levels. Blacks are more likely to receive a penalty of death than whites for an equivalent crime. People of either race who kill whites are more likely to be sentenced to death than people of either race who kill blacks. Men are more likely to receive the death penalty than women - unless they kill their own children, oddly.

However, opposition to the penalty is also supposed to be applied fairly. It's the penalty itself that's wrong, right? Or is it?

As far as a perceived disadvantage - I don't see how much more clearly disadvantaged this person can be. He's elderly, blind, deaf, and in a wheelchair. Is the fact that he's also white enough to outweigh all of that, in the more-disadvantaged-than-thou lottery?

Finally, I have to wonder at what point have we waited too long to apply the penalty. It seems a little silly to wait until a criminal is demented and blind to put him to death.

I was referring to disadvantages in the legal system.

Blind, deaf, and handicapped may make him disadvantaged in life, but aren't traits that would make a jury more likely to convict.

Peter: Aw, c'mon, is it possible to win this game?

Cleveland: You can never win, but you do a little better every time.

Well, as far as that goes, they were both convicted and sentenced to death. The question now is, why does no one appear to care about the crippled old white murderer, when so many were passionately protesting the death of the virile black murderer?

Can it just be explained on the basis of sex appeal?

As far as the death penalty goes, I think it's a horrible travesty in its current form.

It would be far more humane (and cheaper) if applied immediately after the verdict were handed down. Immediately meaning immediately adjacent to the courtroom in an attached execution chamber where the condemend woudl be put down in a quick and inexpensive manner, such as a 12 gauge shot to the noggin.

For those who cry out about incorrect verdicts, I offer a simple but substantial incentive plan for correct verdicts: make the judge, jury, and prosecutor liable at law for a proven incorrect verdict. This would never eliminate all incorrect verdicts but the truth is that only the victor ever gets justice, never the loser.

Why, you shifty gringo....

Hm. I guess I could see it.



Mi hermano gringo, TeeSteevehns.

Maybe not.

Edited, Mon Jan 9 10:04:36 2006 by Atomicflea

Not a chip so much as a way for latino's to say "Here you are stupid whitey have some delicious nachos!"

What do you expect from a bunch of third world jungle dwellers who still live in thatch huts?

It's funny how you proudly bring up Peru every chance you get.

I'm not sure why anybody would be proud of having heritage from a third-world sewage pit that's never accomplished anything worthwhile, but hey, to each their own, right?

Hmm, what could someone from Peru be proud of? Could it be the incredible corruption? How about the abject poverty and disease? Maybe it's having an average national IQ in the single digits? Perhaps its notorious reputation for thievery (noteworthy even among the other third-world South American cesspools) is something to be proud of?

Questions, questions...

Edited, Tue Jan 10 14:42:12 2006 by SpinShark

I jumped that ship months ago...Flea just doesn't dance for me since Mr. Nails showed up

Spinny just likes to feel like he's dominating teh wimmins. Once you've figured that out, it goes from difficult to impossible to take his posts as anything but an ongoing temper tantrum.