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A living death: Sentenced to die behind bars for what?

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Re: A living death: Sentenced to die behind bars for what?

#111

Post by tshile »

Wait, are we actually supposed to get worked up over this? The ACLU so clearly tip toed while writing the descriptions of these cases as to clearly walk a line between lying about the case and giving us the context needed to understand why these people are in jail for life.

"Patrick had no violent criminal history and had never served a single day in a Department of Corrections facility" - Right, but he obviously had a drug problem since he did NA in prison and probably got in trouble previously, just not enough to go to the Department Of Corrections facility (what his crimes and punishments were are left as an exercise to the reader)

The other stories have similar issues. Blame it on the abusive and threatening boyfriend, not the previous drug convictions and a three strikes law. Life in prison for borrowing a truck from a friend that accidentally reported it stolen?

Look, innocent people get in trouble for things they didn't do. Not innocent people get in trouble for things they didn't do, but were just in the wrong place at the wrong time due to the other things that they did do. It's an unfortunate part of the system and I'm all for things that minimize overcharging and punishing innocent people.

But anyone who can't read between the lines on these is either a sap or just believing what they want to. They even led into it with a statistic about race to soften you up. There are three strikes laws for a reason. There's massive amounts of context missing from these. It's a shame, I generally like the ACLU and what they do, but this is awful.

Re: A living death: Sentenced to die behind bars for what?

#112

Post by deviltry »

spodek wrote: post #7

It's a crying shame. Normally that's an empty phrase, but it describes this. I can't imagine reading this and not feeling tears well up. No sense of what I would call humanity. From what perspective does this make the world a better place? What am I missing about being human that this fits into that I don't understand?

Ha ha, are you kidding me? This is not humanity? Yeah humane thing would be to let them go, right? :D

I hope they rot and get raped and abused. If ALL dipshits like them would be locked for life, life would so much better. Just imagine - you wouldn't have to lock your doors. No keys for home, no keys for car. Sounds like heaven.

Yeah go cry for these pieces of shits, you go boy......

Re: A living death: Sentenced to die behind bars for what?

#113

Post by wmil »

Mithaldu wrote: post #86
thaumasiotes wrote: post #47

My thoughts on the best and the worst: > Anthony Jackson has a sixth-grade education and worked as a cook. He was convicted of burglary for stealing a wallet from a Myrtle Beach hotel room when he was 44 years old. According to prosecutors, he woke two vacationing golfers as he entered the room and stole a wallet, then pretended to be a security guard and ran away. Police arrested him when he tried to use the stolen…

> At what point does society get to tell people "you know what, knock it off"? You're thinking about this the wrong way. First, ask yourself: Why is there the justice system and prisons? The answer: To reduce occurrence of crime. Now why are prisons meant to help reduce crime? By scaring people into not committing crimes? That obviously doesn't work, especially when many people live lives so bad that they can't see a…

Nonsense.

The primary way prisons reduce crime is by people who commit crimes.

The problem is generally their personality. Habitual criminals are impulsive, aggressive, and bad at thinking ahead.

It's unfair to expect everyone else to put up with a lifetime of offenses, even if each one isn't particularly horrible individually.

Re: A living death: Sentenced to die behind bars for what?

#114

Post by grahamburger »

rfnslyr wrote: post #22
spodek wrote: post #7

It's a crying shame. Normally that's an empty phrase, but it describes this. I can't imagine reading this and not feeling tears well up. No sense of what I would call humanity. From what perspective does this make the world a better place? What am I missing about being human that this fits into that I don't understand?

Does anybody else constantly live in a state of guilt? So many lives lost and wars fought just to get us to where we are, and we reap the benefits. I feel so guilty for having a good paying job in the city. I'm not adding any value to the world, none at all. I tinker with a few codes every day and make silly amounts of money, when there's people struggling to put food on the table working 18 hour days. I need to do s…

Remember that not everyone who is poor is unhappy.

Re: A living death: Sentenced to die behind bars for what?

#115

Post by mikeash »

clarky07 wrote: post #103
mikeash wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it already time for the "imagine you're the victim" rhetoric? There's a reason we don't let victims decide criminal penalties.

come on now. this article is intentionally downplaying the severity of the offenses here. breaking and entering is a serious crime. it isn't a speeding ticket. "inadvertently killing someone" is code for beat the shit out of him and he died, but i didn't mean to kill him. only maim. again, not a speeding ticket.

