#98QBKiller Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 Some good news on the day, this is something I can agree with most of the Repubs on Executions to resume after high court OK's lethal injections http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080416/ap_on_go_su_co/scotus_lethal_injection;_ylt=At6X6SAHK3.9QIu3FBf6mBes0NUE By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press Writer 23 minutes ago U.S. executions are all but sure to resume soon after a nationwide halt, cleared Wednesday by a splintered Supreme Court that approved the most widely used method of lethal injection. Virginia immediately lifted its moratorium, Oklahoma said it would seek execution dates for two convicted murderers, and other states were ready to follow. Voting 7-2, the conservative court led by Chief Justice John Roberts rebuffed the latest assault on capital punishment in the U.S., this time by foes focusing on methods rather than broader questions of legality. Justice John Paul Stevens voted with the majority on the question of lethal injections but said for the first time that he now believes the death penalty is unconstitutional. The court turned back a challenge to the procedures in place in Kentucky that employ three drugs to sedate, paralyze and kill inmates. Similar methods are used by roughly three dozen states. Death penalty opponents said challenges to lethal injections would continue in states where problems with administering the drugs are well documented. The case decided Wednesday was not about the constitutionality of the death penalty generally or even lethal injection. Instead, two Kentucky death row inmates contended that their executions could be carried out more humanely, with less risk of pain. The inmates "have not carried their burden of showing that the risk of pain from maladministration of a concededly humane lethal injection protocol, and the failure to adopt untried and untested alternatives, constitute cruel and unusual punishment," Chief Justice John Roberts said in an opinion that garnered only three votes. Four other justices, however, agreed with the outcome. Roberts also suggested that the court will not halt scheduled executions in the future unless "the condemned prisoner establishes that the state's lethal injection protocol creates a demonstrated risk of severe pain." States can avoid this risk by using the three-drug procedure approved in the Kentucky case, Roberts said. Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter dissented. Executions have been on hold since September, when the court agreed to hear the Kentucky case. The justices stepped in to halt six executions, and many others were put off because of the high court's review. Forty-two people were executed last year out of more than 3,300 people on death rows across the country. Wednesday's decision was announced with Pope Benedict XVI, a prominent death penalty critic, in Washington and the court's five Catholic justices — Roberts, Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas — headed to the White House for a dinner in his honor. All five supported the lethal injection procedures. The court separately heard arguments Wednesday on the constitutionality of the death penalty for people convicted of raping children. A decision in that case is expected by late June. The argument against the three-drug protocol is that if the initial anesthetic does not take hold, the other two drugs can cause excruciating pain. One of those drugs, a paralytic, would render the prisoner unable to express his discomfort. The Kentucky inmates wanted the court to order a switch to a single drug, a barbiturate, that causes no pain and can be given in a large enough dose to cause death. At the very least, they said, the state should be required to impose tighter controls on the three-drug process to ensure that the anesthetic is given properly. Ginsburg, in her dissent, said her colleagues should have asked Kentucky courts to consider whether the state includes adequate safeguards to ensure a prisoner is unconscious and thus unlikely to suffer severe pain. Stevens, while agreeing with Wednesday's outcome, said the decision would not end the debate over lethal injection. "I am now convinced that this case will generate debate not only about the constitutionality of the three-drug protocol, and specifically about the justification for the use of the paralytic agent, pancuronium bromide, but also about the justification for the death penalty itself," Stevens said in an opinion in which he said for the first time that he believes the death penalty is unconstitutional. Stevens suggested that states could spare themselves legal costs and delays in executions by eliminating the use of the paralytic. Kentucky has had only one execution by lethal injection, and it did not present any obvious problems, both sides in the case agreed. But executions elsewhere, in Florida and Ohio, took much longer than usual, with strong indications that the prisoners suffered severe pain in the process. Workers had trouble inserting the intravenous lines that are used to deliver the drugs. Roberts said "a condemned prisoner cannot successfully challenge a state's method of execution merely by showing a slightly or marginally safer alternative." He acknowledged that Wednesday's outcome would not prevent states from adopting a method of execution they consider more humane. Alito and Kennedy joined his opinion. Justice Stephen Breyer concurred in the outcome, although he said he would evaluate the case under the same standard put forth by Ginsburg, that a means of execution may not create an "untoward, readily avoidable risk of inflicting severe and unnecessary pain." Justices Scalia and Clarence Thomas said Roberts' opinion did not go far enough in insulating states from challenges to their lethal injection procedures, which were instituted to make executions