The Death Penalty, Kids being charged as Adults

**Kayakinboy** · 11-09-2005, 10:04 AM

I had to take a debate class once, and found out that I really like discussing these types of issues, and after I watched the footage about what happened less than 2 hours from me, I figured people wouldn't mind expressing feelings.

How do you feel about the death penalty?

Kids being charged as Adults?

Personally, (I know some might be shocked) but I am 125% for the death penalty. I also think that they shouldn't be allowed an appeal or atleast limit it to be done within a low (3 years of being sentenced). people on death row overcrowd our jail systems all over America and help cause higher taxes.

And also I think kids (12 or older) may be charged as adults if the crime is heinous enough, IE raped and killed another person, charge as an adult.

bigpoppapuff · 11-09-2005, 10:07 AM

death penalty.......

kids charged as adults....

**Jonsey5484** · 11-09-2005, 10:17 AM

I am all for the death penalty, I think that an appeals process should be only excepted if there is reasonable doubt that the person on death row is innocent and wrongfully charged.

I believe kids being tried as adults is great. I think that it should be 10 y.o. and older. By ten years old you should have a pretty good idea right from wrong. I think that we need a more strict juvenile detention program. It should be run more like a jail. If a child shoots someone on purpose he should serve the same time as an adult would.

I believe in eye for an eye....You shoot someone, you should be gunned down on the spot, no questions asked. Maybe people would think a little harder before doing something. You rape someone....Well, life in prison with the biggest guy who will rape the shit of you everyday. Just my opinion though.

**Shagaroo** · 11-09-2005, 10:18 AM

If there is a credible eye witness to the crime, I think the minute they are found guilty and sentenced to death they should be taken out in the alley and the sentence carried out with extreme prejudice. Same with people who confess. Like that bastard that kidnapped, molested and buried alive that girl in FLA. The second he confessed his next words should have been gurgle gurgle... then his last breath. He should not have made it out of the interrogation room.

Apart from those two examples, I am getting less willing to put folks to death. To many folks who have been convicted on "credible evidence" are being found innocent years later and released. People are broken, that includes people on juries. I am really undecided here.

Kids being charged as adults? Yeah, especially for particuliarly vicious crimes. Being a parent, I also know your average kid doesn't end up that way alone unless they are a true sociopath. I think parents should be looked at as well. Whether through neglect or direct corruption, parents need to return to being held responsible for the heathens they let lose on the world.

**Kayakinboy** · 11-09-2005, 10:27 AM

I'm glad for once it seems we all AGREE on an issue!

**basil** · 11-09-2005, 10:36 AM

Some good points. I definitely support the death penalty - in open-and-closed cases. At young ages? I agree with Shag re: holding parents accountable. In Texas one of our lower courts the Justice of Peace. The get both city and county cases and most of the school stuff truancy, etc. We have 4 in our county - they're all good, and one of these is an absolute gem. I've seen him get up, walk around his bench and hug a mom who was in tears. Many folks leave his court wide-eyed from a ass ripping. They don't critisize - most know that he truly cares about the folks he hears. Recently he slapped a $1600 fine on a couple with a daughter who's been ditching classes (repeat offender). They have nearly nothing. Net income: $3800/month. $ spent on crack: $3600/month. Parents absolutely must be held accountable. If they can't figure it out, they need to be forced to seek assistance or give up the kids.

$3600 spent on dope is NO exaggeration

**SuperChuck** · 11-09-2005, 10:48 AM

Originally Posted by Kayakinboy

I'm glad for once it seems we all AGREE on an issue!

Ha!

I'm COMPLETELY opposed to the death penalty.

I also think it's rediculous to charge kids as adults.

J Edgar Hoover renamed all our prisons to "Correctional Facilities" and I really think he was on to something (about the correctional facilities, not cross-dressing). However, I think the prison system is a COMPLETE failure...

I had a revelation a couple years back. I was watching a documentary on Parris Island and one of the drill sargeants mentioned that roughly half the kids joining the Marines realize that they need discipline; they realize that they can either join the military or end up in prison. So what do you do with the people that go to prison instead? Treat them like Marines!

My "system" puts inmates through a 6 week boot camp loosely based on the Marine Corps model. Once the inmate passes boot (which, like actual boot, may take more than one attempt), the inmate can then join the prison system. The emphasis of the prison system would change as well. Education and hard work are stressed. Inmates are educated in a trade beneficial to the state and put to work. The work should be largely creative in nature: building bridges, levees, repairing municipal buildings, etc. The idea here is to create an understanding of improving society.

The current system brings 'em in, ferments them, and lets them out. Bring 'em in, fix 'em, and get 'em out.

