US to execute Nobel Peace prize nominee

[SIGbastard]

That's completely irrelevant. If he's guilty, he's guilty. If he's innocent, he's innocent. We don't know for sure either way and we know that he is maintaining his innocence, lying or not. So it's a moot point.

I was always under the impression that this discussion should be based the current situation and what steps should be taken from this point.

I would have to agree. They should take steps serve him what he was sentenced to.

 

[Absinthe]

I personally don't think so. I don't see what it achieves, I don't approve of the implications, and I don't agree with the death penalty any way.

Should he be absolved of his crimes? Certainly not. The four people he supposedly killed will still bear down on him for the rest of his life. But taking his life doesn't strike me as justice, except perhaps in some archaic and limited sense.

 

[MrWhite]

I personally don't think so. I don't see what it achieves, I don't approve of the implications, and I don't agree with the death penalty any way.

Should he be absolved of his crimes? Certainly not. The four people he supposedly killed will still bear down on him for the rest of his life. But taking his life doesn't strike me as justice, except perhaps in some archaic and limited sense.

Strikes me as a child's idea of justice.

An eye for an eye, pffft.

 

[Absinthe]

Strikes me as a child's idea of justice.

An eye for an eye, pffft.

Exactly. It's more about primitive vengeance than anything.

 

[CptStern]

I personally feel that the judicial system's job is to execute punishment. Rehabilitation is not their job, and why would it be?

Criminal law serves 3 distict purposes: rehabilitation, retribution, and deterrence. During the sentencing phase rehabilitation becomes a factor in deciding the guilty party's fate.

 

[Direwolf]

I've got a question here: to my understanding, they'd have a trial for the murder of each individual, since I don't think all four occurred at once, right?
So does this mean he was found guilty of each and every one? Or was there some reason that all four were lumped together?

 

[VictimOfScience]

Criminal law serves 3 distict purposes: rehabilitation, retribution, and deterrence. During the sentencing phase rehabilitation becomes a factor in deciding the guilty party's fate.

Yes, and if they thought that rehabilitation wasn't possible in this case, then they would sentence him to death most likely (in his case, given the nature of his crimes and his gang involvement).

But the way he has changed in the last 24 years really demonstrates how flawed the system is and how subject to human emotion it is as well. Rehabilitation can work. Deterrence doesn't work--just look at the statistics from my previous post. Retribution is about all that "works" and that is just, like Absinthe said, primitive. Justice is one thing, but payback is another (though that can obviously become sticky very quickly).

 

[Max35]

I think if we spent more time rehabilitating criminals rather than punishing them society would be alot better off. The justice system should only execute the most hopelessly cold-blooded killers who show no sign of remorse, and are completely aware of what they are doing. This man rehabilitated himself to the point of being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, and still maintains his innocence; I think that says volumes about his present character. Past ignorance is sometimes akin to brainwashing (upbringing, lifestyle, etc) and should be examined and treated just like a mental illness, and is in itself a form of insanity. Justice can be at times completely narrow-minded, and black and white are the only colors it sees.

The mind is just one complex program; we can attempt to correct those errors, maybe even input some morals or remorse into that person; or we can erase everything good that is left. But the mind that rehabilitates itself, is worthy of a second chance, black and white aside.

 

[RakuraiTenjin]

Criminal law serves 3 distict purposes: rehabilitation, retribution, and deterrence. During the sentencing phase rehabilitation becomes a factor in deciding the guilty party's fate.

It's not about rehabilitation. Retribution and/or punishment and deterrence.