Mass. Governor to File Death Penalty Bill (Only the guilty to be executed)

[Khephra]

(Yeah, tell me another one....)


BOSTON -- Hoping to bring capital punishment to Massachusetts, Gov. Mitt Romney is preparing to file a death penalty bill early next year that he says is so carefully written it will guarantee only the guilty are executed.

Based in part on the findings of a death penalty panel he appointed, the bill would limit capital punishment to the "worst of the worst" crimes including terrorism, the murder of police officers, murder involving torture and the killing of witnesses. It also would use evidence such as DNA testing to protect the innocent.

Romney wants his death penalty bill to be a model for other states.

"The weakness in the death penalty statutes in other states, of course, is the fear that you may execute someone who is innocent. We remove that possibility," Romney said.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-death-penalty,0,1321605.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines

[CO Liberal]

1. To Prove How Well it Works...

...why doesn't Gov. Mitt Romney volunteer to be the first?

:-)

[gristy]

2. only the guilty are executed?

Whew! That's a relief.

[liberalhistorian]

31. LOL!

That was exactly my thought, "only the guilty are executed"? My, how generous of them!

[pinerow]

3. And who, pray tell, can guarantee that ONLY the guilty will die...

isn't that already a part of the judicial system...:wtf:

[progressiveBadger]

6. A giant computer will decide

What could go wrong?

[pinerow]

16. You're right...what was I thinking...?

nt

[PassingFair]

40. They didn't call it DIEbold

....for nothing.

[Mr_Spock]

4. Hoping to bring death as a response to killing to Mass, moral Mormon

describes perfect way to kill only the most deserving to die. "Death as a way to kill killers must be done in such a way that we only kill the most deserving killers". Death, kill death, kill, Bible, kill death Christian kill death obsess murder RedRum drunk with killing love kill death obsess.

[gratuitous]

5. Death will only be meted out to "the worst of the worst" huh?

And it will be simply jaw-dropping how many malefactors constitute the "worst" as prosecutors try to fit their case into the template that Romney is so assiduously building. It will be amazing to all and sundry just what will suddenly be alleged to be "torture" or "terrorism."

The wealthy, naturally, will continue to enjoy their exemption from consideration for capital crimes.

[Kagemusha]

9. Gangsters are terrorists now, as of today, right?

What a guy, that governor. What a guy.

[Just Me]

7. I simply do NOT understand advocates of the death penalty.

There is overwhelming evidence that a "death penalty" does NOT serve to deter violent crime, does NOT cost less to advance, does NOT provide emotional relief to victims' survivors and DOES VIOLATE A BASIC HUMAN LAW AGAINST IMPOSING DEATH.

Moreover, there is ample evidence that innocent people have been forced to die.

The ONLY purpose "death penalty" serves is VENGEANCE which fails to provide any long-term emotional relief or closure.

Why push "death" in face of these facts?

I simply do NOT understand advocates of the death penalty.

I might add that no living human being even knows whether or not "death" is a punishment or relief from life!!!! If someone murdered my son,...I'd much rather he spent the rest of his living days behind insufferable walls than to end his miserable life. I would want that murderer to suffer through the rest of his life as opposed to ending his misery.

[Mr_Spock]

13. But killing is fun for all good Christians don't you know?

Joke asside, I don't think death is much of a punishment to many of the guilty. Perhaps this is what "compassionate conservativism" is all about?

[Bo]

34. You cannot be a Xtian and be pro death

it makes you a satanist

[Mr_Spock]

36. We must like Satan a lot then.

Satan for President! WOOHOOO!

[genieroze]

47. He's already in the WH. eom

[Mr_Spock]

50. Yes

It's sad but true.

[DrCorday]

20. True retribution does not exist in a just legal system

In addition to what's already been said:

The state cannot be expected to commit every horrible crime that people do. At least that's what I think. Often the advocates of the death penalty like the idea of "eye for an eye," and so on.

I argue that the death penalty is clearly a violation of the eighth amendment. Knowing that retributive tendancies would exist in even the most civilized of societies, our framers made it clear that the state shall conduct justice in a respectable manner.

"Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted."

Murder and treason are the only crimes that warrant a death penalty; making it clearly unusual. These two crimes stand alone amongst thousands in this characteristic. We do not practice physical punishments of any other form, as no one is beaten, shot, or dismembered for crimes as they are in other countries. The death penalty is the only punishment where a physical retribution is demanded.

