Marcus Wesson Should be executed. agree or disagree?

[Bombtrack]

Poll question: Marcus Wesson Should be executed. agree or disagree?

If found guilty, Marcus Wesson, the Fresno man who murdered 9 of his children and incestuacly fathered grandchildren, it appears, should be executed in my strong opinion.

Just want to guage the opinion of DU on this.

[plurality]

1. Killing will never teach that killing is wrong

No matter how emotionally satisfying it is, the truth is the death penalty is in no way a deterent and is generally used to remove people who are to poor to afford an attorney from society.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Wesson should be studied

as should all mass murderers. What caused them to do these horrible things? Is it something genetic, something in their upbringing, or something else? Others may think it silly to study monsters such as these, but if by doing this we discover some possible reasons why they went bad, it could be worth it. If we find, for example, that certain early behaviors are similar in mass murderers, then when these behaviors are observed in others, there is precident to use to try and intervene in some way to change this behavior.

[Zero Gravitas]

17. agree

every time we kill one of our captives we loose a chance to understand why some people do such awful things.

[liberalnurse]

3. He will probably get psyche time.....

Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity...... I say just start the IV now....

[KG]

4. no.

[Gman]

5. Capital punishment does not deter murder

The notion that it does is perpetuated by RW'ers and fundies stuck in the Old Testament way of an eye for an eye.

[Bertha Venation]

6. Shall we wait to see if he's convicted by a jury of his peers?

Or to see if he confesses?

If he is guilty, perhaps he deserves to die for his crimes. But that is not for you, or me, or the jury or the judge to decide.

I am completely anti-death penalty, no matter what the crime. I have to bury my peronal feelings on this and give way to what I think is right.

Capital punishment is barbaric and it's wrong.

[Walt Starr]

7. He's a waste of skin

Strap him to a gurney and stick a needle in his arm.

[salin]

8. Life - no chance of parole.

Make him live with it for every waking moment of his life. While he lives in restricted, limited mobility-confinment... Let him dream of his children's faces. Let him hear their cries. Why let him off the hook (so to speak) prematurely.

[prolesunited]

27. My sentiments exactly

As a nonbeliever, I don't think these criminals face eternal damnation in hell. They are just dead. If you want them to suffer — and perhaps come to some breakthrough in their own minds — let them live.

[Speed8098]

9. No

Murder is murder, even if it's the state doing the killing.

[spanone]

10. How about convicting him first, I think that's how it works.

Then I don't think that murder is right even if it's state sponsored.

[Walt Starr]

11. The prosecution needs to decide if they are going to seek

the death penalty prior to the trial.

That's how it works.

[Ms. Clio]

12. this is one of the most revolting polls I've ever seen at DU

Have I stumbled into the FReaking Twilight Zone?

[peacetalksforall]

13. I can't begin to tell you how much I object to skipping....

skipping over the legal process and presenting things like a posse would. 'Guaging an opinion' is what right wingers do all the time.

[Kickin_Donkey]

14. First of all, you have to have a conviction

in a court of law before you can even ask this question.

As of now the point is entirely moot.

[DrWeird]

15. Seems pretty insane to me. How about you?

Do they no longer have hospitals for the criminally insane?

[arewethereyet]

16. sure they do and they empty them when they get full

feel safer ?

and I'll nver understand how this is a reason NOT to execute someone, seems like all the more reason to do it.

draw and quater this animal.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

18. Got any proof of that?

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

19. I am anti death penalty under all circumstances

[Ladyhawk]

20. I'm still a bit conflicted about the death penalty.

To me it seems moral to be pro-life across the board. I'm mostly against the death penalty, but laws as they are now often allow for inmates to be parolled even when given "life" sentences.

Also, there are cases of people on death row committing murders while in prison. They're still very dangerous.

I'm somewhat conflicted because of these two facts.

Discuss...

[The White Rose]

21. Spending the rest of his life in supermax

with only his sick self for company is the appropriate death sentence IMO. I can't support a state execution for this one case without considering the scores of innocents on Death Row in this country. Either you're for the death penalty (and therefore condone the inevitable state murder of innocent victims as well as the termination of heinous criminals), or you're not. There's no grey area in this one...

[DiverDave]

22. Fry him

He can explain it to the devil.
Far to many kids are hurt or killed with no consequence in this country.
So flame me if you want, but you hurt (or kill) a child, you should pay.

[sandnsea]

23. How does that help?

Executing people doesn't resolve anything and doesn't help anything. Lock him up permanently. We don't need vengeance in order to have justice.

[DiverDave]

24. Nope,

why pay for him to live?
All those kids...and you want him to live.

