Post by Glenda Gustin on Dec 10, 2021 16:06:08 GMT
My take on the death penalty
All the years of my childhood and most adulthood I was a proponent of the death penalty for those who had committed capital crimes. This was due in large part because I was raised that way, surrounded by people who felt this way. In main part it was believed that criminals 'chose' their way of life and 'chose' to commit their crimes. And that the death penalty was reserved only for those that were considered incapable of change and would be a threat to society if ever they got out. And that the death penalty was reserved only for those that were absolutely proved guilty; 'Bodies under their floorboards' being an expression made in reference to them.
Ted Bundy's escape from prison in 1977 further cemented my belief in the DP, I believed some people were a threat to society even behind bars for as long as they lived. I also felt that it wasn't fair for victims--either direct victims, their survivors and society as a whole--should be forced to provide room and board and medical care for the criminal.I felt that same money could be better spent on the victims provide for two or three other persons who might be able to step back into society someday.
And finally, I felt that life in prison without parole was cruel and inhumane and the death penalty should be made available to those prisoners.
Real life has a way of jerking one awake and that happened to me. Although the numbers weren't so high when I was younger today we know that an average of 3.94 wrongly convicted death-row prisoners have been exonerated each year since 1973 with willful legal misconduct being a major reason for their original convictions.
I now believe that an inordinate number of death row inmates have been victims of drug and alcohol abuse, child abuse and mental illness. I have never believed that the death penalty should be used that way, that when the state fails its women and children it should be allowed to then kill them. Many people are aghast at this exact behavior against racing horses, who, after having done whatever was asked of them, these beautiful innocent creatures are then put through trauma and deprivation before being slaughtered by the tens of thousands. What we do to human victims of substance abuse and child abuse is only slightly better, some say.
I do not believe people should get away with evil because they are smart or lucky. We need to remove violent people from our streets so that children can run and play, so adults can go to work and do their jobs and live their lives in peace and security and happiness and health. Many if not most people feel the same. The disagreement arises when deciding how to go about it.
Even the most ardent supporter of the death penalty can probably agree to the setting aside of the death penalty for a set amount of time until further investigation reveals just how effective it is to ensuring peace and prosperity in our communities. Insisting the the DP is 'evil' because of religious reasons has only caused the pro-DP activists to dig in deeper. Some compromise would lead to better results.
And a large part of the blame goes to a few American institutions: Our education system that brainwashes and indoctinates rather than teaches. I understand its use--indoctrination can be done by anyone, anytime anywhere it is cheap and easy. But a student never learns to think or reason and the first effects are crime, and the second effects are civil uprising and bloodshed. We are just seeing the long-term effects now.
The other problem is that throughout human history every able-bodied person, man or woman or child, was expected to defend himself, his family and his community. Now, though we have reduced this protective line down to something less than three percent (military, law enforcemnt, first responders etc) and our society is now plagued with complacency and entitlement. We are seeing the long-term effects of this now too.
One other contributing factor is our health-care system. Who doesn't believe anymore that it is broken, that what is desired are customers and not cures. Our medical care system including mental health care has let down child and women victims and have no desire to find a cure for manic-depression, chronic depression, or schizophrenia, or the urge to sexually exploit. This situation is fixable too by simply withholding payment for treatments that do not work and from providers who do not fix what is broken.
This situation is fixable. But it must be soon. Before our society, like so mnay others before it, goes down in flames and is of no use to anyone.
All the years of my childhood and most adulthood I was a proponent of the death penalty for those who had committed capital crimes. This was due in large part because I was raised that way, surrounded by people who felt this way. In main part it was believed that criminals 'chose' their way of life and 'chose' to commit their crimes. And that the death penalty was reserved only for those that were considered incapable of change and would be a threat to society if ever they got out. And that the death penalty was reserved only for those that were absolutely proved guilty; 'Bodies under their floorboards' being an expression made in reference to them.
Ted Bundy's escape from prison in 1977 further cemented my belief in the DP, I believed some people were a threat to society even behind bars for as long as they lived. I also felt that it wasn't fair for victims--either direct victims, their survivors and society as a whole--should be forced to provide room and board and medical care for the criminal.I felt that same money could be better spent on the victims provide for two or three other persons who might be able to step back into society someday.
And finally, I felt that life in prison without parole was cruel and inhumane and the death penalty should be made available to those prisoners.
Real life has a way of jerking one awake and that happened to me. Although the numbers weren't so high when I was younger today we know that an average of 3.94 wrongly convicted death-row prisoners have been exonerated each year since 1973 with willful legal misconduct being a major reason for their original convictions.
I now believe that an inordinate number of death row inmates have been victims of drug and alcohol abuse, child abuse and mental illness. I have never believed that the death penalty should be used that way, that when the state fails its women and children it should be allowed to then kill them. Many people are aghast at this exact behavior against racing horses, who, after having done whatever was asked of them, these beautiful innocent creatures are then put through trauma and deprivation before being slaughtered by the tens of thousands. What we do to human victims of substance abuse and child abuse is only slightly better, some say.
I do not believe people should get away with evil because they are smart or lucky. We need to remove violent people from our streets so that children can run and play, so adults can go to work and do their jobs and live their lives in peace and security and happiness and health. Many if not most people feel the same. The disagreement arises when deciding how to go about it.
Even the most ardent supporter of the death penalty can probably agree to the setting aside of the death penalty for a set amount of time until further investigation reveals just how effective it is to ensuring peace and prosperity in our communities. Insisting the the DP is 'evil' because of religious reasons has only caused the pro-DP activists to dig in deeper. Some compromise would lead to better results.
And a large part of the blame goes to a few American institutions: Our education system that brainwashes and indoctinates rather than teaches. I understand its use--indoctrination can be done by anyone, anytime anywhere it is cheap and easy. But a student never learns to think or reason and the first effects are crime, and the second effects are civil uprising and bloodshed. We are just seeing the long-term effects now.
The other problem is that throughout human history every able-bodied person, man or woman or child, was expected to defend himself, his family and his community. Now, though we have reduced this protective line down to something less than three percent (military, law enforcemnt, first responders etc) and our society is now plagued with complacency and entitlement. We are seeing the long-term effects of this now too.
One other contributing factor is our health-care system. Who doesn't believe anymore that it is broken, that what is desired are customers and not cures. Our medical care system including mental health care has let down child and women victims and have no desire to find a cure for manic-depression, chronic depression, or schizophrenia, or the urge to sexually exploit. This situation is fixable too by simply withholding payment for treatments that do not work and from providers who do not fix what is broken.
This situation is fixable. But it must be soon. Before our society, like so mnay others before it, goes down in flames and is of no use to anyone.