more humane. A "method of execution violates the Eighth Amendment only if it is deliberately designed to inflict pain," Thomas said. Donald Verrilli, a veteran death penalty lawyer who argued the inmates' case, said he was disappointed in the decision, but hopeful about other challenges. "I think important issues remain after this decision," Verrilli said. "Records of administration of lethal injections in other states raise grave doubts about the reliability of those procedures." The Rev. Pat Delahanty, head of the Kentucky Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, said the ruling wasn't a surprise. "We never expected it to do more than maybe slow down executions in Kentucky or elsewhere," Delahanty said. "We're going to be facing some executions soon." Wednesday's case involved two inmates, Ralph Baze and Thomas Clyde Bowling Jr., who were convicted of murder and sentenced to death by juries in Kentucky. Baze killed a sheriff and a deputy who were attempting to arrest him. Bowling shot and killed a couple and wounded their 2-year-old son outside their dry-cleaning business. Fayette County Commonwealth Attorney Ray Larson, who prosecuted Bowling in 1992, said after the ruling: "Fact of the matter is, this lethal injection process is about as far from cruel and unusual as anything you can imagine. This is just another one of those things the anti-death penalty gang is throwing against the wall to see what sticks." The case is Baze v. Ress, 07-5439. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigMike619 Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 Good. Too many sympathetic people in this world woh dont think about anything else but taking up the cause and forgetting about the other side of the coin.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 Good. Maybe they can put the local cop killer to death now, along with some other pieces of **** that need killin' Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BALLz Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 I think i'm against lethal injection, bring back the guillotine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkinsOrlando Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 I still say death by hanging is the way to go, isn't that how they do it in Montana still? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulane Skins Fan Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 This thread is getting disturbing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
China Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 We've gotta catch up to China somehow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 We've gotta catch up to China somehow. We should be surpasing China I posted here awhile ago about a guy that tried to assassinate FDR He was dead three weeks later If I ever get in power, the first thing I'm going ot tell all teh governers is by sunrise tomorrow, I want empty death row cells and big assed electric bills Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
#98QBKiller Posted April 16, 2008 Author Share Posted April 16, 2008 If I ever get in power, the first thing I'm going ot tell all teh governers is by sunrise tomorrow, I want empty death row cells and big assed electric bills I would take the "Green" approach and use an indoor firing squad...save that electricity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulane Skins Fan Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 We should be surpasing ChinaI posted here awhile ago about a guy that tried to assassinate FDR He was dead three weeks later If I ever get in power, the first thing I'm going ot tell all teh governers is by sunrise tomorrow, I want empty death row cells and big assed electric bills you know Sarge, you fail to even acknowledge the statistics on how many INNOCENT people are put to death. Its one thing to say that you think we should have the death penalty in this country. Its another thing to say we should kill as many people as possible so that we surpass all the other countries to send a message. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 you know Sarge, you fail to even acknowledge the statistics on how many INNOCENT people are put to death.Its one thing to say that you think we should have the death penalty in this country. Its another thing to say we should kill as many people as possible so that we surpass all the other countries to send a message. Everyone in prison is innocent. They'll tell you too Just ask a convict Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stophovr6 Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 Everyone in prison is innocent. They'll tell you too Just ask a convict I've seen a ton of those MSNBC shows about people in prisons across america. I don't know if it's the one's they pick but most of them fess up for the reason they were put in jail and they don't talk about being innocent and being put in jail for no reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulane Skins Fan Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 Everyone in prison is innocent. They'll tell you too Just ask a convict Is that what I said? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
