Where's the E.U.'s concern for 400+ innocent victims and their families that never had a say in their futures.

Quoting Falcon84 (Reply 34): The only reason I have any use for Texas is my company is based there.

...and that the man that is often credited (and rightly so) for the very existance of that company today - was born - and educated - in Texas. Aghast, a native Texan saves the day.

Thats it? Damn we need to be building freeways to death row. Get rid of the scum bags. Damn proud to say I'm from Texas and we use the death penalty. People should get one appeal and wala your gone. None of this bs of sitting on death row for 20 years.

Slovacek747

It would be a big deterrent if they didn't sit on death row for 20 years. If they knew a year after being caught they would be dead I know severe criminal activity would drop.

Actually, it probably would not. Criminals are not exactly known for rational thinking and for some of them, their accepted values (if you can call them that) are much different from the rest of us in society. The criminals are not looking long term or even short term. They're going to do what it takes for them to get what they want, regardless of the penalties. I mean, drug smuggling still goes on (albeit at much lower levels) in Indonesia, even though the smugglers have to be aware that it is a capital offense there.

Quoting Slovacek747 (Reply 40): It would be a big deterrent if they didn't sit on death row for 20 years. If they knew a year after being caught they would be dead I know severe criminal activity would drop.

When you limit the number of appeals or set a time limit, you dramatically increase the risk that an innocent person will be executed.

The Innocence Project has a list of people whose convictions were overturned by DNA evidence ( http://www.innocenceproject.org/know/Browse-Profiles.php ). Not all of them were death row inmates, but it does speak to the amount of time it can take to prove someone's innocence - you will not find a conviction there that was overturned in a year; very few were overturned even in five years.

Faster executions would be a more effective deterrent, but they would also carry side-effects that are morally and socially unacceptable.

-Mir

When someone commits murder, especially if it is pre-meditated, they should pay the ultimate price, because no prison sentence will ever be enough to relieve the grief the criminal put on the victims family and friends. If a member of my family was murdered, and the death penalty was an option I would be all for it. I am a supporter of the death penalty, and not surprisingly a Texan. Sure, there are a few situations where innocent people are put to death, but then again their is a possiblity the man a McDonald's will mess up my order tomorrow, mistakes happen in almost every situation, they are inevitable. But should the whole system be put down because one or two mistakes? No. Should a 16 year old new driver on the road have their license taken away for forgeting to turn on their blinker once or twice? No. Nothing is perfect.

If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.

If you commit a crime, you must be willing to pay for it if you get caught.

It's as simple as that. No arguments.

I'm not saying you are wrong in not believing in the death penalty, because everyone has different opinions.

Texans aren't arrogant, we're just better than everyone else.  

Dear Texas,

Congratulations on your upcoming 400th execution. I t has taken you a long time to get there but you have persevered as a state and have done it. Here's to #500, telling the EU to blow it out their rear, and to the possibility of bringing back old sparky. Throw the switch and watch 'em twitch.


AirTran737

Quoting AirTran737 (Reply 44): Dear Texas, Congratulations on your upcoming 400th execution.

I agree. One Texan less.  

Quoting AustinAllison (Reply 43): Sure, there are a few situations where innocent people are put to death, but then again their is a possiblity the man a McDonald's will mess up my order tomorrow, mistakes happen in almost every situation, they are inevitable. But should the whole system be put down because one or two mistakes? No.

Some situations are more tolerant of mistakes than others. Forget to carry a digit on a math test and you'll get a lower grade, but if you forget to carry a digit when calculating the trajectory of a spacecraft, you miss the target and waste millions of taxpayer dollars. If the guy at McDonalds messes up your order, it may be a pain in the ass, but nobody dies. Screw up a death penalty conviction, and somebody does actually die who didn't do anything to deserve it. To draw any comparison in error tolerance between the two is simply ridiculous. In situations where human life is involved, one or two mistakes is not acceptable.

Quoting AustinAllison (Reply 43): When someone commits murder, especially if it is pre-meditated, they should pay the ultimate price, because no prison sentence will ever be enough to relieve the grief the criminal put on the victims family and friends.

No death sentence will ever be enough to relieve the grief either. But that's irrelevant, because the government should not be dealing in vengeance.

-Mir

Quoting AirTran737 (Reply 44): Dear Texas, Congratulations on your upcoming 400th execution. I t has taken you a long time to get there but you have persevered as a state and have done it. Here's to #500, telling the EU to blow it out their rear, and to the possibility of bringing back old sparky. Throw the switch and watch 'em twitch.

God Almighty, but that is one of the sickest posts I've ever read on here.

Quoting NWA742 (Reply 35): Oh yes, going easy on murderers, rapists, thieves, low-life scumbags............even better.

Didn't say that. Put them in solitary for life. That's a worse punishment in my mind.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/3472872.html
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/s...chi-tx-1-story,0,4563517.htmlstory
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/seanpa...enneth-foster-jr-an-i_b_58655.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/03/us...138&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
http://www.campusprogress.org/page/community/post/jr/C3BN

Generally:http://www.innocenceproject.org/

Undoubtedly, Texas and others have executed innocent people. It then becomes state-sponsored murder, something traditional right-wing people would completely balk at. Instead we have neo-liberalistic, almost fascist people who seem to think that the odd innocent person murdered is OK as long as the greater good is done.

OK, as a proud Texan, let me bottom-line this for you "enlightened" people who do not live here and have no clue as to how things are here.

First off, Falcon, don't PM me saying "Man, but you are sick puppy, dude." If you want to debate this, do it here. PM'ing me in that manner breaks forum rules by insulting another member and it's also flamebait. VERY disrespectful.

If you Europeans or anyone else in the world don't want to use the death penalty, that's just fine. It's your country and that's why there are different political subdivisions in the world. If those of you in other states don't want to use the death penalty, that's just fine. It's your state and that's why there are different political subdivisions in the US. But Texans by and large are comfortable with the death penalty and we find it to be the means we prefer to deal with the most egregious offenders. Don't tell us how to run our state and we won't tell you how to run yours.

The death penalty would not be necessary if everyone was peaceable and never committed heinous crimes but that's not the way it is here. Maybe (likely) there are fewer violent offenders in other parts of the world and that's wonderful but that's not how it is here. Unless you live here you do not understand so don't even TRY to think you can condemn our system of justice.

How many of you knew someone who has been put to death via the death penalty? I did. I know a man who was a friend of a my family, committed a very horrible crime against someone else my family knew, and was put to death for that crime (352nd Texas execution). I talked to him while he was in jail for that crime and he knew he needed to die for the crime he committed. That did not keep him from exhausting available legal avenues to avoid the death penalty but he still knew what the penalty was for his crime and he knew it was fair. And I am COMPLETELY and TOTALLY comfortable knowing that his life was taken by my and fellow Texan's hands. I've never lost a wink of sleep over it and never will.

R. I. P., Jennifer.

http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/white990.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melvin_White
http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/stat/whitemelvin.htm

Do you know how easy it would be for Texans to vote in a new set of legislators that would overturn the death penalty? We're not going to do it. That's not how we want our state run. And although it could be forced on us by rulings from the Supreme Court, it would not be the way we want things done here.

Quoting Klaus (Reply 21): An earlier incarnation of my own country had driven all those mistakes to the extreme, and I can only warn you to abandon this path; It doesn't lead anywhere you would ever want to be.

You really surprise me, Klaus. I respect you less because you would even attempt to compare the ethnic cleansing of the Nazis to criminal executions carried out by a democratically elected government. I would have expected a more intelligent, fact-based argument from you. The death penalty has worked for Texans for 170+ years and will continue to work for us.