Capital punishment
-
My first night out downtown, when stationed in Thailand, I was surrounded by a dozen or more 5-7 year old boys...all hands on, all over me, hollering: "Gimme Baht, gimme Baht!" Since I had been warned about this at orientation (and because I hadn't yet that night succumbed to the demon rum :`) I quickly jambed my hand into my wallet pocket and held on for dear life: swinging my body left and right to shake off the kids as I ran to get free. I lost my watch, but saved my wallet (money was not the issue...losing my military ID would have cost me an Article 15).
The next week (this time a sheet or two to the breeze) I was looking over a street vendor's watch choices (I needed one afterall) and spotted mine. Of course I started making a rather loud big deal about this, and as my longer time in country buddy pulled me away, hushing me sternly, I noticed the look on the vender's face (I have never forgotten that look...which probably saved my life a couple of times during my pool playing days): there was some fear, yes, but mostly it was hard, determined, and awfully cold.
My buddy explained I could get stabbed over that $15 dollar Timex because his having it could get him 5 years in jail. I didn't fully understand until months later when I stumbled on the local Thai jail: 5'x5' cages, 4' tall, stacked 3 high.
Since then I haven't been able to swallow the deterrent argument except for white collar crime. I also believe our whole criminal justice system is mostly a failure, so of course application of capital punishment is poop too. That said:
I like dogs, they are interesting creatures with many traits I respect and/or admire...but:
Rabid and feral dogs need to be put down fast.
Vicious dogs who have attacked others (tasted blood) need to be put down without question.
Aggressive dogs, who have threatened others, need to be restrained and retrained...but if they don't respond quickly: put down as well.
Some breeds of dogs need close supervision and watchful concern until the viciousness and aggression is breed back out of them...and if they turn, they too will need to be put down.I also like humans, they are interesting creatures with many traits I respect and/or admire...but:
...
-
A good friend of mine was murdered when I was a senior in high school. He was killed with a baseball bat with a shot to the head... all because he didn't have drugs these punks were looking for! Forgive me... but he was only sentenced to 5 years in prison! Put yourself in my shoes for one minute...
-
I give you props, Tom. Funny, honest, to the point (the last part at least) and true.
Mike RL
-
The vast majority of us likely live our lives in peace and security. While violent crime is relatively rare it has a 'terrorizing' effect that makes people fearful beyond the real risks. TV news and watercooler talk tell us scary stories that make us think it happens much more frequently than it does. Many of us would simply live happier lives if we stopped watching the news.
I remember hearing some statistics about young offenders. From the stories they hear, the public here in Canada assume young offenders are abusing the system left, right and center. If I asked almost any one here the following question: "Of the young offenders who appear before a Judge what percentage do you think will end up reappearing before a Judge?" I think most people asked would guess something like 95%. The real answer is something under 5% get in trouble with the law again. So why 95%? It seems the justice system does not disseminate its successes and is condemned by its failures - even if they are relatively rare. The media are only interested in the sensational stuff and only tell us what they think we want to hear. The media is not objective. They rarely tell us stories about the offenders who got their lives together as that isn't newsworthy.
My point is it is very difficult to be fully objective when considering a subject like Capital Punishment. Perceptions of violent crime typically are exaggerations and our fears unsubstantiated. People will support Capital Punishment saying "because of the deterrent factor" even when studies have shown there is almost no deterrent effect. They will support the government killing a fellow citizen, basing their support on erroneous justifications and gut reactions like 'an eye for an eye'. That is scary.
Regards, Ross
-
Well said.
I wholeheartedly agree. -
I was a "young offender", small stuff mostly, and if it weren't for my willingness to change and the help, a stranger from the other side of the country who took me in and the Quebec government's willingness to let someone else deal with the problem, i.e. me, I could easily be in a whole other place today. As a young adult, I was ask to return to tat man's farm to help with a youth program or "lost causes". Though this was ~20 years~ ago, our success rate was about 80%. Meaning that 8 out of 10 youths got their act together and never appear before a judge again, at least in the 3 years I worked there as a counselor. This was unheard of. At the time, the stats in the province were the opposite, where as 8 out of 10 would land back in court and in jail.
