Text 17007, 115 rader
Skriven 2006-01-05 16:49:00 av LEE LOFASO (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av TIM RICHARDSON
Ärende: Bootlicker special
==========================
Hello Tim,

>TR>I am not what you'd call *pro-death penalty*, so much as I am of the
>TR>opinion that, until something better comes along, the death penalty
>TR>will do.

>LL>We have something called prisons.

TR>They don't work. Mostly the `inmates' are in charge of the prisons in
TR>actually. The prison staff are just the ones who leave the grounds to go
TR>sleep.

Life in prison without parole negates the necessity of having the
death penalty.  The convicted individual, once in prison, is no longer
in society.  And no longer will that individual be allowed back into
society.  So where is the need for the death penalty?

TR>There's probably more dope and weapons in most California prisons than there
TR>are on the streets in any given dangerous neighborhood out here.

So what?  As long as those who cannot be rehabilitated remain in prison,
they are no menace to society.

TR>You can buy anything you want in most California prisons. The only exception
TR>to that is some of the ultra-maximum prisons like Pelican Bay.

You want to go to prison in order to buy stuff from prisoners?  Not me.

TR>But places like Pelican Bay are expensive to run, and the cost is prohibitiv
TR>to making most if not `all' prisons in the state that way. Pelican Bay is a
TR>specially-built prison that cost in excess of $218 million to build.....and
TR>costs arould $100 million or more per year to run it.

The cost of keeping an individual locked up in prison for life is
far less than putting an individual to death.  It also ensures that
no innocent individual is put to death.

TR>If you figure that it costs around $100 million per year to run the many
TR>prisons around the state of California, you see that the taxpayers in the
TR>state are getting soaked over a billion per year just to keep dangerous peop
TR>seperated from the community. It would be far cheaper to utilize the death
TR>penalty.

Only a handful of convicts are on death row.  And death row inmates are
not allowed to be in the general prison population.  Sure, it is
expensive to build and maintain a prison system.  But it is even more
expensive, as well as detrimental to society, not to build and maintain
prisons.

TR>Cheaper still to `educate' children into productive lives, so as to prevent
TR>lot of them from ever reaching the stage where they become prisoners in the
TR>first place.

Oh, forcing children to enroll in "propaganda classes" would work just
great.  I think Hitler tried it a few decades ago in Germany.

>LL>And mental institutions.

TR>They don't work, either.

Life in a mental institution without benefit of parole negates the
necessity of the death penalty.  Besides, as a society, killing nutcases
just isn't our thing.  Hitler's Germany did it.  Mao's China did it.
Stalin's Russia did it.  But not America.

>LL>We keep the violent offenders in prison.  We keep the nutcakes in mental
>LL>institutions.  Problem solved.

TR>Hinkley gets out on `visits' all the time. I just read that he's going to do
TR>an `overnighter' at home. He's just one example. There are probably hundreds
TR>of others.

Hinckley was awarded seven unsupervised furloughs by a federal judge,
each of those furloughs several days in length.  But Hinckley was denied
his request for a driver's license.  And that means that Hinckley will
have a very difficult time finding a job...

TR>Here's one for you........

TR>Back in the fifties, there was a guy named Charles Starkweather. He and his
TR>girlfriend Carol (or Caril) Ann fugate went on a killing spree ala Bonney &
TR>Clyde, and I don't recall exactly how many people they killed.

Assuming both were guilty, life in prison without benefit of parole
would have been sufficient.  No need for the death penalty.

TR>Anyway....they were brought back to Nebraska and put on trial. Starkweather
TR>was given the death penalty (the electric chair at that time in Nebraska), a
TR>Fugate was given life in prison. She was 14 at the time, and tried the `I wa
TR>a hostage all along' routine as a defense. But it didn't go with the jury.

TR>Starkweather was executed, she went to prison, and the case was pretty well
TR>forgotten.

Society might have gotten its "revenge", in regards to Starkweather.
But that does not mean that justice was served.

TR>Fugate was paroled sometime around 1975 or 76, and has led a model life ever
TR>since.

Fugate was rehabilitated, no longer a danger to others or herself.  As
such, she deserved to be paroled and released from prison.

TR>But she's a rare exception. Had it been up to me, she'd have never
TR>gotten out of prison.

Life in prison without benefit of parole would have been the appropriate
sentence, given the crime committed.

--Lee


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