WP: Va. Senate votes for using electric chair if execution drugs stay scarce

[DCSaints_fan]

Yeah the e-chair is a really painful way to go.  Personally I'd rather face the firing squad or guillotine..   

[Sticksboi05]

Screw this wimp ****. Boil these MFers like the Elizabethan days of England.

[Taylor703]

When I was younger I was totally okay with the idea of the death penalty but as I get older it just seems like we should've moved past this as an society. I understand wanting justice but I just can't believe that this practice still happens. I almost feel guilty admitting this feeling because I know it will be met with much criticism.

[Larry]

When I was younger I was totally okay with the idea of the death penalty but as I get older it just seems like we should've moved past this as an society. I understand wanting justice but I just can't believe that this practice still happens. I almost feel guilty admitting this feeling because I know it will be met with much criticism.

Not from me.

It's not my opinion. But I'm not about to criticize you, for yours.

[Sacks 'n' Stuff]

You know what I miss? Scaphism.

 

If I was allowed to put two kids a year in the boats, I bet that would cure all behavior problems at my school.

[JMS]

Thomas Edison invented the Electric Chair, not as a humaine way to kill prisoners, but as a horrific way to kill prisoners. Edison used Teslers alternating current in the electric chair to prove to people how dangerous AC current was. Edison favored Direct Current which was much safer but required decentralized production centers.

Anyway, After Edison build the chair and took part in a few executions, all anybody remembered was Thomas Edison being associated with the electric chair and killing folks. It was Edison who took the wrap for having a dangerous product. Tester's AC current is the current we use in our homes today. We use Edison's DC current in our flash lights.

[Major Harris]

So should we start chopping people's heads off with swords now? Probably cheaper than the chair and if it doesn't matter how you do it....

A clean cut and it's pretty painless. ...u r onto something.

[nonniey]

I believe in the death penalty. But it is much cheaper to house them until they die. Just sentence them to life with no parole, and they will die in prison. Effectively the death penalty, zero chance of executing an innocent person, and it saves money. From where I sit, that's a win-win-win.

 

EDIT: No gen-pop for these guys. 23 hours in a solitary cell. 1 hour for shower and exercise.

There is no such thing as life without parole.

[nonniey]

Is it time for my usual screed on why the death penalty is unnecessary, ineffective at deterring crime, unfairly applied and impossible to undo if wrongly applied?

 

Or should I just post the list of countries that have the dealth penalty (China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Afganistan, Pakistan, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Somalia and so forth)

 

and compare it with the list of countries that have abolished the death penalty (England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, every other country in Europe, Canada, Australia, every country in South America, etc.)

Oh I vehemently disagree that the death penalty is ineffective at deterring crime and thus certainly necessary in some cases. Unfairly applied? - agree. Impossible to undo? Yes but then so is every other punishment.

With the exception of the UK, Europe has never about been about applying justice they have always been about what is in the best interest of the state (In which case it is a good thing they no longer use the death penalty). The UK has moved towards the more European method over the last 70 years in that arena.

[Burgold]

Oh I vehemently disagree that the death penalty is ineffective at deterring crime and thus certainly necessary in some cases. 

What do you base this on? Every study I have ever read on the opposite shows no significant deterrence. I suspect one reason may be the lag time between the crime and the punishment, but regardless, pretty much every study done in this area indicates that the death penalty creates no change in behavior.

[skinsmarydu]

There is no such thing as life without parole.

I take it you're never up at oh-dark-thirty watching Lockup.

 

There is.

People spend years waiting to know their fate.  And I'll be honest...I'd rather die than spend the next 30 years in that hell.

 

I went through the Troy Davis sentencing here in GA.  I never want to hear of or know of anything like that again.  (He, more than likely was innocent, yet was put to DEATH.)

 

Find a heart, then grow the balls it takes to stand up & say NO. 

[Larry]

What do you base this on? Every study I have ever read on the opposite shows no significant deterrence. I suspect one reason may be the lag time between the crime and the punishment, but regardless, pretty much every study done in this area indicates that the death penalty creates no change in behavior.

"Well, that's just because we aren't doing it enough. Or quick enough. Or inhumanely enough. Or televising it. But somehow, I'm just certain that, if we did MORE of it, THEN it would work."

[TheGoodBits]

Oh I vehemently disagree that the death penalty is ineffective at deterring crime and thus certainly necessary in some cases. Unfairly applied? - agree. Impossible to undo? Yes but then so is every other punishment.

.

Between this entire paragraph and your assertion that there is no such thing as a life sentence without parole, you are on an absolute roll in this thread.

[The 12th Commandment]

I struggle with the concept that folks on the right can rationalize (unintentionally?) punishing the innocent to make sure that the guilty pay.  From the death penalty to the abuse of food stamps (cut them off for everyone because some people cheat), it seems pretty pervasive within their core beliefs. How does a person get that cynical?  I see it exactly the opposite, i would rather 100 guilty people are not put death (or are allowed to cheat on their food stamps) if it would save one innocent person from death or one hungry kid.  

 

My knee jerk reaction is to think they're projecting their own worst inclinations to some extent.  

[TimmySmith]

I struggle with the concept that folks on the right can rationalize (unintentionally?) punishing the innocent to make sure that the guilty pay.  From the death penalty to the abuse of food stamps (cut them off for everyone because some people cheat), it seems pretty pervasive within their core beliefs. How does a person get that cynical?  I see it exactly the opposite, i would rather 100 guilty people are not put death (or are allowed to cheat on their food stamps) if it would save one innocent person from death or one hungry kid.  