I know this was years ago but in the same token, our jails are overcrowded. New ones are built every year. A lot of cases that end up in court involving youth are over petty little things like shop lifting, driving infractions, and vandalism (example: setting off a fire extinguisher or pulling a fire alarm). In the majority of case, it goes to court, gets recorded in the stats as youth offense, and the kid, who really wasn't a bad kid, just not very bright, ends up with a warning, probation and restitution (if the case requires). Of the ones that commit a serious offense which warrants a jail term, between 60 and 80 per cent of those will reappear in court and go back to jail. This was told to me by a parole officer about a year or so ago.
So yes, in ALL the kids who go to court may 80% don't reappear but probably 80% of that group are kids who lacked judgment and did something stupid, not criminal. The 20% however will reappear, and half of those throughout adulthood.
I know we would all like to think that we live in a better place than we do and that the things we hear about only happen in other places, not hear and not that serious, but I must disagree with me learned forum acquaintance, we only hear of about 1 to 5 percent of what's really going on. No city wants the world to know how much violence really occurs in their streets. No country want the world to know that it may not be safe to come and visit. In turn, the media only reports the most heinous and violent crimes, unless it's a really slow news day. My son, to my shame, has attacked and left someone to die. In my books, he should be in jail for no less then 7 years, but more appropriately 10-12. Whether the victims of such crimes survive or not, should hold no bearing on the sentence; as the intent was there.
For year the Province of Alberta denied having any gang chapters within it's border. Yet I personally know, through association, the man who was the Alberta Hell's Angels Chapter for years and he's lived in Alberta his whole life.
The city of Edmonton denied having gangs for years until one day, out of the blue, they held a press conference announcing the formation of an anti-gang task force. And of course, << we have no more gang trouble >> was soon to follow. Ironically, the day after a formal announcement of success, a man was stabbed to death at an LRT station (public rail transit system) by members of a local gang, so reported the local newspapers. Needless to say, they never said that again. Nearly every week-end, last summer, there were between 2 and 6 stabbings on Whyte Ave alone (where most nightclub are) but they don't report it all the time because it become old news and frighten the locals which is harmful for the economy and public image of the city. And for the record, this is but one city. How many cities in THIS country have the same issue?? How about in the continent??
We need to get our heads out of the sand and at least acknowledge the fact that we have a problem. To say that it's all media hype is ludicrous. How often do you hear of car-jacking? Know anyone it's happened to? In North America, if you average it out and spaced it out over 24 hrs, there is a car jacking occurring every 2 minutes.
Mike RL
-
@basic.woodworks said:
How often do you hear of car-jacking? Know anyone it's happened to?
I have never heard of a car-jacking in my region. (I've heard of them happening in Florida and LA but never anywhere else). I don't know anyone who its happened to.
Heck, I don't know anyone who has been in any kind of violent assault other than I guy I know who lived in New York and a guy who was shot in the crossfire of a bank-robbery -- but that was in Bogota. Of course I know there are bad people out there. I just don't think they are lurking around every corner as the media seems to have some people believing.
Regards, Ross
PS - Mike, sorry your son got himself into so much trouble. I hope his victim is doing okay.
-
thanks for the thought, I hope so too. Last I heard he was on the mend but mentally... who knows. This is one of those things that can cripple him for life as easy as it can make him a stronger better man.
I grew up hard. I always swore that i'd never let that happen to my kids but you can help who they get mixed up with and what they get into. Maybe I was too strict? who knows. But even so.. Having seen the things I've seen and put through enough to fill 4 lifetimes, I still believe in capital punishment. It has it's place. Even God, if you believe in it, send should to eternal damnation. We just make sure they get there sooner rather then later.
