Discussion: California Judge Rules Death Penalty Unconstitutional

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Discussion for article #225148

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The State really should not execute its citizens.

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Tell that to the victims 6 ft. underground. And these’s criminals are sitting in jail still alive and breathing.

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One killing isn’t right, so therefore two are?

The Bible reads “Thou Shall Not Kill”. I don’t see any ambiguity there.

Of course if you don’t believe in and support the words in the Bible, you should be stoned to death.

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A eye for eye.

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If we lived in a perfect world, then justice would be perfect; but it’s not.

The National Academy of Sciences says that:

  • 138 death row inmates were exonerated between 1973 and 2004
  • 200 more are innocent
  • 2,675 more were taken off death row after doubts about their convictions were raised

“[T]he law holds it better that ten guilty persons escape, than that one innocent party suffer.” – William Blackstone

“It is more important that innocence should be protected, than it is that guilt be punished.” – John Adams

“It is better 100 guilty Persons should escape than that one innocent Person should suffer.” – Benjamin Franklin

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Wearing mixed fabrics? Eaten pork? Done any coveting?

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I saw Laura Schlesinger on TV once and she said the “Thou shall not kill” was meant as “Don’t kill other Jews”, leaving everyone else as fair game.

Yeah, good 'ol hater and GOPer Dr. Laura.

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Yeah, it’s right there in Matthew: “You have heard that it was said, ‘AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.’ 39"But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.”

Whoops, the new kid shows up the bearded sky man by updating psychology from the desert nomads to the settled society. Why don’t you come along?

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And that’s Hammurabi anyway. Some of us were paying attention in school.

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it means what it means in those cases. Please don’t twist and turn it to mean something different.

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Uh, just to be clear, I’m telling you “an eye for an eye”—lex talionis, to get all Latiny wit it—long predates the Bible and comes from a different tradition. What you’re trying to say I have no idea.

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I’m against the death penalty, but this ruling just does not make sense to me. Basically, the judge is saying it is not cruel and unusual to kill people, but it is cruel and unusual to let people live too long before you kill them. He is basically saying that it is cruel and unusual to let those sentenced to death have as many opportunities to overturn the sentence as they currently have, and it would be more humane, I guess, if we gave defendants fewer appellate rights and just killed them sooner. This may survive the Ninth Circuit, but it will never survive SCOTUS. And, remember, I’m against the death penalty.

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It may be simple-minded but I’ve always thought the idea that some crimes are so heinous they cry out for the death penalty wasn’t sound, because essentially it says it’s OK to kill people if you’re very, very mad at them. The problem is that’s very often the murderer’s argument. That, and the horror we ought to feel at the possibility of executing an innocent person, makes opposing the death penalty an easy choice for me.

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You unfortunately assume that people who are opposed to the barbarism known as capital punishment are at the same time condoning the criminal’s crime. Not so. The Eighth Amendment to the Constitution bans “cruel and unusual punishment”, and to inject someone with some mashup drug not guaranteed to quickly and humanely kill the prisoner fits that description. There is also the matter of innocent people acquitted through DNA research after being executed, and the zealousness of prosecutors eager to put another “kill” notch on their belts.

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An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.

Mahatma Gandhi.

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. . . makes the whole world blind.

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Last I checked the bible is not the law of the land.

Indeed, I don’t give a rat’s tutu what the bible says or doesn’t say and I’m against the death penalty.

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The prison system should be for protecting society from criminals, not for punishment.

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While i did not want to come to this but here i go. You talk about this and you talk about that, but what it come down to if it happen to one of your family members i can bet a yrs. pay check you would think different. And that is a fact, jack.