something about this bothers me a lot. not for any reasons other…

Posted on 2003.02.11 at 13:52
Mood: okay

okay
Music: source direct - technical warfare

something about this bothers me a lot. not for any reasons other than what's mentioned into the article, so i won't ramble unnecessarily about it- but i hope they reassess his mental situation after administering meds, rather than just "ok, we gave him the pills, go ready the chamber".

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dieselboy's playing a club in sac tonight. i'm in a syncopated kinda mood, so i think i'll go... got lazy last weekend, can't do anything this weekend. feh.

my metabolism has suddenly all but disappeared. i haven't been hungry since sunday. odd...

10 comments Leave a comment

Comments:

scosol at 2003-02-11 14:00 (UTC) (Link)

The guy is crazy and should not be executed- end of story:

"I believe," he wrote, "that to execute a man who is severely deranged without treatment, and arguably incompetent when treated, is the pinnacle of what Justice Marshall called `the barbarity of exacting mindless vengeance."

If that's not how it's seen- whos to stop anyone from simply sedating *every* insane person and executing them.
I don't care *how* crazy you are, enough morphine will make you seem "sane".

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dk at 2003-02-11 14:20 (UTC) (Link)

I don't care *how* crazy you are, enough morphine will make you seem "sane".

true, but i have to play devil's advocate and say that no specific drugs were mentioned in the article- just that they were "antipsychotics".

so it's not fair to assume that the guy's being sedated and wheeled into court to hear the execution ordered.

that, and, if every mentally ill person in prison were diagnosed as such, death rows around the country would empty like a fratboy's stomach in september.

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tecknomania at 2003-02-11 15:18 (UTC) (Link)

You know, there are a lot of sick sick people out there, but my tune has changed. I used to believe that the worst ones (murderers, torturers) deserved to die. Now I am against the death penalty.

There are too many "unknowns" and state OK'd murder is still murder.

Especially a case like that. Very sad.

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dk at 2003-02-11 15:47 (UTC) (Link)

maybe i'm overly pragmatic, desensitized, or both-

but given that someone's committed and been convicted of an offense that will result in one of two outcomes- death penalty, or life sentence- what good does the latter do anyone? for the prisoner, it's effectively the same. for anyone outside the equation, the only difference is that they pony up the tab to feed and house this person until they die naturally.

if i were faced with that choice, i'd hold my arm out for the IV without a second thought. having done a weekender or two; if i had to pay the piper one way or another, there's no way i'd do anything *other* than take a quick painless exit rather than decades of what can only be very loosely and generously described as "life". (not that the choice would be mine, but that's beside the point.)

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tecknomania at 2003-02-11 16:05 (UTC) (Link)

Re:

I just read a big article in Amnesty International's newsletter about false confessions to crimes. Police use psychological torture, basically, and many people make false confessions after hours of interrogation. Mentioned also were the ENORMOUS numbers of people who were exonerated from their crime by DNA evidence.

I realize that their are guilty SICK SICK people who most likely deserve to die for their crime. But until we are "god" and know the truth and what is true justice, we shouldn't kill people, especially in the name of justice.

And, like you said, it'd be worse for a guilty person to be forced to live their whole life behind bars. To me, the death of a human at the hand of another human is huge and shouldn't be taken lightly.

I don't know, it's a long debate and I'm just going on my feelings.

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scosol at 2003-02-11 16:55 (UTC) (Link)

i still like george carlin's approach- hahahah

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scosol at 2003-02-11 16:58 (UTC) (Link)

im not saying anything about this case specifically-

more that if the logic being applied "an insane man that can be medicated to sanity is not criminally insane" is taken to it's extremes, then there will no longer be any "insane"

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dk at 2003-02-11 17:06 (UTC) (Link)

ah- gotcha, and point granted.

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