Life on death row, kind of a cake walk.

[JLM]

I was under the impression that life on death row (even in the U.S.) was pretty grim. I just checked into how Scott Peterson is doing these days and much to my chagrin, I find he's having a better life than many of our seniors and street people. Check out the following site ..............................INSIDE STORY: Scott Peterson's Life on Death Row - Crime & Courts, Scott Peterson : People.com

 

[lone wolf]

It kind of takes one of life's great mysteries away in knowing when the bell will toll for thee....

 

[JLM]

It kind of takes one of life's great mysteries away in knowing when the bell will toll for thee....

The bastard could likely outlast both of us..........................:lol::lol::lol:

 

[Nuggler]

He got the blues when his baby left him by the San Fransisco Bay....yay yay

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, Nug.............badd:-?

 

[Kakato]

Life in prison would be the worst thing that could ever happen to him,put him in GP and let inmate justice do it's work.

That's the thing about capital punishment,the appeals cost the taxpayers more then it would to just lock him up for life which would be far worse then getting an easy out like a lethal injection.

IMO

 

[SirJosephPorter]

Life in prison would be the worst thing that could ever happen to him,put him in GP and let inmate justice do it's work.

That's the thing about capital punishment,the appeals cost the taxpayers more then it would to just lock him up for life which would be far worse then getting an easy out like a lethal injection.

IMO

Quite so, Kakato. Study after study have shown that death penalty is much more expensive that life without parole.

There are endless appeals in the case of death penalty, and attendant costs of lawyers, judges, other staff, cost of running the courts etc. Organizations like ACLU and others, who are strongly opposed to death penalty, have very smart lawyers. They keep finding loophole after loophole and keep launching appeal after appeal.

There is no such thing with life without parole. There is one appeal and that is it. So if one looks at cost alone, it is nonsense to have death penalty.

But influence of religion, of Bible is strong in USA. Bible says thou shalt have death penalty (At least that is how Americans interpret the Bible) and that is that. Common sense, cost effectiveness, these things do not matter when religious principles are at stake.

 

[JLM]

Quite so, Kakato. Study after study have shown that death penalty is much more expensive that life without parole.

There are endless appeals in the case of death penalty, and attendant costs of lawyers, judges, other staff, cost of running the courts etc. Organizations like ACLU and others, who are strongly opposed to death penalty, have very smart lawyers. They keep finding loophole after loophole and keep launching appeal after appeal.

There is no such thing with life without parole. There is one appeal and that is it. So if one looks at cost alone, it is nonsense to have death penalty.

But influence of religion, of Bible is strong in USA. Bible says thou shalt have death penalty (At least that is how Americans interpret the Bible) and that is that. Common sense, cost effectiveness, these things do not matter when religious principles are at stake.

Not the way it was originally intended but the lawyers have managed to make a circus out of it.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

Not the way it was originally intended but the lawyers have managed to make a circus out of it.

And why wouldn’t they, JLM? To many death penalty opponents, it is a matter of principle. So the lawyers will try and find every loophole in the system to try to postpone the execution, to try to spare the life of the criminal. That is why it usually takes 10 to 15 years to execute a criminal, after he has been sentenced to death penalty.

Indeed, that is the weakness of death penalty; no other punishment arouses such strong feelings. There are no organizations dedicated to getting a prisoner freed, if he has been given life without parole. Lawyers do not try to find each and every loophole to get him off scot free. He gets one appeal and that is the end of it.

That is one of the reason the concept of death penalty is all wrong.

 

[Kakato]

I worked in the grande cache medium security prison this spring doing some road work for pavement and that place gave me the heebee jeebee's.
I cant imagine living there,working inside the walls was bad enough.
The warden told me lots of storys about that place and the inmates and it's not a nice place to be.

 

[JLM]

"And why wouldn’t they, JLM? To many death penalty opponents, it is a matter of principle. So the lawyers will try and find every loophole in the system to try to postpone the execution, to try to spare the life of the criminal."

I think a lawyer's job should be confined to seeing the accused gets a fair trial, I don't believe the sentence falls within his job description.

" There are no organizations dedicated to getting a prisoner freed, if he has been given life without parole."-

Maybe so but I'm not sure if the John Howard Society wouldn't act in the prisoners behalf.

"That is one of the reason the concept of death penalty is all wrong."

In your opinion- Laci Peterson's family may have a different opinion and given the circumstances may be more valid than yours.

 

[Mowich]

The death penalty might work better if they took the convicted person and executed him as soon as his conviction and sentence is handed down. No appeal, just death.

However, that is not the way things work and life without a chance of parole seems to be the only alternative available. I don't believe that the Scott Petersons of this world have a shred of conscience and no matter how long they survive in prison, they will never understand or care about the harm they have done.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

"And why wouldn’t they, JLM? To many death penalty opponents, it is a matter of principle. So the lawyers will try and find every loophole in the system to try to postpone the execution, to try to spare the life of the criminal."

I think a lawyer's job should be confined to seeing the accused gets a fair trial, I don't believe the sentence falls within his job description.

" There are no organizations dedicated to getting a prisoner freed, if he has been given life without parole."-

Maybe so but I'm not sure if the John Howard Society wouldn't act in the prisoners behalf.

"That is one of the reason the concept of death penalty is all wrong."

In your opinion- Laci Peterson's family may have a different opinion and given the circumstances may be more valid than yours.

Laci Peterson’s Family’s opinion is hardly objective, JLM. I can understand them supporting death penalty (though it is interesting that not all the victims’ families support death penalty).

But that doesn’t really count for much. Laws cannot be made by looking at the hard cases. When it comes to any law, some people have agendas to implement, axe to grind. Sometimes it is justified (as in Laci Peterson’s family’s case), sometimes it is unjustified.

