| Death Row Inmate Freed
Posted: 5/8/2008 3:15:54 AM | 8 May 08
Death row inmate James Woodard is free after serving 27 years for a crime he didn't commit. Many people say the death penalty is fit. I disagree, for one dealth is an out. It serves no actual penalty. Second as in the case stated an innocent man would have been exacuted.
One death of an innocent is one to many. I did have a family member murdered, I still believe it is more punishment to have them confined and freedom taken away than, out by death.
I have heard the appeals process would decline greatly saving tax dollars if death penalty is off the table. Simply serve the time and remaining removed from society is very much a punishment. One could argue " is a person that such little regard for life, he himself would see death as an acceptable means to an end verses 25 years to life. That is a true deterrant. Think about it, death it's over verses living confined with freedom taken away.
If strict prison terms {25 years to life actually did 25 years to life} would be a less expensive choice would we agree to do away with the death penalty? Or do we just have to kill? | |
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| Death Row Inmate Freed
Posted: 5/8/2008 3:32:24 AM | Some people do deserve death for their crimes. But the overuse of the death penalty in some states on cases where they have flimsy evidence at best is appalling.
Prejury in a capital case should carry a capital punishment aswell. Few DA's and cops would be so tempted to "railroad" innocent people just to mark a case closed and make the public feel safe.
Forget the cost of appeals vs housing and caring for inmates for a sec......... How much will this guy be getting for losing 27 years (likely prime years) while being abused in prison (27 years of beatings or possible sodomy). He should take that state to the cleaners.
Now if someone were to rob a bank/store etc and be stopped at the scene by a non-lethal shot, and later one of the victims of the robbery dies as a result of that crime. I have no qualms about terminating that individuals life. There can be no mistake of guilt. | |
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| Death Row Inmate Freed
Posted: 5/8/2008 4:36:27 AM | I know here in OZ we dont have it, But i do believe in some cases it would be ok.. anything involving major crimes against children, the aged, etc..
Life in prison should be that life not 25 yrs etc. If you commit the crime, then bad luck. You knew what you were doing when you did the crime.. so why should anyone feel pity..
I'm a firm believer that if you are jailed (goaled), then you get the basics in prison.. not dvd's, movies, computers etc.. Yes to newspapers, books ( educational) so they can progress into socity when they get out. I believe that there are to many things given to them.. Just remember we are not talking about someone who commits petty crime etc. We are talking about people who committed a nasty act like murder etc.................
E.G.. rape.. someone has destroyed a life.. i say bad luck do it hard for life ( you did destroy someones life).
& im a believer that if sentenced to 15 years... no parol.. do 15 yrs..just might change how some of these people think ( but than again)
& for this gentleman who was wrongly convicted no amout of $$$ can fix up that. I hope he gets to enjoy what is left of his life , but shame on those who convicted a man for no reason. | |
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| Death Row Inmate Freed
Posted: 5/8/2008 8:26:53 AM | ---If strict prison terms {25 years to life actually did 25 years to life} would be a less expensive choice would we agree to do away with the death penalty---
One of the reasons for having a death penalty is to ensure that these scumbags dont ever hurt or kill anyone ever again. Murderers routinely kill and injure not only prison personnel and other prisoners, and on occasion escape and kill citizens.
Incarceration for murder isnt justice. They are in a cage, but they are alive. They can enjoy a cup of coffee, a good book, the sun on their face in the yard, a conversation.
The person they destroyed is gone forever and cant enjoy any of those things.
Their families are sentenced to a lifetime of despair and grief.
They need to die. It doesnt have to be an expensive process. Hand them over to me and Ill take care of it cheap. Im thinking pits filled with starving wolverines.
Soak the scumbags in brown gravy and toss them in.
As far as innocent people being sentenced to death. Real simple solution.
Only execute when there is absolutely no doubt of their guilt and there is direct DNA
evidence. Problem solved. | |
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| Death Row Inmate Freed
Posted: 5/8/2008 8:59:01 AM | | a society thats law promotes a tit for tat manality must realize that the members of that society will act as such towards each other. | |
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NERO1
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Joined: 3/8/2008
Msg: 6 | |
| Death Row Inmate Freed
Posted: 5/8/2008 1:17:05 PM | OP, as I have said in other places on this forum (and others) before, I totally understand the desire for revenge, retribution, what-have-you. I myself tend to be a hot-blooded person who seeks (at first -- before I hopefully think it through) to avenge anything significant against me or mine. So I can feel what these victims must be going through, if only a tenth of what they're going through actually....... but, I just don't feel (IMO) that the state should kill people. The creepy quasi-medical setting of the lethal injection table to me seems particularly bad.
