I admit to not having read the article Leo initially linked. But, speaking as one of Governor Schwarzenegger’s constituants, I will venture to say that if he is my governor, he is no longer an Austrian citizen (unless he holds some kind of dual citizenship). Even if he is a dual citizen, he is not bound by Austruan law in California. Just another silly way to get at the pro/anti capital punishment argument.
From what I have seen so far, I get the impression that Arnold is listening, and responding to, the people. We got no such joy from Gray Davis. He was so deep in the pocket of the prison guard’s union he was banging against its nads.
Death penalty? Aye, the hard part is being sure the suspect is truly guilty. But sometimes it’s not so hard. DNA evidence, video, etc. When it’s that clear-cut, I say fry-em. Scott Peterson? I would say no. The evidence was too circumstantial.
Though even if I were anti-death penalty, I would not relate this to an opinion on abortion. Abortion is about choice. It’s not about whether killing embryos or fetuses is a negative, I think everyone agrees on that. It’s about whether the owner of the body in question gets a say in the matter. It’s definitely not a black & white issue either. If it’s black & white to you, the answer is simple. Don’t frigging have one.
MrBooglejuice put up a bunch of unrelated crime and punishment facts, then seemed to sum it up at the end as a huge testament against the death penalty. Sorry, what you had there were a bunch of unrelated statistics. Canada has no death penalty, and their first-degree murder cases are on the decline. This proves what? That there are about a million other variables involved. Nobody knows why that rate is declining.
I agree that a death penalty is ineffective as a deterrent. I don’t care. As a member of the law-abiding majority of my society, my opinion is I don’t need them around.
The other day, a guy in Sacramento came home for lunch to find a burglar in his upscale home. The burglar shot him four times, and then escaped, only to be caught a few hours later trying to wade across the American River. He was only there to rob the house. Why’d he have to kill the guy? This happened about 2 miles from my house, which is in a relatively low crime area. That guy is evil. After a fair trial, if he is eligible for the death penalty, I will be happy if he gets it.
And yes, he probably can’t afford a lawyer either. I think the vast majority of all murder suspects can’t afford one, though I have no idea of the statistics. That’s why he has the right to one. Just like Social Security. It may not be perfect, but at least he gets something.
Here’s a statistic I have no trouble understanding. America has the most (guessing) guns in private ownership, and it also has the most people shooting each other. Hmm. Does this mean guns are bad? The NRA will say no. To me it means not having guns is good though. But I think it’s culture, not availability of guns, that gets so many people shot. And changing culture is not easy to prove, or change, by reading lots of statistics.