Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And Puts Them All Online

tdcj.texas.gov

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 300 posts

Re: Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And Puts Them All Online

#171

Post by conductr »

SpeedilyDamage wrote: post #152
conductr wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The current process is a middle ground. Stay on death row for decades to ultimately be executed (after likelihood of being found innocent is extremely small). I like the idea of capital punishment because I don't want to pay to keep murderers alive for decades. I feel like the bigger issue is, and what pushes me to think twice on the issue, people get found guilty of murder "without a reasonable doubt" on purely circ…

This, to me, is a profoundly disturbing comment that presumes a level of competence and positive intent within the American criminal justice system that is provably absent.

I think that's my point. I like the idea of it but most times I'm not even comfortable with agreeing the person is guilty to begin with. In certain cases, say Jeffrey Dahmer, it's pretty clear cut and I see no use to delay the punishment.

Re: Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And Puts Them All Online

#172

Post by tspike »

And then there’s this guy:

“I hereby declare, Robert Steven Everett and Nicholas Velasquez, guilty of crimes against me, Douglas Alan Feldman. Either by fact or by proxy, I find them both guilty. I hereby sentence both of them to death, which I carried out in August 1998. As of that time, the State of Texas has been holding me illegally in confinement and by force for 15 years. I hereby protest my pending execution and demand immediate relief.”

Re: Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And Puts Them All Online

#173

Post by dvt »

srveale wrote: post #167
dvt wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nope, because the default, prima facia, position is that killing people is bad and causes pain and requires some kind of response. That's why arguing against the death penalty is actually quite hard. Especially when faced with incontrovertible evidence (video/confessions/etc.).

> killing people is bad > arguing against the death penalty is actually quite hard Almost in the same sentence too

You do realize there's a difference between the state killing as a punishment and an individual killing for sport, right? These are two different categories. To wit, it's obvious I was referring to the latter.

There's actually more categories as well: killing in a war as a combatant, euthanasia, abortion, and so on.

Re: Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And Puts Them All Online

#174

Post by LarryMullins »

kubb wrote: post #159
LarryMullins wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seems a bit odd to dwell on the scenario which is far less common.

I'm wondering how common it is.

Assuming every single person executed by the government was innocent, the government executing innocent people is still several orders of magnitude less common than common murder.

18 people were executed by the government in America last year. More than 20 thousand people in America were murdered during the same time period. Assuming the government only executes innocent people, you are 1000x more likely to be murdered by a criminal than a government executioner. If you include everybody killed by the police, and assume every last one of those killings was unjust, you are still 20x more likely to be killed by a common murderer than by the government.

Re: Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And Puts Them All Online

#175

Post by s1artibartfast »

hoten wrote: post #88
escapedmoose wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t you feel anything reading through these? It doesn’t remind you of the humanity of these people?

The question still stands. Why does the state bother to record them? What purpose does it serve for the pro capital punishment government to humanize those it executes?

The boring answer is that it doesn't serve as pro-capital punishment propaganda.

It is simply a tradition to give the condemned a public last statement. It has foundations in transparency and giving token dignity to the condemned.

It is much preferable to disappearing people to black sites with no records.

Re: Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And Puts Them All Online

#176

Post by ceejayoz »

dvt wrote: post #51
namdnay wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The crime was when he was deeply addicted and drugged out of his mind 22 years earlier. I don't find it shocking that he's had another life since. Killing him in 2021 just seems so... pointless

[flagged]

> As always, getting hardcore downvoted by HN programmers thinking they know ethics without reading a shred of the literature, so I'll stop responding.

How on earth did you graduate philosophy thinking there's a settled, correct answer on this subject?

Re: Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And Puts Them All Online

#177

Post by userbinator »

lom wrote: post #130

I hope people understand the grave injustice by the state. There are 300 people on death row, and everyone is not a monster. Texas is carrying out a very inhumane and injustice. It's not right to kill anybody just because I killed your people. Everyone changes, right? Life is about experience and people change. […] I hope you don't find satisfaction in this, watching a human being die. Executed for killing another in…

It's not right to kill anybody just because I killed your people. Everyone changes, right?

Try telling the victim that...

Re: Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And Puts Them All Online

#178

Post by giraffe_lady »

conductr wrote: post #125
jackson1442 wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's my biggest issue with capital punishment. You can't take it back, if you're wrong you just killed someone's child, parent, sibling, or combination thereof. While being sentenced to years of prison for a crime you didn't commit is also horrible, you can at the very least be released if you're found innocent.

The current process is a middle ground. Stay on death row for decades to ultimately be executed (after likelihood of being found innocent is extremely small). I like the idea of capital punishment because I don't want to pay to keep murderers alive for decades. I feel like the bigger issue is, and what pushes me to think twice on the issue, people get found guilty of murder "without a reasonable doubt" on purely circ…

> I like the idea of capital punishment because I don't want to pay to keep murderers alive for decades.

Tough shit. They aren't your pets you don't get to do cost/benefit analysis of another human's life. Absolutely sick worldview.

Re: Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And Puts Them All Online

#179

Post by nobody9999 »

itisit wrote: post #141
nobody9999 wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Dare I say I find it rather comforting to know these people no longer walk the earth. And if, next week, evidence is found that one or more of those folks didn't commit the crimes for which they were convicted -- are you still going to be comforted by their deaths? I'd say that being in prison serves essentially the same purpose, had those folks not been executed, they'd be in prison and that's enough comfort for me…

> Isn't that enough "comfort" for you? No, it isn't. There is a certain peace and relief seeing these individuals brought to death. I don't mean to come across as provocative. To think of someone like Anders Breivik living in relative comfort after the atrocity he committed, it's simply absurd.

>No, it isn't. There is a certain peace and relief seeing these individuals brought to death. I don't mean to come across as provocative. To think of someone like Anders Breivik living in relative comfort after the atrocity he committed, it's simply absurd.

So it's retribution, not accountability or the safety of society that interests you?

But if we go with your preference, while Anders Breivik might suffer the same as those he murdered, these guys[0] (among many, many others) would have been murdered (and incorrectly so) for no reason other than the desire to satisfy your (and that of others, not singling you out per se, although you did express that belief) desire for revenge and retribution -- even if those murdered by the state didn't actually commit such a crime.

I consider Blackstone's Formulation[1] to be much more appropriate.

And I'd also say that being confined for the rest of your life, even in a dull, but comfortable environment meets the need for the safety of society and the need for accountability to the law.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Park_jogger_case

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackstone%27s_ratio

Re: Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And Puts Them All Online

#180

Post by kubb »

LarryMullins wrote: post #174
kubb wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm wondering how common it is.

Assuming every single person executed by the government was innocent, the government executing innocent people is still several orders of magnitude less common than common murder. 18 people were executed by the government in America last year. More than 20 thousand people in America were murdered during the same time period. Assuming the government only executes innocent people, you are 1000x more likely to be murder…

I think you misunderstand my question. I'm not wondering how often innocent people get executed in Texas relative to the number of people murdered. I'm asking about the absolute number.
Post reply on HN