The death penalty is also cruel. Obviously, you're killing a person. Despite his/her crimes, when discussing the eighth amendment, you can only take the actions of the state into account. In this case, the state is committing murder, whether justified or accidental.

Okay, that's my two cents, I'm out.

[Just Me]

26. Your two cents,...will be added to my collection *smile*.

Especially, the state is committing murder, whether justified or accidental part,...which resonates the damned truth,...as truth be damned by "the state".

[Dem2theMax]

27. Truer words were never spoken.

When an inmate is put to death by the state, the state has to issue a death certificate.
Guess what the 'cause of death' is -- murder.
Yep.
Murder.
If it wasn't so sick, one could almost laugh at the irony.

[Bouncy Ball]

57. IF the death penalty was such a wonderful deterrent for

would be criminals/murderers, Texas would be the safest state in America.

It's not.

[KansDem]

8. "Beyond a reasonable doubt" to be replaced by "no doubt...?"

What's the difference? :shrug:

[Atman]

10. Why are police officers "special" humans?

This starts a fight every time, and it pisses me off every time. Police officers deserve respect, in most cases, and deserve good pay and bennies. But they are not a special class of humans. In fact, of the police officers I've known personally, literally half of them have been dishonest nut-bags with a homo-erotic fixation on themselves and their crisp uniforms. Many choose to go into the line of work as a result of inferiority complexes and as their way to "get back" at the people who wronged them in Junior High gym class.

Let me just say: I know these are generalities. Like all stereotypes, there is a basis of truth in what I say, and you know it (unless you're a cop or a cop's spouse/sibling/parent). Don't flame me if you know a good cop. Great...most are good.

Many/most are very brave men and women. But they CHOOSE THEIR PROFESSION, and they can choose something safer, more intellectually stimulating, more creative, whatever, if they don't get a rush from the danger angle. They are NOT special humans in need of special classes of punishment for those who would harm them.

Unless you want to put my wife in that special class of humans, too...she'd be the one who might save that cop's life if he/she were shot down. Isn't SHE deserving special attention, too?

Make killing ALL people reprehensible, not just cops. Stop shrugging at homeless-beatings, and killing kids and the mentally retarded using state-santioned murders. Honor all life. Or maybe some of us really are more equal than others, after all.

Stop honoring the uniform, and start honoring the human form. Period.

-----



1st Amendment Shoppe

[Just Me]

18. I agree.

Completely.

Respect for human existence,...should be a fundamental value.

[Boosterman]

53. Do you feel the same way about hate crime laws? n/t

[Atman]

54. Absolutely

I am completely opposed to the idea of "hate" crimes.

[Boosterman]

59. OK thats cool

At least your consistent. To be honest the liberal in me screams its worse but objectively I fail to see how the convenience store owner gunned down for 50 dollars is worse off than the dead victim of a hate crime(barring unusual circumstances such as torture).

[Atman]

11. BTW, Romney is just jealous of CT Gov Jody Rell...she gets to kill a guy!

Yuppers, Connecticut is about to have it's first execution in over forty years, thanks in part to the scandal-makers in the CT statehouse, and John "Bush Buddy" Rowland, another GUILTY republican felon. Just 90 minutes out The Pike, Rell gets to fry a bad guy, and Romney is jealous. He wants in in the worst way!

The republicans are worried Bush won't respect them if they don't also have blood all over their hands.

[Just Me]

23. As I previously stated,...I just do NOT understand the "death mongers".

I dunno,...maybe it's a power-over-life thingy that I simply cannot grasp. I mean,...do these people FEEL GOOD when they can end a life?

I just don't get it.

[Todd B]

12. Uh?

Um, we've had people trying to bring the death penalty to Massachusetts for about 20 years, why would this time be any different.

On a side note, between the insane quest to ban gay marriage (including digging up 80 year old laws that haven't been enforced in years) to his disgusting support for *, to his unique ability to do squat for the state of Massachusetts, am I the only one completely sick of Romney yet?

[Mr_Spock]

17. Romney is doing everything in his power to be a one-term governator

This smarmy looking fool needs to be shown the door.

[Todd B]

22. Exactly

Exactly.. I mean what has he done that he had promised while running?

Bring more jobs to the Bay State? Uh?
Balance the budget? Uh, oops, we've got fire and police department closings all over the state.

Well, at least he's fighting to keep those darn homosexuals at bay :rolleyes:

The way he was whoring for * I'm surprised that he hasn't been offered a cabinet position or something.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

35. Welcome, fellow Masshole! Mittens is a piece of work.

Where are those jobs he promised?

