Comments on: Additional Information

By: Bryan

Bryan — Wed, 20 May 2015 01:56:39 +0000

Actually the death penalty was pretty much it for centuries in the areas where the basis for the US legal system was developed. Hell, most of the ‘investigative techniques’ were lethal, so being accused was a death sentence.

The county was more than decade out of sync with the need for prison space, and then started creating laws to fill prisons that were surplus when they were opened. They built a new prison on Otay Mesa in San Diego County and then discovered they didn’t have the money to turn on the lights, much less hire guards. It was incredible that they built the damn thing before they determined those issues.

Actually, I don’t think the US criminal justice system is capable of producing the certainty necessary for execution.

By: Badtux

Badtux — Tue, 19 May 2015 05:17:43 +0000

My problem with the death penalty is that it’s too easy, and too cheap (assuming we give up all these appeals and such and decide to implement it the same way as China, with a bullet to the head in the courtyard of the prison a few days after the sentence is declared). I want punishment to be expensive because that’s how we keep society from declaring huge swathes of the population to be criminals and punishing them — the cost of doing so would buckle state budgets if they have to pay for actual prison cells and guards rather than just the cost of bullets. Thus you get situations like here in California where the state budget was being buckled by the thousands imprisoned by the War on Drugs, and as a result the state has basically decriminalized a bunch of drug-related misdemeanors and non-violent felonies and opened the jail cells of those prisoners and said “you’re free, go home.” (As if). Which would *never* happen if “justice” was the cost of a bullet in the courtyard, they would have instead given the death penalty for stealing a Snickers bar because that would be cheaper.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Mon, 18 May 2015 01:56:56 +0000

In reply to Steve Bates. I support the concept of the death penalty, but the reality is totally dysfunctional. The 'life without parole' sentence is cheaper and, in many ways, just a final as the death sentence, with the advantage that it provides real closure. With the death sentence the case will be rehashed at the appeals and at the actual execution. With 'life without parole' the criminal disappears into a supermax, never to be heard from again.

By: Steve Bates

Steve Bates — Sun, 17 May 2015 13:30:04 +0000

In principle I oppose the death penalty in all cases. But I freely admit that someone like Tsarnaev tests my resolve to the limit. I certainly won’t spend any time or emotional energy mourning him; he’s a truly reprehensible excuse for a human being. Hell, he’d be a reprehensible excuse for a cockroach…

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sun, 17 May 2015 00:27:03 +0000

The weakness was known and there isn’t a lot that can be done about it. Almost any reaction will result in major collateral damage, not only to people but to major national monuments. Face it, taking out a couple of dozen Japanese tourists and destroying the Lincoln Memorial is not something any law enforcement agency wants on their ledger, if it is done to stop one lone individual who has no weapons.

I understand the guy’s point and even agree with him. It is really frustrating that you have to resort to such extremes before anyone pays attention to you.

By: Shirt

Shirt — Sat, 16 May 2015 16:48:04 +0000

Additional information:
Via the Mahablog, a link to the Gyrocopter dude, his explanation of why he did it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/i-flew-a-gyrocopter-onto-the-capitol-lawn-to-save-our-democracy/2015/05/15/072590ae-fb0d-11e4-9030-b4732caefe81_story.html

I admit to being irritated by him for pointing out another weakness at the capital but I must also admit his intent was certainly honorable.