I've never understood charging a child as an adult.
As a society, we have determined that a 15 year old kid does not have the understanding of right and wrong.
Yet, we decide that, if they do something REALLY bad, they MUST have full understanding.
That just doesn't make sense.

An army officer once explained why the army doesn't accept people older than 24 (or whatever the age is). If you tell a 17 year old to take that hill, they don't ask questions. If you tell a 27 year old to take that hill, they'll tell you no fucking way, there are guys shooting up there. The 17 year old understands that there are people up there shooting, but doesn't understand what it MEANS to wind up in a body bag. A 27 year old is typically more mature and self-protective.

If I had the same intellect I had at 15, I'd be dead.

**Diesel Grinch** · 11-09-2005, 10:57 AM

I believe in turning over the convicted criminal to the person/family of the one he hurt! They get to decide his/her fate with no fallout for them. Anything goes.

**Drake** · 11-09-2005, 11:12 AM

i'll give my opinion, but i'm not too fond of getting into big discussion about this. i disagree with it. i don't believe that any man should have the right to take another man's life for any reason. i don't think death is a punishment anyway. its an easy way for them out of truely living with what they have done. i do think people who commit hainess crimes deserve to be torchered accordingly. for instance: if someone rapes and kills a woman, he should raped and beaten nightly for the entirety of a life sentence. don't let him of easy with the death penalty

**ggiese** · 11-09-2005, 11:28 AM

I believe the problem with most people who oppose the death penalty is they've never been face to face with someone who would think less of killing someone as they would reading the morning newspaper. Until you've stared directly in the eyes of that individual, you may want to reserve judgement....

**Drake** · 11-09-2005, 11:36 AM

Originally Posted by ggiese

I believe the problem with most people who oppose the death penalty is they've never been face to face with someone who would think less of killing someone as they would reading the morning newspaper. Until you've stared directly in the eyes of that individual, you may want to reserve judgement....

i see what you're saying. i'm not just against it because i think its wrong. its because i think its too humane for some of the crimes that are commited. i think if i was watching someone get a lethal injection for killing my mom, i'd feel like he was let off extremely easy, and i'd wish far worse upon him.

**Shagaroo** · 11-09-2005, 11:46 AM

Originally Posted by SuperChuck

I've never understood charging a child as an adult.
As a society, we have determined that a 15 year old kid does not have the understanding of right and wrong.
Yet, we decide that, if they do something REALLY bad, they MUST have full understanding.
That just doesn't make sense.

I vehemently disagree with this. To me, this is not much more than modern day mumbo jumbo to remove personal responsiblity from people. I knew right from wrong when I was 15. I knew right from wrong when I was 12. I knew I screwed up when I was 6 and hit my parents brand spankin' new white Pinto with my bike and dented it when mom told me to ride my bike away from the carport. That's why I went inside and got some tape and toilet paper to cover over the dent.

Kids know. That's why more don't get daddies gun and blow away their problems. The difference is, now people have been taught nothing is their own fault. They aren't old enough, they aren't smart enough, they aren't rich enough, their house is in the wrong part of town, etc., etc. Blame anything but the folks responsible.

reaganyouth84 · 11-09-2005, 11:53 AM

I agree with ggiese and drake. I understand where they both are coming from. However I don't agree with the "whole oh you are just 15, you don't know what you are doing bit." I understand that a 15 year old might not know that much about finances, politics, having a job, etc...but we are going to deal with this very subject in my community in the coming weeks. At 15 if you don't know that shooting and killing another human being is wrong, then you aren't even human, no if, ands, or buts about it. At 15 they might not realize the life altering decision of jailtime, death penalty, etc...but rest assured they know damn well that taking the breath out of another human being's lungs is wrong.

-Mike

**cigar no baka** · 11-09-2005, 11:58 AM

Death penalty -

Death penalty to kids over 10 who rape or murder -

I'm also for pitching them in a well and dropping rotting food and putrid water to them twice a week, if they opt for that instead of the death penalty.

**Drake** · 11-09-2005, 12:01 PM

Originally Posted by cigar no baka

Death penalty -

Death penalty to kids over 10 who rape or murder -

I'm also for pitching them in a well and dropping rotting food and putrid water to them twice a week, if they opt for that instead of the death penalty.

i think that's more just than death

**basil** · 11-09-2005, 12:05 PM

Originally Posted by SuperChuck

Ha!

I'm COMPLETELY opposed to the death penalty.

I also think it's rediculous to charge kids as adults.

J Edgar Hoover renamed all our prisons to "Correctional Facilities" and I really think he was on to something (about the correctional facilities, not cross-dressing). However, I think the prison system is a COMPLETE failure...

