This is one of those topics that I try not to comment on because I always end up getting pissed off.
If you have been convicted of murdering someone (that's murdering not just killing) then you absolutley should die. There is no rehabilitating someone like that. They have already proved how little they think of thier fellow man, so I think we should return the favor.
Trader Jake mentioned (not trying to start a fight here) Hammurabi's code. That is the arguement that I hear the most when this comes up. The fact is that that is a bizarre absolute. It is no different than if you were to say to somebody "You know that new guy that just started working here? The black guy? I heard he does crack" and then the other person says "What are you saying?!?! That all black people do crack?!?!". Just because one instance is used, it doesn't mean that all should be associated.
I definatley think that the punishment should fit the crime to a certain extent. If you murder someone....bye. See ya. We don't need you here. If you steal a candy bar, than you should be forced to cough up 50 cents. The problem with Hammurabbis code is that it works on the premise that the most stern punishment should be applied no matter what the crime.
I do agree that more needs to be done to make sure that innocent people do not get executed. If there is even a sliver of a possibility that someone could be innocent, then they should not be executed. The fact is that as soon as somebody is put on death row, there are almost constant investigations going on into that persons case. If they can't find anything then I would say that there is a good chance that they did it. Off they go.
Don't worry though, you won't make much of a chance of getting innocently killed. It's mostly poor black kids. What a relief!
It's this kind of statement that pisses me off the most. In the 80's in Detroit, our police department would dress police officers up like homeless people and just sit on the street and wait to get robbed. As soon as they got robbed, those who were robbing the officers got arrested. Our mayor at the time, who was a black man, cut the program because 90% of the people that were getting arrested were black and he said that it was a racist program. These thieves were not baited in any way. The officers did not go up to young black kids and flash money in front of them. They sat on a street corner and let the scum of the city come to them.
I'm not trying to say that black people are more criminally active than white people. The fact is that people in impovrished areas are more likely to commit crimes because in thier dilluted world views, that is the only way to get ahead and most of the poorer areas in this country are mostly populated by black people. Frankly the mentality in some of these areas is retarded. There is no other way to put it. Young black kids are born into poor families (because apparently only black people are poor. There has never in history been a poor white family.
). Instead of doing things the hard way and going to school, getting a job and trying to be an asset to the community, he grabs a gun, joins a gang, and blames the white man. Accountability is completely non-existant, and I am tired of apologizing for being white.
Alright, time to stop and calm down. Breathe. Good. I hope no thinks that I was attacking them directly here, just airing some of my opinions. I could have gone on for much longer, but I have to actually do some work.
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