That’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying that the process is long because of all the necessary checks and balances in place to hold the state accountable. Once you give the state an inch, it will take a mile. We see it time and time again. The death penalty has been abused throughout history.
I think if we want faster justice, there are things that can be looked at…like our overburdened court system or streamlining rules of evidence and engagement between sides. There are reforms that definitely need to happen, but cutting straight to the death penalty is not it.
While I understand what you’re saying in general (because it’s been backed up by evidence), I have to go with steviedee111 on this. What purpose does the ultimate punitive sentence serve if a savage such as this can simply sit in a cell for sometimes decades waiting for the eventual? Maybe this is a discussion for another day, I don’t know…
I think we both want the same thing here. What puzzles many is the process. For example, routinely people commit heinous crimes. Say, oh, a triple murder in June of 2014. You put it out of your mind in a few days. Then you hear via the media, “John Smith’s trial for the triple murder he allegedly committed in June of 2014 is scheduled for preliminary proceedings to commence in January of 2016.” And you say to yourself, WTF?
No, it’s a legitimate discussion for now. We have a tendency to push off the hard discussions here in American out of some misplaced concept of respect for victims (or, in some cases, total avoidance), but then we do the disservice of moving on and never having the discussion at all.
Yes, I understand. It can be infuriating. When I was in college I worked at a bank and was robbed. It was a particularly violent robbery. The 19 year old kid had shot a bank teller in the head in one of his previous robberies and they hadn’t caught him yet. His luck finally ran out and we were called to go to a lineup to identify him. We missed work, school, etc., only to show up and it was cancelled at the last minute. That happened to us four times. We were yanked around and our lives were in disarray for a year until he was allowed to plead out to 70 years. The whole process sucks, so I totally get it from both sides. Now, I’m a lawyer (not criminal), so I’ve seen it all the way around. Reform is surely needed and more care should be given to the plight of victims.
If it’s true the father gave the gun to his son, then this man needs to be made responsible in part for the actions of his son. It takes a special kind of stupidity to donate a firearm to someone who is obviously having and causing troubles.
Someone took the picture of him wearing his white supremacist jacket and scowling at the camera. Like @FirstPrime says, he wasn’t raised in a vacuum. I believe we’re seeing varying degrees of racism. When the uncle says his mother didn’t raise him to be like that I wonder what he considers normal. I’d like the see Roof’s computer, the roommates computer and the father’s if he has one.
And they will lawyer up soon, if not already. If the father gave him the gun, or even gave him the money to buy a gun, he can be charged to aiding and abetting a crime, the father might not go to jail, but he is in serious legal trouble. Best to clam up.
I don’t think the father can be held legally responsible even if he bought the gun but lawyering up is a good idea. If he did buy the gun then like the uncle says, the whole world is going to want answers.
On July 20, 2012, a mass shooting occurred inside of a Century movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, during a midnight screening of the film The Dark Knight Rises. A gunman, dressed in tactical clothing, set off tear gas grenades and shot into the audience with multiple firearms, killing 12 people and injuring 70 others. The sole suspect, James Eagan Holmes, was arrested in his car parked outside the cinema minutes later. The trial started on April 27, 2015, and is expected to last up to five months. The jury consists of nineteen women and five men, two of whom have connections to the Columbine High School massacre. Arapahoe County prosecutors say Holmes was sane during the shooting, while Holmes’ lawyers said he had a psychotic episode during the attack.
Courtesy Wikipedia
**2 years, 9 months, 7 days from crime to trial. 1011 days.** The public is supposed to have confidence justice is served by this process.
Anyhow, I’d have to assume that while families from which terrorists spring may not necessarily have explicitly taught the terrorist to act on their perverted values, certainly the family must have fostered an environment where the prejudices that lead to that acting out were pervasive.
Many of us will be looking to his family for some clue as to how this young man came to a violent racist… Bear in mind, as more information develops on this front, that we are currently experiencing young American and European born Muslims being radicalized via the social media. Heaven knows, there are plenty of extremist/hate sites and sources to which introverted, poorly socialized youths can turn to for sources of hate.
i agree. Many males in that 18 -25 year old range are under pressure as they transition into manhood, and conspiracy sites and hate radio jocks with their tough-guy bluster provide a perverse appeal.
I remember before he went to satellite radio Howard Stern was among the top shock jocks on radio. His raunchy and sexist remarks spoke to their insecurities.
And there’s no discounting Rush Limbaugh’s appeal among wingnuts.
It was a prominent black church. I’m thinking the kid knew how to use the google. He might have had a reason for picking that one, the Pastor being a politician perhaps. Plus Pinckney was among several pastors who held rallies after the Walter Scott shooting, a shooting I am sure amused Roof. There were a lot of white nuts upset about that rally, I’m sure he could have seen that on the Alex Jones website. And Pinckney being a politician was the most prominent.
You make it sound like the kid is an idiot. He’s depraved, not dumb. He’s not too bright for sure, but if he can DRIVE to a church 150 miles away and find it, what makes you think it was so hard for him to google it and find the address?