I never compared his crimes to speeding tickets. I merely used that as an example of something clearly on one side of the line.

What is happening lately? The quality of discourse on this site has become absolutely atrocious.

Re: A living death: Sentenced to die behind bars for what?

#116

Post by jackpirate »

protomyth wrote: post #39
sillysaurus2 wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Crime in the 1970s got out of control. Stuff like this played a role in turning it around. Does anyone have any data to back this claim up?

Check the CDC website, it has the stats. Violent crime has been in decline in the US since the 1970s. (Down voted for pointing out where to get the stats - very funny - must be DOJ folks)

Everyone agrees that violent crime is in decline. But the cause is a hotly disputed issue. I personally don't find compelling the idea that tough on crime laws are the cause.

Re: A living death: Sentenced to die behind bars for what?

#118

Post by mixmastamyk »

rfnslyr wrote: post #22
spodek wrote: post #7

It's a crying shame. Normally that's an empty phrase, but it describes this. I can't imagine reading this and not feeling tears well up. No sense of what I would call humanity. From what perspective does this make the world a better place? What am I missing about being human that this fits into that I don't understand?

Does anybody else constantly live in a state of guilt? So many lives lost and wars fought just to get us to where we are, and we reap the benefits. I feel so guilty for having a good paying job in the city. I'm not adding any value to the world, none at all. I tinker with a few codes every day and make silly amounts of money, when there's people struggling to put food on the table working 18 hour days. I need to do s…

No. If you're paying taxes and not a criminal/on the dole, we need ya... and more of ya.

Re: A living death: Sentenced to die behind bars for what?

#119

Post by tshile »

Mithaldu wrote: post #86
thaumasiotes wrote: post #47

My thoughts on the best and the worst: > Anthony Jackson has a sixth-grade education and worked as a cook. He was convicted of burglary for stealing a wallet from a Myrtle Beach hotel room when he was 44 years old. According to prosecutors, he woke two vacationing golfers as he entered the room and stole a wallet, then pretended to be a security guard and ran away. Police arrested him when he tried to use the stolen…

> At what point does society get to tell people "you know what, knock it off"? You're thinking about this the wrong way. First, ask yourself: Why is there the justice system and prisons? The answer: To reduce occurrence of crime. Now why are prisons meant to help reduce crime? By scaring people into not committing crimes? That obviously doesn't work, especially when many people live lives so bad that they can't see a…

The point of the justice system is to adequately determine punishments for crimes committed.

The point of prisons is to provide a place to isolate people from society that have been deemed not fit for society (permanently or temporary.)

Neither one is there to reduce crime. They're reactive not proactive systems. Society uses them as examples to deter future crime, but that does not make that their job.

Re: A living death: Sentenced to die behind bars for what?

#120

Post by clarky07 »

avenger123 wrote: post #109
clarky07 wrote: post #85

Am I the only one here not seeing this as propaganda with nicely worded articles masking a lot of the reality here? Some of them seem a little unreasonable I'll agree, but lets go through a few of these: "taking a wallet from a hotel room" - we blame it on the court appointed lawyer. He's already been convicted and sent to jail twice for burglary and he continues to break into other peoples places and steal their stu…

Incredible. Please, please take a step back and read what you wrote. Now, for each of those instances you described, please assume this is your uncle, brother, cousin etc? Do you still feel the same? No one is saying these people did nothing wrong. The main issue is that the punishment does not fit the crime. That's it. Simple. Where do we draw the line? Obviously for you the line is ok where it is at. But, frankly,…

you clearly don't know me at all. I have a cousin that has stolen large sums of money from and threatened bodily harm to my grandma along with several other convictions that i'd like to stay in prison for a long time. I've got an uncle that I have similar feelings for.

Also, you should re-read what I wrote. I also said that perhaps these don't deserve life, but "a long time" does seem reasonable.

Finally, how is securities fraud worse than breaking and entering? How is securities fraud worse than "inadvertently killing someone?" Really? Yes yes, I know we hate the 1%. Terrible rich people. Insider trading is not worse than breaking and entering or killing someone. Come on now.

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