 

My knee jerk reaction is to think they're projecting their own worst inclinations to some extent.  

Your knee jerk appears to favor lawlessness which is more dangerous to the innocent.

[TheGoodBits]

Your knee jerk appears to favor lawlessness which is more dangerous to the innocent.

Do you ever bother to attempt to post actual arguments rather than just nonsensical drive-by one-liners?

[The 12th Commandment]

Your knee jerk appears to favor lawlessness which is more dangerous to the innocent.

How do you figure that?

Lock em up, then can we fix the situation (somewhat) when we find those that are innocent.  

[Kilmer17]

If we have such an problem getting the drugs needed for "humane" murder, doesn't that sort of tell us the inherent issue?

[Burgold]

Out of lethal drugs? Thanks to the NRA we'll never be out of guns. Firing squad. Anyone who misses the target can got shot too.

[sacase]

Not sure why we don't just use hanging. Its fast and painless if done right. Only cost is the cost of the rope and the platform with the trap door is reusable. 

[twa]

If we have such an problem getting the drugs needed for "humane" murder, doesn't that sort of tell us the inherent issue?

 

it's not murder if ya remove their personhood as a result of conviction

[Larry]

If we have such an problem getting the drugs needed for "humane" murder, doesn't that sort of tell us the inherent issue?

We need to allow importing drugs from China?

[nonniey]

What do you base this on? Every study I have ever read on the opposite shows no significant deterrence. I suspect one reason may be the lag time between the crime and the punishment, but regardless, pretty much every study done in this area indicates that the death penalty creates no change in behavior.

It is absolutely a deterrent. Can you point out even one instance of a person who was executed that ever committed another murder or any crime for that matter? I on the other hand can find numerous examples of people sentenced to life in prison that did kill again.

[TheGoodBits]

It is absolutely a deterrent. Can you point out even instance of a person who was executed that ever committed another murder or any crime for that matter? I on the other hand can find numerous examples of people sentenced to life in prison that did kill again.

Hard to argue with that logic!

[nonniey]

I take it you're never up at oh-dark-thirty watching Lockup.

 

There is.

People spend years waiting to know their fate.  And I'll be honest...I'd rather die than spend the next 30 years in that hell.

 

I went through the Troy Davis sentencing here in GA.  I never want to hear of or know of anything like that again.  (He, more than likely was innocent, yet was put to DEATH.)

 

Find a heart, then grow the balls it takes to stand up & say NO.

Again there is no such thing as life without parole. There is always a possibility of commutation, pardoning, paroles, changes in law and so on.

There is a subset of the anti-death penalty crowd that is also pushing for the abolishment of life sentences. There have been Governors who commuted sentences of guilty people for humanitarian reasons (Usually extremely old convicts who they think are no longer threats and so on).

Now as for Troy Davis here is the info I found on him (I'll let you decide if you still feel he was more than likely innocent. Please note the convictions for aggravated assault which most activists either don't know about or don't reference in their arguments):

Troy Anthony Davis was sentenced to death for the murder of Savannah police officer Mark Allen MacPhail in 1989. On August 19, 1989, Troy Anthony Davis was at a Burger King restaurant with friends and and struck a homeless man named Larry Young in the head with a pistol when Young refused to give a beer to one of Davis's friends. Officer MacPhail, who was working an off-duty security detail at the Greyhound bus terminal next door, heard Young cry out and responded to the disturbance. Davis fled and, when Officer MacPhail, wearing his full police uniform, ordered him to stop, Davis turned and shot the officer in the right thigh and chest. Although Mark MacPhail was wearing a bullet-proof vest, his sides were not protected and the bullet entered the left side of his chest, penetrating his left lung and his aorta, stopping at the back of his chest cavity. Davis, smiling, walked up to the stricken officer and shot him in the face as he lay dying in the parking lot. The officer's gun was still strapped in his holster and his baton was still on his belt. Davis fled to Atlanta and a massive manhunt ensued. The next afternoon, Davis told a friend that he had been involved in an argument at the restaurant the previous evening and struck someone with a gun. He told the friend that when a police officer ran up, Davis shot him and that he went to the officer and "finished the job" because he knew the officer got a good look at his face when he shot him the first time. After his arrest, Davis told a cellmate a similar story. He was arrested after surrendering a few days after the murder. Trial began exactly two years to the day of Officer MacPhail's murder. This resulted in Davis' conviction for murder after less than two hours of deliberation by the jury, and in the imposition of a death sentence after seven hours of deliberation.

He was also convicted of obstruction of a law enforcement officer, aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony. One of the two counts of aggravated assault arose from an incident where Davis shot into a car that was leaving a party an hour before the murder of Officer MacPhail. Michael Cooper was struck in the head by a bullet, severely injuring him and leaving the bullet lodged in his jaw. Ballistics tests matched the shells from the murder of the police officer to shells found at a party earlier in the evening where Michael Cooper had been shot. Cooper identified Davis as the shooter. Even though the US Supreme Court rejected his final appeal without dissent in June of 2007, Davis received a 90-day stay from the state pardons and parole board just one day before his July 17, 2007 execution date. The stay was granted to examine claims by witnesses that they had given erroneous testimony or were no longer certain about their identification of Davis.

About the changing witnesses, the Georgia Supreme Court stated that most of the witnesses who recanted "have merely stated they now do not feel able to identify the shooter." The majority could not ignore the trial testimony, "and, in fact, we favor that original testimony over the new."