I had a revelation a couple years back. I was watching a documentary on Parris Island and one of the drill sargeants mentioned that roughly half the kids joining the Marines realize that they need discipline; they realize that they can either join the military or end up in prison. So what do you do with the people that go to prison instead? Treat them like Marines!

My "system" puts inmates through a 6 week boot camp loosely based on the Marine Corps model. Once the inmate passes boot (which, like actual boot, may take more than one attempt), the inmate can then join the prison system. The emphasis of the prison system would change as well. Education and hard work are stressed. Inmates are educated in a trade beneficial to the state and put to work. The work should be largely creative in nature: building bridges, levees, repairing municipal buildings, etc. The idea here is to create an understanding of improving society.

The current system brings 'em in, ferments them, and lets them out. Bring 'em in, fix 'em, and get 'em out.

I've never understood charging a child as an adult.
As a society, we have determined that a 15 year old kid does not have the understanding of right and wrong.
Yet, we decide that, if they do something REALLY bad, they MUST have full understanding.
That just doesn't make sense.

An army officer once explained why the army doesn't accept people older than 24 (or whatever the age is). If you tell a 17 year old to take that hill, they don't ask questions. If you tell a 27 year old to take that hill, they'll tell you no fucking way, there are guys shooting up there. The 17 year old understands that there are people up there shooting, but doesn't understand what it MEANS to wind up in a body bag. A 27 year old is typically more mature and self-protective.

If I had the same intellect I had at 15, I'd be dead.

The boot camp thing has been tried. The last one was dismantled a couple of months ago - it was in CA and was part of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP - Federal). The "creative labor" thing is and has been part of prison systems for decades. I don't know the stats re: what has been helpful and what hasn't. I do believe strongly that prison has become simply a bandaid for a symptom of much larger problem; you're right about the fact that the prison systems, federal AND state, are largely failures. The problem: lack of accountability.

On whether an adolescent has an abstract grasp of death, right and wrong, or whatever, varies from one person to the next.

**SuperChuck** · 11-09-2005, 12:06 PM

Originally Posted by ggiese

I believe the problem with most people who oppose the death penalty is they've never been face to face with someone who would think less of killing someone as they would reading the morning newspaper

"What do you think about the death penalty for Marcus Chenault, your wife's murderer?"

"Oh, please, don't let them kill him. Please, don't let them do that. That won't bring her back. God's been too good to me for me to hate. He's just a boy. God loves him. God can forgive him. I forgive him. I can't hate."
-Rev. Martin Luther King Sr.

Rev. King's wife was gunned down in his own church, before his very eyes.

A weaker man would have asked for the death penalty, believing they need to take vengeance on this evil kid.

The Kings are the strongest family I have ever seen.

**Baron Porthos** · 11-09-2005, 12:10 PM

Seeing as how we are talking about killing our children I thought I should chime in here. I worked for twenty years with children in Residential Treatment Centers here in Wisconsin. I have done training for other people who work with children at many different levels. Local, state, international. We do not have the death penalty in Wisconsin and I am happy for that. I have as George said looked into the eyes of these children many would have us kill. A lot are not going to change no matter what you do. It is important to deal with them clearly. One way is to kill them. Sends a clear message as to how we will deal with the next one. Another way is to provide them with clearly defined structure. Unfortunately no where in a free society are we so clearly defined. Another way is to escort them through the daily pace of life in a community. This to me makes the most sense. Kids are not very articulate so even if they can tell you what the problem is it may be hard for us to understand. Without some one to help them fight off the deafening images of how tough they are because they have killed someone they will be lost. I am not claiming It will matter for all of the kids in our country. I am saying there are a lot of kids between honor student and hardened criminal. Each group has its murderers and leaders. Giving children a chance beyond the death penalty is good with me.
In case you haven't noticed my flaming liberal let me make it more clear. I think as long as we put more money into corporations than we do into our children we will continue to reap what we sow.
I support the death penalty 100% for adults without mitigating circumstances. Like DNA evidence that says they could not have committed a crime. Or is it worse to have a jury with the inability to understand what the Dna evidence tells them.

I have to go smoke a PAM then take a nap.

**SuperChuck** · 11-09-2005, 12:12 PM

Originally Posted by basil

The boot camp thing has been tried. The last one was dismantled a couple of months ago - it was in CA and was part of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP - Federal).

Weren't those the crazy tent city things? I think the guy that was running those was a total nut... I believe they were effective, but the guy running them was whacky.

The "creative labor" thing is and has been part of prison systems for decades.

I've seen a lot of labor, but not a lot of creative labor.
Picking up garbage and doing laundry doesn't really give you a feeling of building something, something to be proud of. There's just going to be more litter and laundry tomorrow...