WARNING...This story may make you vomit, but as for the death penalty,

[cboy4]

I believe it's time to do away with capital punishment. It serves absolutely no purpose. To me, it's an easy way out.

The victim's aunt said: "I just hope he gets what he deserves. I hope they give him the death penalty"...

Knowing you're going to spend every minute of the rest of your life locked up seems far greater punishment to me.

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/04/17/oklahoma.killing/index.html

PURCELL, Oklahoma (CNN) -- Prosecutors filed first-degree murder charges Monday against a grocery store clerk accused of killing a 10-year-old neighbor after writing about a bizarre scheme to consume human flesh.

Kuykendall, the prosecutor, said that meat tenderizer and barbecue skewers were found in Underwood's apartment, apparently intended to be used on the girl. :puke:

[Warpy]

1. The state should not be in the business of murdering its citizens

and this guy is obviously very disturbed. Justice would put him into an institution for the criminally insane, medicated into passivity.

Putting him into prison will result in another Dahmer situation. He wouldn't last long.

[sam sarrha]

2. there is not proof of any kind that death is a penalty, Prison IS punishment

[liberalnurse]

9. I will have to agree with that.

Living with ones inner self, without an outlet, without companionship is indeed torture. Prison is just the place for this dark soul.

[aikoaiko]

22. not neccesarily

maybe this guy will get a smile on his face everyday of his life when he thinks about sexually assaulting the dead girl'd body.

death will prevent that.

[Cooley Hurd]

30. You mean, while he's rogered by other inmates?

:shrug:

[Taxloss]

3. There wasanother thread about this horrible case yesterday.

I argued that he should not be killed, but must be kept in a maximum-security hospital and studied. Evil he may be, but this man is a fascinating human being, and by striving to understand his condition we may be able to intervene in future cases earlier and save the lives of other innocents. The death penalty is a misplaced desire for revenge, and does nothing to address the causes of insanity and crime.

[Lib Grrrrl]

10. Can You Blame The Victims

for wanting revenge?

I'd want revenge if it were someone I loved who got killed!

[LoZoccolo]

12. Well yeah, but this guy wanted to eat human flesh too.

You can't always get what you want. I'd rather put this case to use to further criminology.

[Taxloss]

13. I don't blame them at all.

But this is why victims should not decide the penalties faced by criminals. That would not be justice, that's blood-feud.

[cboy4]

16. I empathize their desire for revenge, but the greatest

revenge is prison.

Think about it.....

Lethal Injection: You get an initial I.V. drug...the same drug that makes you fall asleep in the dentist's chair when you get your wisdom teeth pulled.

Life in prison: Day after day, year after year in a dreary environment....locked up in a tiny cell, never to get out. And you just know the other inmates are going to try

to beat up and kill this guy. Prison would be a nightmare for most.

[Lib Grrrrl]

21. Unless

of course, they escape...or are paroled. Most prisoners do not serve the full term of their sentences.

And are then let out to go and victimize more people.

If you would replace DP with LIFE IN PRISON WITHOUT THE POSSIBILITY OF PAROLE - AND ENFORCE IT and, make it absolutely impossible for the inmates sentenced so to ever escape...then you might have a chance of converting me.

Some people...some criminals...are just so dispicable that they literally are a waste of oxygen, a waste of skin, and quite frankly do not deserve to exist on the same planet as the rest of us...in my not-so-humble opinion.

[ptolle]

38. yes

To answer your question. Yes I can.Call me anything you want, but IMO one of the first things a truly civilized society learns is the difference between retribution and justice.Also IMO among the other first things a truly civilized society ought to learn is the difference between what we need and what we merely want, and the difference between enough and too much.

[KyndCulture]

4. Honestly no point in arguing about this case because...

he's not going to survive a year in prison. Someone will kill this guy for what he did and it won't be the state.

[BlooInBloo]

8. Of course there's a point. It's that the STATE not have that power.

Sheesh.

It's about the protection of the individual from the state.

How many executed innocent people are acceptable so that the STATE can have this power?

[Kutjara]

5. Something that has always troubled me...

...about Christians who support the death penalty is this: Don't they believe that, if the condemned convict is a Christian and repents his crimes, receiving absolution from a priest, he will go to Heaven?

If so, death-penalty-supporting Christians really favor rewarding murderers. In fact, they want murderers to have a shot of the ultimate reward: eternity in Heaven.

Strange, that.

[TreasonousBastard]

15. The argument (which I don't agree with) centers...

around "innocence." An aborted "child" is innocent of any crime, and so it is murder. A criminal brought it upon himself by the act of committing a crime, and so it is justice. A criminal may repent, but he must still pay for his crime. And those who think this way rarely believe the criminal will truly repent.

The Catholic "Seamless Garment" teaching doesn't see it this way at all. All life is sacred, and the death penalty is as bad as abortion (even if they don't talk about it as much).

The Quaker tradition of nonviolence takes it even further. Although there's no general agreement over abortion, the thought of taking a life is abhorrent under any and all circumstances. Not the least of the reasons is that the criminal must be given every opportunity to repent, and that means letting him live a natural life. Even in cases of self-defense it is argued that if I was attacked, it would be better for me to die than the attacker, as killing him to defend myself would deny him the opportunity to repent. (This line of thinking obviously leads to some spirited discussion)

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

6. The DP Should Absolutetly Be Outlawed......The Day After This Fucker Fries

:evilgrin:

[cboy4]

17. I get your point ;)

[w8liftinglady]

18. if it were my kid,i'd kill the evil bastard myself.

[Texasgal]

26. THANK YOU!

I say FRY This SCUMBUM!!!

[William769]

7. I agree with the death penalty.

Burn the bastard instead of taking care of him for the rest of his miserable life.