Life without parole, much of the time having to be done in a solitary type of situation, is a living death -- as I have said before. Let him rot in there, and think, and brood. The moment he's dead he's clearly not "thinking about" his crimes, or suffering any discomfort anymore in an 8 x 9 closet of a cell, missing his own loved ones, regretting what he's done, being haunted by it in some cases, and so forth. He's simply ......gone. Furthermore I feel the company the US is in with nations where the state kills it criminals (or "undesirables") , for ex, Saudi Arabia, Iran, the Congo, North Korea, is pretty sad really , all-in-all, considering the fact that America oftentimes likes to sound like it holds itself to such a civilized and high "ideal". They can do better, basically, than being in the company of countries such as those. | |
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| Death Row Inmate Freed
Posted: 5/8/2008 1:22:21 PM | | how much do you trust your legal system amd government to give them the power to kill? | |
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NERO1
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Joined: 3/8/2008
Msg: 8 | |
| Death Row Inmate Freed
Posted: 5/8/2008 1:26:51 PM | | ^^ I agree. In the state of IL (I'm in the Chicago area) they put it on moratorium , commuting all of them to "life" , a few yrs ago. For the time being it's not (yet) banned here in IL, you can still get the sentence but it cannot be carried out basically. But eventually they may venture into the 21st century and ban it. There were far too many people being freed on DNA evidence yrs after the fact here in IL, and disproportionately they were black men at that, sort of the kind of thing like the case the OP pointed out (although I'm not sure if the OP's case was black or not). | |
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| Death Row Inmate Freed
Posted: 5/8/2008 4:13:50 PM | Death penalty has to go the way of the dinosaur. It is nothing more than state sanctioned murder. Moreover, with all the hordes of people getting released after doing serious time thanks to exoneration via DNA, it should be clear that CP is a bad idea.
And don't even get me going on the justice system using circumstantial evidence to convict people. | |
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| Death Row Inmate Freed
Posted: 5/8/2008 4:25:38 PM | I've felt that instead of the death penalty, have the convicts serve a sentence in a lab setting where they are test subjects.
I'm not saying carry out cruel and tortuous experiments simply to punish: I mean that instead of paying people to act as guinea pigs, why not avail science of those who otherwise would be executed?
Wouldn't the prospect of being used for medical trials be a deterrent to a great many, who are probably squeamish about hospitals and needles, etc? .. and even if they didn't mind so much, they'd still be helping society & research by saving all that money since they would not be paid for it. | |
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| Death Row Inmate Freed
Posted: 5/8/2008 5:56:17 PM | I think doing hideous medical experiments on sadistic mass murderers is just fine - if they are 100% guilty.
It's a human disgrace we do such things to animals, let these convicted scumbags take their place. | |
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| Death Row Inmate Freed
Posted: 5/8/2008 6:57:21 PM | I believe in the death penalty if there is no question of the person's guilt. Not so much because the person did something so horrible they need to die. Altho that is a pretty good reason but think about all the cases such as Charles Manson and his clan. They've been in prison for what 39 years? That's a lot of money over the years for all of them to be fed, housed and medical attention. Why should the public have to pay for people like him to live?
TN still does executions---http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=3154543
I kinda followed this story as I wasn't completely sure of the guys guilt. People in the police dept claiming a cover-up.
http://www.newschannel5.com/Global/story.asp?s=5413568
No question as to guilt---execute.
Questions to guilt---find the answers. | |
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| Death Row Inmate Freed
Posted: 5/8/2008 9:41:33 PM | Nero, I don't know if he was black or not, I just think the death penalty is more emotional and the "law" is suppose to absent of emotion.
Also, punishment should be just that, punishment, not escape from penalty.
People get railroaded and falsely accused and put to death. We all know this is not reversable. People that are guilty get put to death, an easy out IMO. As, I wrote I had a family member murdered and I wanted the person to have to sit and loose his freedom not get the easy way out.
I do agree for these type of offenses no parole should be offered and only one appeal or retrial if, and only if improper conduct was in the first trial or information comes to light and another person is found to be the true murderer.
If the death penalty was off the table and the number of trials limited, the cost of trials, appeals and other expenses payed by the tax payer would drop. I also agree only bare necessities would be extended as a result of punishment.
I think a person would think more about consequence if he knew he could not escape through death but have to endure 25 years or the rest of their natural life confined with the bare minimum and no chance whatsoever of early release. | |
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| Death Row Inmate Freed
Posted: 5/8/2008 10:04:22 PM | I'm against the death penalty for exactly this reason.
The country I live in, Canada, abolished it as punishment long ago. The last people executed in my country for murder died on December 11, 1962.
Since then, no others have followed them.
We have had several high profile cases of murderers freed after long prison terms - because they were innocent of the crime they were convicted of, and improperly charged and convicted by an justice system that did not do it's job properly.
