21–30 of 139 posts
> Yes, Tell my sister Tracey, I love you. Nicole, thank you and I love you. Wanda and all of my friends, I love you and thank you for your support. To the State of Texas, I am an innocent man. Never trust a court-appointed attorney. I am ready Warden. Thank you, Brad, I'm sorry. Check that DNA, check Scott. Here we go. Lord Jesus, Jesus.
When California released a similar database a few years ago, it completely convinced me of the horrific barbarism that capital punishment is. It is no deterrent to crime, and the risk of killing not just innocent people, but genuinely reformed people, is far, far too great.
Skimming the list, it seems only few of them are really repentant and understood the consequences of what they did. But, for the few of them, especially those referring to their family and children, it is hard to see what benefits their death will bring. Maybe some closure for the victim's family, but in some case, it sounds like the guy being executed as not much more in common with the criminal.
No need to be repentant when you are innocent.
Note that this text is in some cases censored. See Cameron Todd Willingham's statement: "Yeah. The only statement I want to make is that I am an innocent man - convicted of a crime I did not commit. I have been persecuted for 12 years for something I did not do. From God's dust I came and to dust I will return - so the earth shall become my throne. I gotta go, road dog. I love you Gabby. [Remaining portion of stateme…
EDIT: And now I just read the link at awl.com and it is a look for a different angle.
The New York Times ran an article[1] on this in 2009. Here are the last words they picked out - --- Go ahead? Nothing I can say can change the past. I done lost my voice. I would like to say goodbye. My heart goes is going ba bump ba bump ba bump. Is the mike on? I don’t have anything to say. I am just sorry about what I did. I am nervous and it is hard to put my thoughts together. Sometimes you don’t know what to sa…
"I don’t think the world will be a better or safer place without me."
Can anybody explain why the Race column is stil there? What is the relevancy of this statistic? Why not sex, or religion?
The title should be " ... of every inmate executed in Texas since 1982." From reddit [1], here is a word cloud: http://imgur.com/t61UIgH [1] http://www.reddit.com/r/dataisbeautiful/comments/26rui7/oc_a...
# of executions in Texas since 1982 is probably a fair percentage of the total number of executions since that time. Don't have time to look it up, sorry!
When California released a similar database a few years ago, it completely convinced me of the horrific barbarism that capital punishment is. It is no deterrent to crime, and the risk of killing not just innocent people, but genuinely reformed people, is far, far too great.
Yeah, a list like this tugs at your humanity. Then again, these people wantonly killed others (as judged by juries and appeals judges and governors). Where are the last words of their victims? [edited for clarity]
No, some of these people wantonly killed others. Some did not.
> Where are the last words of their victims?
We don't make entertainment of those.
When California released a similar database a few years ago, it completely convinced me of the horrific barbarism that capital punishment is. It is no deterrent to crime, and the risk of killing not just innocent people, but genuinely reformed people, is far, far too great.
Skimming the list, it seems only few of them are really repentant and understood the consequences of what they did. But, for the few of them, especially those referring to their family and children, it is hard to see what benefits their death will bring. Maybe some closure for the victim's family, but in some case, it sounds like the guy being executed as not much more in common with the criminal.
If they aren't executed, they will spend the rest of their life in jail. So by executing them our gains are two fold.
1. save tax dollars over keeping them in jail long term
2. give victims families peace
Something to think about.
When California released a similar database a few years ago, it completely convinced me of the horrific barbarism that capital punishment is. It is no deterrent to crime, and the risk of killing not just innocent people, but genuinely reformed people, is far, far too great.
Yeah, a list like this tugs at your humanity. Then again, these people wantonly killed others (as judged by juries and appeals judges and governors). Where are the last words of their victims? [edited for clarity]
1. Look at the countries America is in company with in allowing capital punishment - it's not a list any country should want to be a part of.
2. Imagine yourself as an innocent person on death row. It's very likely there have been people in that situation[1]. Do you still think it should be allowed?
When California released a similar database a few years ago, it completely convinced me of the horrific barbarism that capital punishment is. It is no deterrent to crime, and the risk of killing not just innocent people, but genuinely reformed people, is far, far too great.
Yeah, a list like this tugs at your humanity. Then again, these people wantonly killed others (as judged by juries and appeals judges and governors). Where are the last words of their victims? [edited for clarity]