The Death Penalty

REVISITED AND REVISED The death of someone very close to me as once again reminded me of the sanctity of life.That and my ever increasing relationship with God as prompted me once again to open this debate.I have included some new material,as well as further references.I welcome your feedback and comments,you may either leave them here or email me at hdforbes@yahoo.ca be sure to fill the subject line appropriately.Some of the statistics mentioned where gleamed from the
Death Penalty Information Center

The Death of Innocents
I will freely admit,there are people out there that are better of dead,and if it came to be that it was up to me to pull the trigger,push the plunger,open the chute,drop the blade,toss the torch,throw the switch or cast the first stone,I would have no trouble doing it.
Clifford Olsen,Ted Bundy,Charles Ng,Ted List or any of about 50 that any Google search of Serial Killers would reveal are prime candidates for the death penalty,and and in fact some have already met their fate at the hands of the public.However,I also think that death is too easy of a punishment for these monsters.Since,and rightly so, we are no longer a society that condones the use of torture as a part of sentencing,and that we do in fact go to all lengths to protect our prisoners from any form of abuse(we fail miserably in most cases) the worst punishment we can give anyone is total lock-down in a solitary setting.For most this would be a deplorable condition to live in,for others,such as myself,it would be considered preferable to any other living arrangement,of the choices in prison that is.
I have died before,it's easy to die,I think we should make them live in confinement,the only visitors allowed would be friends and family of the victims,so they could taunt them unmercifully,record them to play back over and over.Paint the photo's from the crime scene on the walls and celings of their cells,let them live with what they have done until they are finally sent to Hell!
I sometimes get carried away don't I?My proposal is not meant to be taken seriously,just venting.
As much as I detest what some of these monsters have done,and no matter how much I feel they deserve to die.....

THE DEATH PENALTY MUST BE ABOLISHED!

What?Did you not just say that you would have no problem executing people like Ted Bundy or Clifford Olsen? (Olsen is Canada's most infamous child killers)
Yep,I would gladly make them die,I would do it slow,their screams would mean nothing to me as I sent them on their road to Hell!
Then why no death penalty?
Lets throw a few other names into the mix shall we?
Hurricane Carter,Guy Paul Morin and Canada's most famous David Milgard.Then there is Joe Amrine,Ryan Matthews,and Harold Wilson,the very last to join this list.
What do this names have in common?They were all convicted of murder,and if the crime they were accused of had taken place at a different time or location,they would now be dead,MURDERED by society,as they all had their convictions overturned,as they were all INNOCENT!
Another Death Row Inmate Found Innocent
DNA has freed another inmate on death row--this time in Louisiana. Ryan Matthews was sentenced to death as a teenager. After seven years, his claims of innocence have been confirmed.He was the one hundred and fifteenth.
Harold Wilson,the last to exonerated was done so only lst month,Nov 15th/2005

These are far from being isolated cases.Since 1973 there has been in the United States alone 122 that is one hundred and twenty two! Also since 1973 there have been just over 6000,that is six thousand people sentenced to death,and since a MINIMUM of 122 are innoncent that means just over 2% of those sentenced to death where innocent.Just two percent,that's not bad odds is it?
In the 25 years from 1973 to 1998, there were an average of 2.96 Exonerations per year. In the five years since 1998, thru 2003, that average has risen to 7.60 Exonerations.There were 6 exonerations in 2004.

Florida as the dubious honour of leading all other states in exoneration's with twenty one.Is this a reflection on the honesty of their judicial system?or a sign of it's corruption?What I find particularly troublesome is Texas,which by far as the highest number on death row,but yet even Illionios as more exonerations.I find it highly doubtful that their juducial system is that much more efficent at finding the innocent.I think instead it is that much more libel to refuse to hear evidence of innocents.
To date there have been one thousand and three executions in the United States since the return of the death penalty.We have already established that two percent of all convictions were done so in error,does it not also stand to reason that two percent of those executed where innocent?Alright,lets give the DA office a little more credit,lets say only one percent were innocent,thats not so bad is it?That means we(as in society) have only murdered ten people in the United States under the death penalty.Not bad at all,right?
No way you say,can't be true,the very fact that some were freed means that the system ultimately worked,right?
There are some very troublesome cases where there as been new evidence or evidence that the courts refused to hear.Executed But Possibly Innocent is a web-page from the Death Penalty information Center.I also challenge any doubters to readThe Death of Innocents by Sister Helen Prejean,of Dead Man walking fame
Take at look at the list of executions and the notes attached in this graph from the Death Penalty Information Center .If after examining all of that evidence you still believe that no innocent as ever been executed(I am talking only recent history,since 1973) well then,I have a bridge that you might be interested in.


The one thing that makes a democracy sacred is the idea of equality for all.It is not,as some would have you think,a system where the majority always gets their way,it is a system where even the tiniest MINORITY is offered the same protections and rights as the majority.
If you could show me a law proposal that was equal and fair for EVERY member of society,and this law was to provide a basis for the death in some cases but not others,I would vote for it.However this is not possible,there would always be an inequality some where for someone at some time.

NO PROSECUTOR OR POLICE OFFICER WOULD ELICIT FALSE TESTIMONY! ha ha ha ha haaahaahhqahhhqahha oooohhheyy! sorry,I just couldn't stop laughing! and lol just didn't cover it
I can,from very personal experience,refute that statement all to Hell,I have been one more then one occasion been offered deals if I would only ...bla blah.
The very nature of their work(law officials) makes it essential for them to appear faultless and without prejudice.In order to perpetuate this myth of infallibility,there have been many a DOCUMENTED case of cover ups,"losing",or the out right withholding of vital defense evidence.
Witnesses who had recanted their testimony,thus clearing a suspect,suddenly find them selves the victim of a sting,(where there is crime,you will have criminals as witnesses) and suddenly facing a new string of charges they once again change their stories.If there is one thing that is abundantly clear after years of research,eye witness testimony is more often then not worthless,and when you get the "eye witness"testimony from a career criminal...
That is not an idle speculation on my part,but an established fact,which once again we will explore further at a later date.
This is called by me a debate,and in any debate there are two sides.I have made my position known,and will be re-enforcing my argument in later publications,but I would love to hear from YOU!
For those who will use the Bible to legitimatizing the death penalty,that old eye for an eye jazz,forgeting the part where the Lord says "vengeance is mine"I suggest this.
When we are tried in a court of law,we are to have a jury of our peers.It is this same jury that in most states it falls to impose or negate the death penalty.I propose this,let those twelve just men and women who judge that a man should die,let them be the instuments of that execution.Give then each a rifle and have them look at the man they are about to kill.If this system were ever in place, I think there would be a very sharp reduction of those who would vote to kill another.
That just my view from outside of those prison walls.

Dedicated to the Memory of Bonnie Rose Ahenakew
o1/18/1964-12/09/2005
Free at Last

Don't Grieve for Me,for now I'm Free
I'm following the path God has laid,you see
I took His hand when I heard His call.
I turned around and left it all.
I could not stay another day.
To laugh,to love,to work or play.
Tasks left undone must stay that way.
I found the peace on a sunny day.
If my parting has left a void,
Then fill it with remembered joys.
A family shared,a laugh,a kiss.
Oh yes,these things I too will miss.
Be not burdened with times of sorrow.
I wish you the sunshine of tomorrow.
My life's been full,I've savored much.
Good family,good times,a loved one's touch.
Perhaps my time seemed all too brief.
Don't lengthen it now with undue grief.
Lift up your hearts,and peace to thee.
God wanted me now;
He set me FREE!


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