Death Row – Last words of every Texas inmate executed since 1982 • Hacker News Board

Re: Death Row – Last words of every Texas inmate executed since 1982

#131

Post by DavidBradbury » Fri, May 30, 2014, 8:43 PM UTC

josai wrote: post #112

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have a uniform culture. Everything gets easier with a common mindset. Folks keep using Norway as a fish-in-the-barrel ideal case of how anything can work. But its probably not transferable to the population of the most diverse nation on earth.

> the most diverse nation on earth Huh? Papua New Guinea? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_ranked_by_eth... The USA is #85, not even close.

I'm not arguing for or against, but the list seems to use language as a basis for cultural diversity. While language might have a correlation with cultural diversity, it doesn't seem fair to use that as an argument for what countries are more culturally diverse. Also, how countries report their numbers greatly impact these sorts of assessments. Lastly, comparing more tribal-based countries with modern countries also makes it tricky.

Re: Death Row – Last words of every Texas inmate executed since 1982

#132

Post by yawboakye » Fri, May 30, 2014, 8:46 PM UTC

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #118

rohansingh wrote: post #55

This one really hit me: > The act I committed to put me here was not just heinous, it was senseless. But the person that committed that act is no longer here - I am. I'm not going to struggle physically against any restraints. I'm not going to shout, use profanity or make idle threats. Understand though that I'm not only upset, but I'm saddened by what is happening here tonight. I'm not only saddened, but disappointe…

>But the person that committed that act is no longer here and if this man wasn't caught and put in prison he would have still been here and victimized others. Look at Chicago's overly liberal justice system and how many of the shootings on the south and west sides are often from repeat offenders given slaps on the wrist for previous serious crimes. When you realize there's no real consequences to your actions then sh…

So you think the error margin of executing the death penalty (and justice in general) can be overlooked with impunity? When one man is being murdered for a purported crime of murder—the gravest crime of the land—doesn't a mistake lead to another crime for which the criminal (this time the judges) should be equally held accountable? But the judge is allowed to prescribe death for all sorts of persons, and goes unpunished (by death) if they made a wicked mistake.

It is for this probable mistake in enacting justice that makes the death penalty really spurious. You could kill an innocent man for no reason at all.

Re: Death Row – Last words of every Texas inmate executed since 1982

#133

Post by mikestew » Fri, May 30, 2014, 8:53 PM UTC

giarc wrote: post #93

mikestew wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When reworded, I don't know that I'd call your points "gains": 1. Saving some money by killing people 2. Exacting revenge We might differ in opinion on the role of government, though. Personally, I don't think either task is the job we want our government to be in.

I totally agree with you. I was just speaking as though we needed to justify capital punishment somehow. I also shouldn't use "our" and "we". I live in a country without capital punishment so my perspective is from a far outsider.

Fair enough, and you pulled off playing the part well enough that I believed you might be sincere. :-) Sadly, part of the reason I thought you might be sincere is because those are the two most commonly used reasons for capital punishment. One can fancy it up with language so that it sounds noble and civilized ("victims' families can have closure"), but it boils down to "we're civilized and humane until it costs money" and "the victims' families want to see the motherfucker fry". (I only raise the last point as a counter-argument to those that have no more idea what the victims' families want than I do.)

Re: Death Row – Last words of every Texas inmate executed since 1982

#134

Post by curun1r » Sat, May 31, 2014, 12:20 AM UTC

mikeash wrote: post #109

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have a uniform culture. Everything gets easier with a common mindset. Folks keep using Norway as a fish-in-the-barrel ideal case of how anything can work. But its probably not transferable to the population of the most diverse nation on earth.

How does diversity necessitate a higher crime rate? I've heard this stated a lot, but the explanation of how it works is always missing.

The US has selective enforcement of laws...minorities are far more likely to be arrested for things like drug use than those in the majority. The US has a social safety net for the poor that's pathetic compared to most EU countries. And the US has employment practices that make it difficult for most people with a criminal record to ever get decent employment again.

Poor, desperate people who feel like their future options are limited are far more likely to commit crimes than those who are financially comfortable and/or believe they have promising futures. Diversity doesn't necessitate higher crime rates, but our diversity combined with our policies does.