[LoZoccolo]

11. Actually, the more psychologically complex the criminal...

...the more I think they should be put in prison and studied so that we can get more of an understanding of the criminally mentally ill and thus maybe be able to use that knowledge to prevent, or at least help detect, investigate and convict, future crimes of a similar nature. We diminish that potential if we use the death penalty.

Of course I'm outraged at what this guy did. I'd just rather use it to prevent further outrageousness.

[jmowreader]

14. Can we wait until Bush is executed to abolish the DP?

The strange and sordid case of George Walker Bush is so extreme that he simply must be executed.

There's no question about his guilt. He went on national television and bragged about the things he did.

The only problem with executing Bush is that they won't give him the kind of execution he deserves. They say Seppuku isn't appropriate, but how about giving him a pistol and making him shoot himself in the head with it?

[linazelle]

19. In defense of the victim's family, you have no idea how they feel

You may think it's more punitive to be locked up for a lifetime, but they think differently. I side with them.

[cboy4]

20. Actually, I do know what it's like to lose someone to a mad man.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2541355&mesg_id=2541355

Executing the killer will not bring my friend back.

You're not going to get me to criticize the feelings of this little girl's family.

I understand and sympathize with whatever they're going through or however they fell about what should happen to this monster.


edit: grammar

[w8liftinglady]

23. ...

:hug: what a kind thing to say..

[depakid]

35. I'm sure they do think differently

They'd probably want to flay him alive.

That doesn't mean society should permit it.

[SPKrazy]

24. This Guy Is Gonna Get Tom Cruise To Shill For Him

because he is going to end up saying he was on antidepressants and they made him do this.

Tom will be jumping all over the furniture on Matt Lauer's show screaming that this man should be set free because the psychiatrists did this to him.

He will become a Scientologist just long enough to end up being imprisoned for life instead of the death penalty.

He will write a book and the proceeds will go to Scientology.

I can see it all now in my deep transcendent gaze.

[nonconformist]

25. It's cases like these that shake my beliefs against the death penalty

But honestly, relatively humane euthanization is WAY too good for this fucker. Throw him in with the general prison population and make sure they're all acutely aware of what he did. Engage all the guards in a nice long game of poker, and let justice be served by people with nothing to lose.

[cboy4]

33. You know, cases like this shake my belief also.

If he had done this to one of my family members, they'd have to keep me from going to kill him with my own bare hands.

They need to put him in Pelican Bay where he'd be in a tiny cell for 23 out of 24 hours every singly day for the rest of his miserable life.

That's punishment -- not quick and painless lethal injection.

[MelliMel]

27. As I said on another thread...

Let him rot in prison. Put him in the tiniest, darkest cell with nothing more than what he needs to literally survive, as opposed to live or thrive. No access to law libraries, tv, books, letters, food other than very basic sustenance, etc. Let him rot.

[cboy4]

29. Exactly! Now that's punishment. If people knew that's what they'd

be facing, I'm sure a lot of criminals would think twice before they act.

[MelliMel]

41. Yes, that is punishment. But too many whine that it is cruel.

As if folks like this monster deserve the same opportunities as Non-Criminal Joe Citizen. They don't. And worse still, many of those same advocates for tend to be found on our side.

[WinkyDink]

28. What that story omitted:

"In September 2004, he wrote that his depression deepened after several months without taking the medication Lexapro, an antidepressant also used in the treatment of anxiety disorders."

I believe Fate led me to read this story this morning, for it was just this afternoon that my husband was to see his doctor, and somehow I KNEW he'd be given a prescription for Lexapro (which I had never before heard of), so I forewarned him.
Sure enough, he came home with the prescription. I Googled "Lexapro violent" and "Lexapro side-effects" for him (he's a skeptic about my finds, and a believer in doctors, as his brother is a highly-regarded one), and let's just say he will NOT be filling that order.

[Cooley Hurd]

31. Of course, there are many Lexapro success stories...

There are people among us whose lives were saved by Lexapro. Just saying...

[WinkyDink]

37. Homey don't play those odds.

[av8tor05]

32. "Knowing you're going to spend every minute

of the rest of your life locked up seems far greater punishment to me." That is your opinion. If it was my child I would want the death penalty. You can think badly of me if you want but I would want revenge. And before someone says the death penalty is not a deterrent I will tell you that it does deter at least one person from murdering again.

[cboy4]

34. I understand that you would want the death penalty if it was your child

and I understand why you would want revenge.

But I still think the death penalty is the easy way out for these sick bastards.

Let them rot in a tiny prison cell for the rest of their lives on bread and water. That's it.

[Puglover]

36. And noone would fault you for feeling like that.

But guess what? This isn't Afghanistan and the victims family are not the arbitrators of justice.

How a quick needle sting or a quick drop in the hangmans noose is better punishment then rotting in prison WITH. NO. HOPE. OF. PAROLE. is beyond me. This guy won't live to see the executioner. His fellow inmates will see to that.

[Orrex]

40. I would likewise want revenge

I would want the killer to suffer horrible agony for a protracted period before being allowed the mercy of an even slower, more agonizing death. And then, if possible, I'd want him resuscitated and the process started all over again. I suspect that even this would not satisify my rage or vengeance.

And that is precisely why we must not allow emotionalism to govern our judicial or legislative processes. Fear and anger gave us the PATRIOT act. Fear and anger do not craft a rational and responsible legal system.

The death penalty is 100% wrong no matter whose child is slain and no matter how much anyone may crave it.

[MindPilot]

39. I don't like the death penalty, but...

if we insist on traveling down that illogical path of killing-is-wrong-and-we-will-prove-it-by-killing, let's make it count. Harvest the organs so his useless life can help others live and send that brain off to the lab so maybe scientists can figure out what went wrong and prevent it in the future.