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

Post by SketchySeaBeast » Mon, Jan 09, 2023, 10:52 PM UTC

conductr wrote: post #171

SpeedilyDamage wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Post by gonzo41 » Mon, Jan 09, 2023, 10:53 PM UTC

GauntletWizard wrote: post #107

citizenpaul wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've seen a number of these things and can only come to one conclusion. Most of the people on death row are deeply mentally ill. The state is effectively using prison in place of mental health facilities. For instance the person you are quoting also mentions friends and family in his final words. Yet he writes his final words specifically to the warden. This does not seem congruent with a sound mind. More like he is…

You're assuming that mental illness is something that can be cured, and that the cure is not equivalent or worse than killing them. Quite frankly, our brains are plastic, but not that plastic. It's possible (and we don't know enough about brain structure to say for certain either way) that someone can get into an antisocial enough state that it's impossible, by ethical means, to retrain them, to get them out of that…

Post by SketchySeaBeast » Mon, Jan 09, 2023, 10:54 PM UTC

guerrilla wrote: post #112

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.

You can't take back prison either, so you have reason to reconsider that as well, considering it steals years from someone's life and is torture in many (most?) places.

Post by Enginerrrd » Mon, Jan 09, 2023, 10:55 PM UTC

dilap wrote: post #42

I was amused by the Texan racial categories: White, Black, Hispanic, Other Spot checking a handful of statements, it seems like most people executed found God, peace, and remorse at the end. Though at least one person never stopped proclaiming innocence: > I’m not the one that killed Christina, so whatever makes ya’ll happy. I wonder how many on the list were, in fact, innocent.

Post by jakebasile » Mon, Jan 09, 2023, 10:58 PM UTC

ceejayoz wrote: post #79

nailer wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I'd be asking what it is about Christ that turns people into murderous psychopaths... That's a reasonable question. Christianity does have an emphasis on forgiveness, which I suspect these prison chaplain programs emphasize - so it's more a matter of murderers turning themselves into Christians. However murder is considered a mortal sin that separates one's soul from god and that cannot regularly be forgiven. See h…

> However murder is considered a mortal sin that separates one's soul from god and that cannot regularly be forgiven. By Catholics, specifically. Evangelical Christians don't typically share this belief.