That's occurred enough times, both in Canada and the USA, to invalidate the death penalty as an option I can morally support. The chance of an innocent man dying is far too great, and one cannot have the blood of such a thing on one's hands.
The great irony is that my country, without this penalty, is far safer than your country - with it.
In 1961, Canada had 233 murders - and a population of roughly 18,238,000
In 2007, 605 murders, and a population of 33,000,000.
Considering the changes in society over that time, and they have been great, that's not that much of a change in any real sense. In a population of that size, the numbers of murders are essentially the same.
All of this done in a society that banned capital punishment as a penalty.
If you want to reduce the murder rate, one starts by concentrating on reducing poverty and increasing education.
Money spent there will go farther. | |
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| Death Row Inmate Freed
Posted: 5/8/2008 10:12:58 PM | You are so right Montreal Guy. I know people that have more constructive outlets are less likely to start down a path of no return. It all starts with frustration and not having the ability to resolve it in constructive manners. IMO.
I think it's wrong to take life. Period. Does Canada have stronger penalties with less parole? How did punishment change when the death penalty was no longer an option? | |
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| Death Row Inmate Freed
Posted: 5/8/2008 10:32:09 PM | Well if you are convicted for murder, you can look forward to :
Under Section 745 of the Criminal Code of Canada, offenders serving a life sentence for murder may be considered for parole after serving 15 years of their sentences.
Offenders serving life sentences for first-degree murder become eligible for unescorted temporary absences and day parole three years before their full parole eligibility date (normally 25 years). An offender may apply for escorted temporary absences after admission to a federal institution.
The sentencing judge determines when people convicted of second degree murder are eligible for consideration for parole, which can be set between 10 and 25 years. The Judicial Review provisions also apply for second-degree murder, if the parole eligibility date is set beyond 15 years. Inmates incarcerated for second-degree murder become eligible for consideration for unescorted temporary absences and day parole three years before their full parole eligibility date.
Offenders who are paroled while serving life sentences remain on parole for life, unless parole is revoked. Without a grant of parole, the offender remains imprisoned for life.
http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/faits/03-06-eng.shtml
Realistically, anyone convicted for any of those high profile/multiple murders isn't going to get out of prison (assuming they are guilty) in any sense of the word.
The only exception would be someone who made a deal with prosecutors to convict a bigger fish - like Karl Homolka did with her husband. Then they would have a lesser sentence imposed at trial.
Typically, the worst of the worst will serve their full sentence. | |
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| Death Row Inmate Freed
Posted: 5/8/2008 10:56:10 PM | Thats more the way it should be. People here {US} want to kill, not all, but still. I just think the numbers speak for themselves all the way around. Saves tax dollars, guilty do actual time which means they are punished for the crime.
The worst of the worst are people that have no value on life to begin with so, one could argue they think "the worst thing they will do to me is kill me". Well, the worst thing would be living confined, bare essentials. Meanwhile the monies spent on legal could go into community services and education, giving hope and a real chance to someone before hopelessness becomes the life of crime. 
Thanks for the information back up. I just hope some day we will end death {penalty} here. | |
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| Death Row Inmate Freed
Posted: 5/9/2008 9:28:57 AM | The great irony is that my country, without this penalty, is far safer than your country - with it. ---
I lived in Canada for awhile . I found it a very pleasant and civilized
place to live, but comparing the United States to Canada is ridiculous and somewhat
unfair and disingenuous. It would be like comparing Mexico to Pitcairn island. Its a non-sequitur. We have 10 times the population and a vastly different history and population demographics.
As far as poverty, the US has spent, and continues to spend vast sums on both
poverty and education. It has less to do with poverty than behaviour and personel choices. | |
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| Death Row Inmate Freed
Posted: 5/9/2008 3:07:27 PM | The USA is not spending enough on poverty and education and this is a fact. Young people who can see a future beyond crime statistically stay on the law abiding path.
As for having to support prisoners in jail: it is a national disgrace the USA has 400,000+/- people in jail for non-violent minor drug offenses like marijuana possession. It is utterly insane that if alcohol is deemed fit to be legal - that marijuana is not. | |
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| Death Row Inmate Freed
Posted: 5/11/2008 3:12:35 PM | This is the same kind of situation as that tragedy that happened in Austria that just came to the public spot light a few weeks ago, where in 1984 a father locked up his daughter in a cell and had her there for 24 years and had I think 7 children with her during that time, and just recently he was caught.