You're right on the money-the guy is a hypocrite!

:hi:

[Todd B]

41. Hi Hi

Thanks for the welcome!

Just another one of those darned Massachusetts liberal types hellbent on destroying marriage and raising taxes here! ;)

[Kathy in Cambridge]

45. Considering we have one of the lowest tax burdens

you haven't been trying hard enough! :spank:

[YankeyMCC]

14. I wrote this letter to the editor

When he announced the creation of this panel to come up with his "infalible" system, (BTW: Isn't that hubris??) I wrote this letter to the editor. It didn't get published, probably to long.

Death Penalty - Romney sponsored report

Gov Romney is putting the cart before the horse when he asked his panel of experts to determine if it is possible to have an infallible application of the death penalty. It is important to ask the question how we can ensure an innocent person is not sentenced with the death penalty but a more fundamental question must be asked and answered first.

The measure of the civility and enlightenment of a government is not simply a matter of the acts it performs or refrains from doing these are only manifestations of the level of barbarism or enlightenment of a state. The real indicators are the foundation from which a government bases its decision to act or not act. A less enlightened state uses the foundation of ill-defined and ever changing moral sensitivities of the community, the more enlightened state bases its decisions on how best to provide and protect its citizens.

It is impossible for the government of such a diverse community as modern-day Massachusetts to clearly define a common moral standard for determining when it is permissible to kill a citizen. In addition to being impossible to define for the entire community they are constantly changing. Yet when Gov Romney speaks about which crimes he would apply the death penalty to he speaks of "the most heinous violent crimes". Free citizens must be left to make their own moral decisions and the state should not be in the business of making moral decisions beyond meeting its pragmatic obligations.

Allowing the state to decide which citizens to kill based latest outrage leads to ever growing and changing lists of requirements to be eligible for the death penalty and almost certainly regret in the years to come. It was not many centuries ago that the death penalty was used for what we would consider trivial offenses today.

Therefore before deciding how to remove doubt of quilt the state needs to first define which obligation of the state killing a citizen will serve.

Throughout history the death penalty was used because there was little or no other choice to punish or remove the threat of a rule breaker from the general community. The ability for the local authorities to grant pardons, often in the last hour, was also an important aspect of its effectiveness. It was about deterrence but the threat of it was seen as enough for that, it was also about a spiritual or moral cleansing. perhaps the more important aspect for many in the community had to do with what they believed was a cleansing of the community and saving the soul of the perpetrator. But this is 21st century Massachusetts and we live under a secular government and the state is not responsible for spiritual cleansing of the community or saving the souls of perpetrators.

Therefore hypothetically the state may still have the same need to punish those who would disrupt the basic functioning of society and the state and protect the general population from dangerous individuals. But today we have prisons where we can affect deterrence through less irreversible means. Also, hypothetically for perpetrators of crimes that are particularly dangerous and have no reasonable expectation to rehabilitate them then a permanent solution is needed. These would include crimes such as; killing government officials in order to disrupt vital functions (such as law enforcement), multiple murders, child murders, murders to cover up other crimes.

However, the modern and hopefully enlightened state of Massachusetts we have less expensive means of deterrence and isolation. The proposals of how to gain at least the appearance of “no doubt of guilt” will require large effort and large expense for a very few and as the authors of the report have stated themselves there can never be 100% certainly when humans are involved. There is also the question of fair application, many organizations such as the ALCU and Amnesty International are repeatedly shown how the death penalty is often applied unequally to different portions of the population. Gov Romney’s focus on defining capital offenses by his sense of what is heinous and skipping ahead to the question.

[pinerow]

19. Wish I had written that...

nt

[w4rma]

15. No government excecutions. I expect this won't pass, but I hope I'm not

expecting too much.

[DrCorday]

25. I got a better idea!

That's a good point but, I know! How bout from now on, we just do to the criminal what he did to society. No more jail time.

If he was a drug dealer, we'll sell drugs to him! If he's a burglar, we should break into his house and steal his stuff. If he's guilty of assault, let's beat him up. We could even rape the rapists if we wanted!! Yay! That's what I call justice!

(end Freeper impression)

Okay, so three cents, I just couldn't help myself.

[Solly Mack]

21. There's only one way to " remove that possibility"

No DP, period.