It is nice to know, though, that there are some people who've not been touched by violence or victimized in anyway. with all due respect, I'd have to say that it's like sitting o the side lines and questioning the ref's decision.
Regards
Mike RL
-
It is nice to know that there are people who've not been touched by violence or victimized in anyway.
I too have been pretty lucky all my life: only had my vehicles broken into a couple of times...and I caught a guy cutting the screen of an open window in the middle of the night once (the one time I was glad for my 3am trip to the head) but he ran off like the cats when I went cuss-stomping into the living room (thank God!). We did have a dinner party at a new apartment in KC that ended with all my guests cars (3 of them) without wheels...so we just moved the next week to burbs (so much for my "inner-city" phase :`)
Anyway, just last week (admittedly, this is more like a normal month's worth...but 'tis the season) in my hometown of Wichita (pop. 280k, sleepy and safe in the middle of Kansas):
A 19 year old girl was shot dead by one of her neighbors over a parking space on the street in front of her house.
A woman was convicted for stabbing another woman to death in a QuikTrip over a hotdog argument at the microwave (we were blessed with the store video on TV over and over...she went out to her car, came back with a big butcher knife, and gutted the victim, another nasty piece of work, while her boyfriend held off the victim's boyfriend: the best part was watching the other customers stepping over the body with their soft drinks but without saying a word until the cashier finally noticed and stopped ringing people up).
As is the perverted custom these days, the victim's grandmother was interviewed about the conviction for the evening news and mentioned she was glad justice was done. The lead story the next evening was about the number of drive-by bullets they dug out of the 80-something's house...this time she refused to talk to the reporter.
There were also a couple more murders, another stabbing to death, and 3 more drive-by. All this stuff was known to be gang related so wasn't gagged since a few years back Wichita too decided to get tough on gangs: press means money for programs...no one hears much about the day-to-day crime: that's bad for business here too.
There is indeed a large feral element breeding all over the place, it is not an exageration...and I truly hope it doesn't migrate to your neck of the woods, Ross, as it sounds there like Wichita was here when I was a kid.
-
Wow, the mean streets of Wichita KS. Who knew? Where is Kansas yo by mi barrio Wisconsin?
GoD -
For some people no amount of threatened nor actual punishment will change how they behave. For many people the experience of prison will make them determined not to go back; for some others a 'positive' prison experience (education, training, whatever) will turn them into 'decent people' - whatever that means. Some people are so damaged by prison that you might as well have given them a machine gun upon release. For other people simply having to appear in a magistrate's court is so terrifying that it is all the punishment they could ever need, whatever their crime.
The point of a justice system is to apply justice; not to be merely a clerical system ticking boxes and adding up a score. Sometimes that means giving a different sentence than the common person might think is needed; sometimes much longer in jail, sometimes less, sometimes something different. Occasionally it might even benefit the culprit and the victim to meet and try to reconcile. Judges and their assorted colleagues have a hard job, assuming they take it more seriously than "hang'em all!" - and that's where we hit trouble. Just like any other job there are plenty of people in law enforcement/execution/review that don't or won't do their job properly. Prejudice, laziness, incompetence, all come into play to ensure that there will always be improper convictions as well as culprits getting away with it. One person's failure can ruin the honest work of hundreds.
Capital punishment is the arena where all that adds up to make for truly tragic errors. Recently the advent of DNA tests has made it quite obvious that a large number of people have been wrongly executed over the years. That makes everyone in the polity using capital punishment - everyone with a political voice - guilty of murder by reckless legal driving. How about we make it so that in cases of wrongful execution all the people that got it wrong (police, lawyers, media, jurors, judges, prison guards, executioner, politicians that voted for the death penalty etc) face the same penalty? Maybe that would concentrate theirs minds on something more than an easy arrest, a headline, a vote, whatever?
-
Profilers, analysts, psychologist, therapists and judges. We have the ability and training available as well as a little common sense can provide a judge with the information require as to whether a man should pay pennants with his life. I for one am okay with that.
Mike RL
Advertisement