The guy who was freed thankfully in this case is similar to the victum in Austria that was a hostage for 24 years because in both cases, it was TOTALLY INNOCENT people who got ripped off and screwed by sadistic and/or ignorant cold hearted attitudes in both cases. The judges and the prosecution and anyone else responsible for putting that guy into jail for 27 years and in effect having him almost be killed/murdered, is just as bad a low life scum as that Austrian dad is for what he did to his daughter and her kids. In both cases, I feel in my opinion, that unless it really was an honest mistake and the jury/prosecutors and judge made a mistake, they should be dealt with harshly for seemingly ruining this mans life, just like that Austrian guy should be for what he did to his daughter. Also for that matter, ANY false allegation that ends up in an innocent person going to jail for life or many many years and/or gives them a death penalty, I would have the people responsible for that pay as much and as badly as that Austrian guy will pay for what he did to his daughters.
So obviously the death penalty should be OUT, because if an innocent person gets killed over some sort of a lie or false allegation, there will be shit to pay. | |
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| Death Row Inmate Freed
Posted: 5/11/2008 3:46:41 PM | I think the death penalty should be banned all together.
Death is an unknown place. It could be a better place. The thought of allowing a person who has committed a heinous crime to go to a better place is no punishment at all. Prison for lifers should not be about rehabilitation. It should be about punishment. | |
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| Death Row Inmate Freed
Posted: 5/11/2008 10:52:12 PM | ** If strict prison terms {25 years to life actually did 25 years to life} would be a less expensive choice would we agree to do away with the death penalty?**
As I understand it, it already is: it costs more than twice as much to execute someone than it does to imprison them for life...this is mainly owing to the costs of the appeals, which are quite exhaustive -as they should be, as the convicted's life is at stake; as they say, "The Death Penalty Means Never Being Able To Say You're Sorry." | |
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| Death Row Inmate Freed
Posted: 5/12/2008 3:33:52 AM | | Im with Lunytunes on this one. You got an innocent guy the did 25 years??? How you gonna make this up to this man. Where is his justice gonna come from??? somebody flat out lied to get this man in prison, My thought is they ought to go back find the one who lied and have him do the same 25 years, we been thruogh this before the lies of the cops to make themselves heros, the things that are illigal in a court of law that these judges freely let go!!! and if they would have given him the death penalty?? and did him in then what??? That to me would be called murder by lies and all involved should get the same amout or same punishment!!! As one who has been to prison I will tell you this, I t is my feeling I would much rather be put to death than to do 25 years, thats the end of that story , but stuff like this makes me sick!!! innocent man does 25 years!!! WHO IS RESPONSIBLE???? and what price will they pay??? same as always NOTHING!!!! | |
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| Death Row Inmate Freed
Posted: 5/12/2008 3:59:15 AM | | To timeenough123 how much time you done Mr answer man??? I got a feeling that you aint done a day!!! and I guess the next thing you are gonna say is you have never done ANYTHING in your life that could have gotten you some time. You think prison is a joke?? and easy!!! Another guy who wants to talk S**T and aint got a clue what he is talking about and I will bet you aint never just sit in a courtroom and followed a case to its conclusion to see the bull and lies and things that really go on in this money game legal system we got going . I aint here to argue with you my friend but you aint got a clue. death would be a blessing compared to a guy who had to do 25 years!!! and that is fact!!!! So since you got all the answers, let me ask this. What do you think they should do with the people that were involved with taking 25 years of this mans life?? I would really be interested in hearing your ideas on this!!! | |
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| Death Row Inmate Freed
Posted: 5/12/2008 10:20:06 AM | I got a feeling that you aint done a day!!! ---
Your right about that. Im not a criminal. Thats not to say I havent made mistakes, or done stupid things that could have landed me in jail. But by and large I have tried to avoid doing anything that would hurt or interfere in the lives of anyone else.I have never dealt drugs, stolen someone else's property, driven drunk, or raped or killed anyone. Anyone who does is a piece of sh*t and should be erased. Our species doesnt need them, they are parasites.
I will bet you aint never just sit in a courtroom and followed a case to its conclusion --
You would be wrong there. Unfortunately I was a prison guard for 3 years and worked in a probation department. I have sat in court on many occasions.
I can count how many times I had to listen to some pric*k blather on trying to rationalize and excuse their behaviour. When I dealt with this scumbags, I didnt see them, I saw the faces of their victims. I could never get past that.
As far as an innocent man going to jail, that is a tragedy, and every attempt should be
made at some kind of restitution. Its a terrible thing. But it didnt happen because
the people in the justice system are terrible people hell bent on putting an innocent man on death row.
They are just people, they make mistakes. They are overwhelmed with the sheer numbers of sociopaths and criminals that commit terrible crimes and lie about it.
There are a lot of very good people in the justice system, I know I have met them.
They could be doing other things and making a lot more money, but they stay because
someone has to do the thankless, soul killing job of dealing with the scumbags amongst us and trying to make sense of their lies and put them in cages where they belong.
I dont have all the answers, but I know that the only way we are going to have a society where sociopaths and criminals are a rarity, and women and children are safe, is to remove them from the human gene pool. Permanently. | |
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