[Acryliccalico]

28. I don't know

but you can call me crazy:freak: I think this government has done more to kill us off than anything else. Maybe the earth is close to reaching it's capicty and now it's our turn to sacrifice because it doesn't seem to matter what we do they still persist in killing. ie; WAR, DEATH PENALTY, STARVATION, ETHENIC GENOCIDE. Seems selective though. Please someone show me I am wrong, PLEASE.:tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat:

[Solly Mack]

30. I won't call you crazy.

governments are good at killing people

[GOPNotForMe]

24. Death-penalty-obsessed people scare me.

Something wrong upstairs.

[VegasWolf]

29. The "proof" of guilt will be the prosecution's word. n/t

[Khephra]

32. We could always just go back to throwing defendants into water

If they drown then they were innocent and if they survive being thrown in then they're guilty.


Sounds about as fool proof as the Governor's plan.

[Jackpine Radical]

37. ...backed up by a DNA analysis from the FBI Crime Lab.

Remember those guys? Hundreds of cases had to be thrown out& many convictions reversed when it was revealed that the FBI had been faking data.

[VegasWolf]

42. HAH! I had forgotten that!! n/t

[tx_dem41]

33. "it will guarantee only the guilty are executed" = The Arrogance of Power

n/t

[Rose Siding]

38. NY just applied the term "terrorist" to gang members

Romney's bill will be stretched the same way.

[MileHiStealth]

39. Only the guilty to be executed ......

The innocent poor who can't afford lawyers,
will get life in prison ....

[VegasWolf]

43. It's foolproof as long as one has lighter skin colors. n/t

[MADem]

44. WORST. GOVERNOR. EVER.

That carpetbagging BAAAAAASTID needs to get his ass back to Utah where he belongs, where he paid RESIDENT (as opposed to non-resident) taxes on his house. He stole the election here, and he was the model for the national folly this past November.

Mitt the Shit needs to get gone. He sucks!!!

[Kathy in Cambridge]

46. He is a BAAAASTID.

Where are those jobs he promised?

I grew up in Cambridge, my friends and cousins grew up in Belmont. No one knew the Romneys. F'in CAHPETBAGGAH.

[MADem]

49. And the sick thing is

...all of the old folks in Belmont, living in their family homes that have been in the family for GENERATIONS, are being priced out of them with the onerous property taxes, which are going through the goddamn roof all over the state. When you're spending the grocery budget on property tax, something is fucking wrong. And all the towns, who are facing state budget cuts, are reassessing the houses so the old folks no longer qualify for the circuit breaker tax credit (anything over $488K pays full tax--and there are plenty of houses in Belmont that grampa built for ten grand back in the day that are worth way more than $488K nowadays). He is SCREWING THE ELDERLY, he's screwing kids, he's cutting social services, and he can't even get the goddamn state highways plowed down to pavement during the GD holidays!!!

Services down, taxes up...that's Mitt the shit for ya! The baaastid thinks the Red Sox are what you wear with the green Xmas trousers and the snowflake sweatah, the stupid fukkah!!!

And that "LIBERTY TUNNEL" bullshit!!!! Let's name the damn thing after Tip and Joe Moakley--we could count on those guys...hell, they'd do a better job for the state today, from their graves! Don't get me stah-ted, I could go on!!!

His father was the paranoid governor of Michigan who ran for President. Wish the dumb sumbitch knew the difference between MI and MA, maybe we could have avoided this hideous administration...not that I'd wish him on those folks, but this is absolute hell.

And he just isn't from around he-yah! Back to Salt Lake with him!!!

[Arkana]

48. Romney can kiss that bill's ass goodbye. This state will NEVER, EVER

have the death penalty. He has a total of about 12 seats in the entire MA Congress. Jackass.

[Thor_MN]

51. Hey MittWitt, WWJK???

[allalone]

52. it reminds me of when a town in Calif.

decided it's fire dept. wouldn't respond to false alarms anymore.

[JI7]

55. he wants to run for President

he wants to make issue of how he brought back the death penalty to massachusettes a part of his campaign in the primary.

[Bouncy Ball]

56. WHAT?

How is he going to remove that possibility, exactly?

Juries are made up of humans, humans are fallible. Judges are human, humans are fallible.

THUS, there are ALWAYS going to be mistakes made, no matter how careful us fallible humans are.

Execution is PERMANENT. No "oops, sorry!" will fix it.

Eeegads. Not Massachusetts. :cry:

I'm in Texas where we execute the youngest and the retarded. :cry: Oh and the most number of people, too.

[rocktivity]

58. And in a related story

Why go all through all that trouble if it's only going to affect guilty people? Party pooper!

:headbang:
rocknation