Arkansas Blog

Instead of "execution" we ought to use a better terminology: "state-sponsored murder."

It's no wonder the rest of the world considers us barbarians, what with capital punishment, health care based on wealth, Iraq -- and the ability of our citizenry to happily believe the lies that support these structures.

Yeah it is state sponsered murder for a good reason too. The death penality I believe is best deterant to prevent people from murdering another.
Although, there are those who will kill knowing that they will die unless there's an acceptable allibi to the court which enforces the state laws.

Pardon the ignorance. But why does it matter if we know who did this or not?

My two question are: do they get paid more for this and do they need therapy afterwards?

I don't know if I agree with exposing the individual who pulls the trigger, breaker, poison switch. I do think it should be broadcast on every television or radio station and the internet, even in schools if an execution takes place during school hours. We the people should not be protected from our decision to execute fellow human beings no matter how egregious their acts were. Our actions in this case should demand we take a few moments and watch what we are all doing.

I am thankful for the AR Blog which gives folks like chasv a front row seat for all to see as he cheers for public executions.
For Petes sake chasv, have you no shame? Have you no ability to think without a thirst for killing somebody, anybody, be they innocent Iraqis or possibly innocent convicts? Have you no ability to ever consider you might be wrong?

If you ever get a chance to state your case at the pearly gates I sure hope you have a few moments to review the words
you wrote here and seriously reconsider the amount of irratioal hate that apparently fills your being. Cheneys heart needs battery acid to maintain such evil.. What is your excuse? What horrible deeds were done to you?

Would somebody out there tell Chasv mother to be a little nicer to him!

Chasv:

Novel theory, but it's just that---theory. Statistics show that states with the death penalty do not have decreased levels of homocide. In fact, several states that allow for capital punishemnt show the opposite: increased levels of homocide.

Gary Law:

ADC employees volunteer to be on the death squad and have the option of opting out. Several members of the team opted out when the state put Christina Riggs to death.

Eureka Springs:

Shut up, Drew.

Eureka you are always adding things that are so damn insane I hate to even acknowledge your insane comments.
If you had a family memeber, maybe a brother or son or a parent murdered by anyone for anyreason you know damn well you'd want them to pay for it. Well, if you didn't then the state would do it on your behalf because that is the right thing to do.

Its a fact that it does deter people from murdering another it is important that that person pays for his crime he commited here on earth if he doesn't have a viable reason. Why should the tax payers pay up to a 100,000 dollars or more a year to keep a murderer alive.
The bible says to turn such a person over to Satan so that his soul may be saved.. Eureka death is not the end of life, it is the beginning. The soul lives forever. Only God can kill the soul. I know you don't know or understand that at all.

Chasv:

Calm down. Do your research. Then, if compelled, leave an educated post.

The facts....

The two states with the most executions in 2003, Texas 24, and Oklahoma 14, saw increases in their murder rates from 2002 to 2003. Both states had murder rates above the national average in 2003: Texas - 6.4, and Oklahoma - 5.9. The top 13 states in terms of murder rates were all death penalty states. The murder rate of the death penalty states increased from 2002, while the rate in non-death penalty states decreased.Death Penalty Information Center

$2 million in legal fees to try a death penalty case, nearly 4 times higher than comparable murder trials.
The automatic appeal process costs up to $700,000 in legal fees.
$1.2 million in execution costs.
1973 -1998, Florida spent $57 million on 18 executions.

The average cost to house an inmate in the ADC is around $18,000. (The cost for those in isolatoin, or on death row is much greater)

Thanks for the stats, Basil. Makes one wonder whether having a death penalty for murder somehow gives people the idea that it's okay to kill people, since the State does it. Sort of like hitting your kid gives him the idea that hitting is an option.

Here something thats harder to measure but how many murders would there be if we had no executions?? How many? You can not tell can you? That is why your so called facts are really nothing more than record keeping.
What do you know about education basil? Very little I'd guess.
Basil that is not theory.

Am I supposed to believe murderers like to reside in states they will be executed in?
That would be your explanation for higher murder rates in execution happy states.

An increase in the murder rate probably has more to do with easy access to firearms,
and the fact Texas is a drug transit point.

Move Vermont to the Mexican border, and see if their murder rate goes up.

I don't know what a drew is nor will I be silenced.. In fact I don't know exactly where I stand on the death penalty.I simply stated I think we the people should all watch what we do, not cower from it. Perhaps I am coming around to my answer to the question posed in Max's post.. Yes, remove the hood from the hangman's head, for we are all the hangman when our state executes someone.

There is good reason our system is not set up for victims family to decide guilt or administer punishment directly.. None of us are able to legally choose direct guilt or punishment of a crime committed against a family member, so why ask a moot question unless you are trying to avoid the questions or statements directed toward you.

Flippant advocacy of the death penalty is borderline insane, imo.

When I think people like chasv or a Womack (potential judge) or A Gonzo DOJ play such flippant roles in deciding or reviewing death penalties, I lean towards saying no more, to state executions.