33 Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 What would Jesus do? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkinsOrlando Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 you know Sarge, you fail to even acknowledge the statistics on how many INNOCENT people are put to death.Its one thing to say that you think we should have the death penalty in this country. Its another thing to say we should kill as many people as possible so that we surpass all the other countries to send a message. I used to buy into the innocent people are put to death argument as well, and there is some validity to it, thats why I don't believe in the death penalty on circumstancial evidence cases, however there are those where the evidence is plenty to put them to death and they shouldbe removed from there lives. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulane Skins Fan Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 I used to buy into the innocent people are put to death argument as well, and there is some validity to it, thats why I don't believe in the death penalty on circumstancial evidence cases, however there are those where the evidence is plenty to put them to death and they shouldbe removed from there lives. Well, I havent made a comment on whether or not I think the death penalty should be legal in this thread yet. I simply take offense to someone saying we should do what we can to surpass every other country. As if, killing the most people - regardless of for what crime, how strong the evidence, or whether or not they even turn out to be innocent - is something that is necessary to show our might to the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgundy Burner Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 I'm a conservative on all issues except one. Care to take a guess? Not for the death penalty under any circumstance. Life in prison for the crimes that deserve it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sarge Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 Well, I havent made a comment on whether or not I think the death penalty should be legal in this thread yet. I simply take offense to someone saying we should do what we can to surpass every other country. As if, killing the most people - regardless of for what crime, how strong the evidence, or whether or not they even turn out to be innocent - is something that is necessary to show our might to the world. I could care less about showing the world anything What I do care about is making a point to criminals, and reinstating the idea of crime and punishment in this country Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
33 Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 I decided to do a little research and see what info exists in regards to Capital Punishment being a deterrent. (Any pro death penalty people will tell you it is the ultimate deterrent, because that criminal never commits a crime again. ) Here is a Harris Poll that came out in February. It seems that Americans believe in Cap Punishment as a deterrent less and less in the last 30 years. http://www.pollingreport.com/crime.htm Here is a study on whether Capital Punishment is a deterrent to crime. You can skip down to the conclusion if you don't want to read the entire paper. http://sun.soci.niu.edu/%7Ecritcrim/dp/dppapers/mike.deterence As of April 2008, there have been 128 exonerations. Here is a list by state. http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=412&scid=6 deathpenaltyinfo.com is an interesting site because they are a neutral, non-profit organization that collects data on Capital Punishment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rincewind Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 WOO HOO!!! More people killing, people dying. I love the smell of napalm in the morning! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Burgold Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 I've actually softened on the Death Penalty in recent years, meaning I'm more for it than I used to be. I'm still against it 99% of the cases, but if there is someone who did something so vile, disgusting, and evil that they can never be entrusted to be a part of society again, can never be trusted to contribute to society in any meaningful way, etc. than for those very few, I think the Death Penalty makes sense. Afterall, in some ways life imprisonment with no hope of parole is a death penalty too. It's just Chinese drip torture versus the guillotine. And if there is no chance at redemption or public safety. The guillotine is safer. As to this ruling, if we're not arguing whether there should or should not be a death penalty, then this method is as good or bad as others. The notion that this person is the worst of the worst and an irretrievable menace to society should be spared a little bit of pain while being put to death seems bizzarre. If he's bad enough to be killed, then what's a moment of discomfort? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cathartic-j Posted April 16, 2008 Share Posted April 16, 2008 I still say death by hanging is the way to go, isn't that how they do it in Montana still? Hanging might still be a legal method in MT (I don't think it is, but it wouldn't surprise me if it were), but the method actually used there is lethal injection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
33 Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/FactSheet.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Special K Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 I used to buy into the innocent people are put to death argument as well, and there is some validity to it, thats why I don't believe in the death penalty on circumstancial evidence cases, however there are those where the evidence is plenty to put them to death and they shouldbe removed from there lives. I have no problem putting worthy offenders to death. Some people just need their "life card" revoked. My only problem with the death penalty is the fact that it isn't cost effective. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twa Posted April 17, 2008 Share Posted April 17, 2008 I have no problem putting worthy offenders to death. Some people just need their "life card" revoked. My only problem with the death penalty is the fact that it isn't cost effective. Thats easy enough,limit appeals and the time spent waiting,five yrs is the longest anyone should stay on deathrow w/o a stay of execution. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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