But it is not relevant to the discussion.

 

[SirJosephPorter]

The death penalty might work better if they took the convicted person and executed him as soon as his conviction and sentence is handed down. No appeal, just death.

Quite so, Mowich. That is what they used to do in the old days. Convicted prisoner was hanged shortly after conviction, nobody really cared whether he was actually guilty or not.

Indeed, that is what they do in dictatorships even today. But we can’t do that in a civilized society.

 

[JLM]

"But that doesn't really count for much. Laws cannot be made by looking at the hard cases."

That's a bit of an anomaly- decisions regarding almost all other aspects of life are made by looking at hard cases.

 

[Francis2004]

JLM, I see two issues with this article.. I read the whole thing and had to wonder..

As a People magazine it was written in a fashion to be sensationalized.. Details are emphasized to make sure they catch you attention and they certainly left out all the nasty stuff from jail..

Do you think being in maximum security jail in the US is a "cake walk" for anyone, but it sure makes a great headline doesn't it ?

I would think death might be preferable to life in jail for many of these convicts.. Of course many try and try to get out and hope they will be cleared of charges.. But I doubt many would prefer life in jail over a quick death.

And there lies the cruel irony of the death penalty many times.. It gives the true criminal more sympathy then he gave the victim.. Yup we should fry him in 10 minutes after he got caught many argue, and some even want him shot on the spot..

I need not talk about the cost, that's already been proven..

God I can only hope to die such a fast death when the Lord comes to get me.. But we have laws that make it illegal to disconnect people from hospital equipment and let them die with dignity and honour.. How Ironic..

 

[JLM]

Quite so, Mowich. That is what they used to do in the old days. Convicted prisoner was hanged shortly after conviction, nobody really cared whether he was actually guilty or not.

Indeed, that is what they do in dictatorships even today. But we can’t do that in a civilized society.

Do you want to be practical or don't you? There is a lot of latitude between the situation of the old west, where arrest, trial and sentence were carried out in fifteen minutes and todays situation where convicts languish on death row for five or ten or even twenty years. (For those who think Peterson might be innocent, it's funny that the bodies were found in the exact location hundred of miles from home where he said he was fishing) Time to fire up OL' Sparky.

 

[Francis2004]

The death penalty might work better if they took the convicted person and executed him as soon as his conviction and sentence is handed down. No appeal, just death.

However, that is not the way things work and life without a chance of parole seems to be the only alternative available. I don't believe that the Scott Petersons of this world have a shred of conscience and no matter how long they survive in prison, they will never understand or care about the harm they have done.

Peterson in the US and Bernardo in Canada deserve much worse of a faith. But then we would become even greater monsters then them..

When we lose our ability to have empathy for anyone, we become worse then the serial killer.. That is exactly why these people became the monsters they are.. They lost or never had empathy..

Empathy..

 

[JLM]

JLM, I see two issues with this article.. I read the whole thing and had to wonder..

As a People magazine it was written in a fashion to be sensationalized.. Details are emphasized to make sure they catch you attention and they certainly left out all the nasty stuff from jail..

Do you think being in maximum security jail in the US is a "cake walk" for anyone, but it sure makes a great headline doesn't it ?

I would think death might be preferable to life in jail for many of these convicts.. Of course many try and try to get out and hope they will be cleared of charges.. But I doubt many would prefer life in jail over a quick death.

And there lies the cruel irony of the death penalty many times.. It gives the true criminal more sympathy then he gave the victim.. Yup we should fry him in 10 minutes after he got caught many argue, and some even want him shot on the spot..

I need not talk about the cost, that's already been proven..

God I can only hope to die such a fast death when the Lord comes to get me.. But we have laws that make it illegal to disconnect people from hospital equipment and let them die with dignity and honour.. How Ironic..

Right on Francis- I'll give you 98%, I was just pointing out that he was getting a lot more humane treatment than many of our seniors and street people. I think most of us had the mental picture of the convict spending 23 hours in his cell and one hour doing exercises in solitary, not consorting with his buds being entertained for five hours a day.

 

[Niflmir]

Do you want to be practical or don't you? There is a lot of latitude between the situation of the old west, where arrest, trial and sentence were carried out in fifteen minutes and todays situation where convicts languish on death row for five or ten or even twenty years. (For those who think Peterson might be innocent, it's funny that the bodies were found in the exact location hundred of miles from home where he said he was fishing) Time to fire up OL' Sparky.

There really is no way around it. Appeals take time, even to be not granted: everyone gets the same chance to tell their story, regardless of the circumstances. The only way around it would be to have every single death penalty case tried by the supreme court in the first place. Then there would be no court to appeal to.

 

[Francis2004]

Right on Francis- I'll give you 98%, I was just pointing out that he was getting a lot more humane treatment than many of our seniors and street people. I think most of us had the mental picture of the convict spending 23 hours in his cell and one hour doing exercises in solitary, not consorting with his buds being entertained for five hours a day.

Again JLM, would you want to spend time with his buds ?

People doesn't list any of the "bad" things that happen in the pen.. For good reason.. Who would want to buy / read in People about sodomy ( the full act ) or doing drugs to stay sane ? That's not what sells People Magazines..

On the flip side many of our seniors and homeless could use a lot of that money.. But when people cry out for murderers and thieves to get longer sentences and harsher penalties, more $$$ goes into the system and less for social programs.. So you are right that way.. But we have a problem in that the Court Systems cost a heck of a lot to run. Lawyers and Judges are not free. Hence at the end of the day, little money is left for seniors and homeless..

Government have choices and they must pick and choose because North America wants lower taxes..

If you want it all you need to pay but we will not be competitive.. You could have bigger and better criminal system with better senior and homeless social programs but taxes will be really high..

Of course you could always run for politics and see if you can do it all..