Two points.

1)
The executed is guarranteed not to murder again so it does have that deterent effect, I doubt the drunk boyfreind is thinking more than a couple minutes into the future when he offs his bi+ch for cheating so I don't see the death penalty detering his drunken murder of passion.

2)
It could be a chicken or an egg deal on higher murder rates being caused by the death penalty or is it a state with a higher murder rate is more likely to have the death penalty in response to the higher murder rate.

For the record, I oppose all killing by the state since government is full of people and people are full of the capacity to perpetrate evils upon each other.

Chasv appears to be someone channelling Archie Bunker and Archie's bigotted oppinions but both chasv and Basil are spouting facts that could pertain or not.

There is no reason what so ever to have the executioner unmasked.

If an innocent person is put to death then everyone involved -- cops, prosecuting attorney, judge, jury, executioner -- is guilty of cold-blooded murder, pure and simple.

I would hate to stand before God and explain why I encouraged killing other human beings.

Basically what you are saying is that you believe that Jesus' death was in vain, because the Old Testament and eye-for-eye justice is the final rule.

If you believe that Jesus would put on a black hood and kill another person, then I feel for you. If you don't believe he would, then why would you?

Well consider this. We are all going to die.
What's so tough about someone dying because he or she did something so bad that society would be better off if that person was sent on earlier than they would have if they hadn't commited a crime(murder) so bad that caused them to be put to death?
We are all going to die or transfigured when the Lord comes back.. i.e. if you are saved. The rest of you WILL GO THROUGH TRIBULATIONS. TRIBULATIONS.. KNOW WHAT THAT IS? DO YOU?
EXECUTING A CRIMINAL FOR A CRIME OF MURDER IS NOT CRUEL OR INHUMAN.
DO YOU THINK DEATH IS WORST THAN SPENDING YOUR WHOLE LIFE IN PRISON.. ON DEATH ROW? I HOPE YOU NEVER HAVE TO MAKE THAT DECISION.
If you are born twice you will only die once if you are born only once then you will die twice...

I waffle on this subject. chasv doesn't want his taxes to help a woman kill her baby...as he would put it. Yet it's fine for his tax money to go for killing a convicted murderer. Does not the Bible say all life is sacred? I figure most murderers find Jesus on death row and repent of their sins....yet chasv still says OFF WITH THEIR HEADS. I find it confusing.

There are murderers that I would gladly stand and throw the switch on while having my picture taken for the front page of the paper listing my home address and telephone number. John Edward Swindler was one such person and the guy in Russellville who killed his whole family and a lot of other people around town....Simmons I think was his name. One was an animal the other criminally insane. I could have choked them both to death with my bare hands while talkin dirty about their mothers.

On the other hand, the older I get the fewer people I want to see dead.....call me an old softy...but it also allows me to be perfectly OK with abolishing the death penalty altogether and being done with it. Too many innocent people have been put to death and a few years later...oops! Too many of the people we kill are retarded or have been abused their whole lives...meaning if I had walked in their shoes I very well could be a killer too.

Look how well government and the law has been working for us the last 7 years....do we really want to trust these people with someone's life? Lock em away forever....take my tax money....better than using it to buy another bomb.

Jeezus on a crutch, chasvitriolic. I can see why you believe like you do: you just dismiss any facts that don't agree with your outlook on life as irrelevant or meaningless. The ovine opine that the world must be made of mud since that's all they see around them. Wave a flower or a pearl under their snouts and they blithely ignore it for another turn at the slop being poured into their trough.

Alas, I can see the prime suspect in the new Evangelistic version of Clue: it's Chasv in the Chapel with a .44 Gideon Bible ("Are you feeling lucky sinner!? This will blow your wicked soul right to Hell. Do I pop you with another verse or are you gonna repent sinner punk?!").

Tossing aside the religious mumbojumbo crap, I'm in agreement with DBI. There are a select few I'd be popping into that big toaster for sure and most I'd keep locked up forever and a day. Just don't have a police state in the process, jail the innocent, or wrongly execute someone.

While I'm on my bully pulpit: wouldn't it be a miracle if that avatar of justice Mike Masterson not only sought the truth with Janie Ward but put his talents (?!) to work helping the Memphis Three? If he's so bent on righting wrongs, then why doesn't he do the same for them? Hell, the evidence there is much stronger than the Ward case that there has been a coverup and a gross miscarriage of justice.

Wrong, Chasv. One of the reasons the Methodist Church opposes capital punishment is that it cuts the assumed criminal off from any reconciliation with God. In other words, they have no chance of being born again after we've played God and killed them.

O-Roland, I expect, from his rants, that chasv probably doesn't consider Methodists to be Christians. I'm certain he doesn't count Episcopalians as such.

You all don't play around with silly thoughts. Original R don't you know that a person on death row can be saved? They can be born again up to the time he/she is excuted. Any one(all) who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved.
I do not like the idea of excuting any one..
As you should all know we all well be somewhere in eternity.