[JohnLocke]

26. The death penalty costs more than life in prison.

Sources:

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=108&scid=7#financial%20facts
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/MassCostTestimony.pdf
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=7&did=258
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?scid=45&did=385
http://www.deathpenalty.org/index.php?pid=reasons
http://www.amnestyusa.org/abolish/cost.html

[sandnsea]

32. Because I'm civilized

That is absolutely the worst argument for the death penalty. I pay for people to live because it's the moral thing to do. I pay to lock away those who are mentally disturbed because they can't be in society and they have to have somewhere to live. I don't have any need to destroy because somebody else has destroyed. I don't want to introduce more destruction into the social order. I want to teach my children that you can have safety without hatred and vengeance. I just don't need to kill in order to think justice has been served.

[ulysses]

25. nope.

Capital punishment plays no role except revenge, and revenge plays no role in justice.

[DiverDave]

28. I am not using the

death penalty as a deterrent.
Here is a thing (I wont call him a man, he lost that courtesy a long time ago) caught red-handed...fast track his ass to the table.
I DO agree that the death penalty is used on innocent people, but THIS time is different.
IT doesn't deserve to breath. period.
Flame away, this is what child molester/killers deserve.

[ulysses]

29. I didn't say you were

but your willingness to determine who deserves to breathe and who does not is precisely why lynch mobs are illegal.

And why the death penalty should be.

[Disturbed]

30. Surprised.

The bloodlust here is surprising. I would expect it on a Right Wing board but not here. I am 100% against the Death Penalty. There can be no exceptions. Also, no matter what, everyone is innocent until judged "guilty beyond reasonable doubt" by a judge or a jury trial.

[ulysses]

31. don't be.

Until recently, DU was possessed of a longtime member who would have, by this point, been well into his usual diatribe about how we all support child molesters were he still here. The mix of progressives, moderates and conserv centrists is to the good, but it can be dismaying when it first smacks you in the face.

[tkmorris]

33. I think he should live

I think he should live because I have looked deep down into my soul and I know that I am not qualified to judge who should live and who should die. Nor have I ever met anyone whom I believed to be capable of such judgement.

That's the crux of it right there for me. Human beings are far too susceptible to anger, a desire for vengeance, disgust, fear and other human traits to be considered capable of that ultimate judgement. Thus we must not make it. Knowing your limitations is the root of real wisdom.

[DiverDave]

34. Once again we see

that a child's life equals a dog.
It sickens me to think that this thing will live.
Why do you all think child murderers should live?.
In this case he RAPED HIS OWN KIDS!
Blood lust??, your damned skippy, you hurt a child and I will bring the wrath of a dad down on you.
Have YOU been molested?
I was, and let me tell you, I almost envy the dead.
They don't have to live with it for the rest of their lives.
I have been struggling my it whole life.
So, you see, I have ZERO tolerance for child molesters/killers.
And almost as much for their apologists.

[Crunchy Frog]

36. I understand your anger.

I have a close family member who was sexually abused over a large part of her childhood and has suffered lifetime damage as a result. Given my own family history, please do not accuse me of being an apologist for child molesters just because I oppose the death penalty.

It is a false dichotomy that is no different from people who say that being opposed to the Iraq invasion makes one pro-Saddam, or pro-terrorist.

[ulysses]

38. and once again we also see

death penalty opponents labeled as apologists for child molesters. crunchyfrog is correct - I'm sorry for your experience, but recognizing that the death penalty is flat wrong no more makes someone an apologist for child molesters than opposing the Iraq war makes someone an apologist for Saddam.

[Crunchy Frog]

35. If anyone deserves to be executed

I'm sure he does. However, I am philosophically opposed to the death penalty so I vote for life imprisonment.

[DiverDave]

37. I apologize

if this seems to be an attack on anyone.
But my views are shaped by my life.
I agree that the DP should not be used indiscriminately.
BUT, when the fox is caught in the hen house with blood and feathers?
I understand your position, please understand mine.
And, no, the info that I gave was not for sympathy.

[Crunchy Frog]

40. As long as you're willing to respect

my position, I'm willing to respect yours, even though I disagree with it.

I will never accept being labeled as an apologist for child sexual abusers, given my own family experience, and I will never accept my opposition to the death penalty being used to stick that label on me.

I am perfectly willing to agree to disagree with you in a civilized fashion.

[WoodrowFan]

39. No

The death penalty is wrong IMHO. I think living the rest of his life in a small concrete cell, afraid of his fellow prisoners (because of what they do to child killers/molesters in prison) seems like justice to me.


I won't cry if he were executed however.