Re: Death Row – Last words of every Texas inmate executed since 1982

#135

Post by mikeash » Sat, May 31, 2014, 1:03 AM UTC

JoeAltmaier wrote: post #129

mikeash wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does diversity necessitate a higher crime rate? I've heard this stated a lot, but the explanation of how it works is always missing.

Folks with very different ideas of personal space, ownership, community, responsibility will naturally have larger friction between members.

Does that friction actually translate into crime, though?

Further, the racial minority most overrepresented in the prison population in the US has actually been here longer than most, including a substantial chunk of the white majority. Shouldn't that imply full assimilation and smaller differences like you mention?

Re: Death Row – Last words of every Texas inmate executed since 1982

#136

Post by chrisbennet » Sat, May 31, 2014, 1:12 AM UTC

pawn wrote: post #91

lmm wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you leave them to rot in prison like you suggested, people are going to be upset that the society is paying to keep them alive(surely it would be better to get rid of them?) I've heard that execution as practiced in the US today is more expensive than life imprisonment.

I know a lot of people who would be okay with us going the cheaper route of putting a bullet in their head rather than the more costly method of injection.

Its not the injection that makes it expensive. Its the years of legal costs.

Re: Death Row – Last words of every Texas inmate executed since 1982

#137

Post by ArkyBeagle » Sat, May 31, 2014, 2:11 AM UTC

arjunnarayan wrote: post #128

TallGuyShort wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or separate symbols for the beginning and end of a quote, so nesting is unambiguous. You know, something like: (quote Wonder what their victims word cloud would look like? (quote Mercy) (quote Please) (quote I'm begging) (quote I want my Mommy!) (quote Help)) Everyone just needs to learn s-expressions.

A professor collaborator of mine has the habit of saying "that does not parse", or "that does not type-check" to nonsensical sentences uttered by clueless research students (full disclosure, that set includes me). At first I found it somewhat weird, but now I've grown to respect it. It totally makes sense. I remember in high school (when I was already a proficient programmer, but still within-grade in the other sciec…

We repeated dimensional analysis in my first physics class until everybody got it ( all six of us... ).

Re: Death Row – Last words of every Texas inmate executed since 1982

#138

Post by yaddayadda » Mon, Jun 02, 2014, 12:57 AM UTC

giarc wrote: post #126

yaddayadda wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A little more than a decade ago, I had to do research on capital punishment for a college ethics class. In the United States, at that time, the cost for a death row inmate was several times greater than it was for an inmate in for life without parole. Additionally, there are the questionable convictions and the legal convictions that are subsequently found to have been innocent but for which innocence is no longer co…

Do those appeals still happen with a life sentence though? Did you compare the yearly cost of housing an inmate vs the cost to execute (including appeals etc)?

I was just identifying and summarizing calculations done by others. Among the calculations I analyzed, all included the cost of appeals and housing.

In many states there were mandatory appeals for death-row inmates which added to their costs. For most other sentences there were more limits on appeals which in-turn limited the life-sentence appeals costs.

There were higher housing costs for the death-row inmates, although I don't remember seeing a breakdown. I always assumed the differences were because of increased security costs. The housing costs were for entire expected sentences, not by year (while a life-sentence inmate would be expected to need housing for a longer time, the costs were still less than a death-row inmate's costs until execution).

Also, in many prisons, the life-sentence inmates could participate in work programs, with some of the related income being funneled back into the prison. At the time I was doing my research I couldn't find any work programs that allowed death-row inmates to participate. So not only were the life-sentence inmates cheaper, they could potentially work to reduce their own costs.

Re: Death Row – Last words of every Texas inmate executed since 1982

#139

Post by JoeAltmaier » Mon, Jun 02, 2014, 2:38 PM UTC

curun1r wrote: post #134

mikeash wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does diversity necessitate a higher crime rate? I've heard this stated a lot, but the explanation of how it works is always missing.

The US has selective enforcement of laws...minorities are far more likely to be arrested for things like drug use than those in the majority. The US has a social safety net for the poor that's pathetic compared to most EU countries. And the US has employment practices that make it difficult for most people with a criminal record to ever get decent employment again. Poor, desperate people who feel like their future op…

Conflates folks of different cultures (and different social expectations) with race? I come from a rural agricultural area. Fighting in public is a popular pastime. Yet if somebody calls the cops, you can end up in the tank overnight. That's clearly not racial but cultural.