Many of the early inmate information is in pdf format. If you want something machine-readable, these have been converted into a csv available here: https://selectstarsql.com/frontmatter.html#dataset
Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And Puts Them All Online
161–170 of 300 posts
Re: Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And Puts Them All Online
#162Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Think if your daughter/son/mom/dad got slaughtered, do you think the pain would be less acute even two decades later? Yeah it would definitely be less acute, still there every day, but less acute. Like most trauma. Would killing the murderer in 2021 make me feel any better? To that question the answer is without a doubt "no".
> Yeah it would definitely be less acute, still there every day, but less acute. Like most trauma. I hope you realize you are co-opting someone's pain for your own political or ethical brownie points. A lot of people are completely happy watching their child's murderer/rapist be punished via the death penalty. You're just trivializing an incredibly complex moral conundrum.
You're just "trivializing an incredibly complex moral conundrum" -- by stating someone is "co-opting someone's pain for your own political or ethical brownie points" for having an opposing view point on " an incredibly complex moral conundrum."
Given the rest of what you have written in this thread, your idea of justice comes off as being based in a punitive approach, and it shouldn't be surprising not everyone agrees with that.
Re: Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And Puts Them All Online
#163Re: Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And Puts Them All Online
#164Earlier 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?
It is part of the ritual.
Re: Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And Puts Them All Online
#165Earlier quoted context omitted.
I understand it to be: - retribution (revenge) - deterrence - rehabilitation - incapacitation (they can't re-offend if they're in prison or dead) In these sort of discussions about justice online, the first is often cast as illegitimate, the second as impossible, the third as the gold standard, and the fourth is frequently ignored completely. Few people ever defend retribution, so I will here. Many people who are vic…
> If the government does not play at least some lip service to the desire for retribution, then more people will take it into their own hands. They'll seek vigilante justice. If that were the case, we'd see significantly higher amounts of "vigilante justice" in countries that have abolished the death penalty, right? I think "vigilante justice" is more often than not "vigilante policing", when people believe criminals…
The intensity of desire for retribution depends on the cultural context. In any case, you're conflating retribution with the death penalty, but these are not synonymous. Imprisonment is a form of retribution too, as are fines, caning, etc. Any punishment that is unpleasant has an element of retribution.
Re: Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And Puts Them All Online
#166Earlier quoted context omitted.
From Wikipedia: Jones experienced 'brutal conditions' during his childhood, suffering neglect by his parents, sexual assault by his siblings, and extreme poverty.[7][4][8] His mother threatened him with a gun, and when he was seven years old his older siblings forced him to have sex with his stepsister.[8] He shot himself twice, once in the hand to placate gang members and later in the chest in a suicide attempt. He…
Yes, contrast this with the bloodlust of The People. We are no so far aware from crucifixions, torture and the brutal death sentences in the circuses. What this awful species, ad populum, calls justice is little more than a boderline erotic enjoyment of the torture of those "who deserve it".
The problem is that people struggle with non-binary thinking.
It is not only possible, but probable that this person who has suffered so much is also broken and an anti-social person.
Re: Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And Puts Them All Online
#167Earlier quoted context omitted.
Didn't you start this whole argument by doing just that and trying to coopt the pain of a victims family to try and prove a argumentive point? How is it different when you did it?
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
Re: Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And Puts Them All Online
#168Earlier 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…
Damn that's a lot of words to just say you're fine with killing mentally ill people.
Re: Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And Puts Them All Online
#169I 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.
There's some interesting history behind "Hispanic"; here's an example going into it: https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/06/16/321819185...
Re: Texas Records All Inmates Last Words Before Execution And Puts Them All Online
#170“First I would like to say I have been here since September 2005. I had the honor and privilege to know many prison guards and staff. I want to thank all of them. I would like for everyone to write the people on death row as they are all good men and I am very happy I got to know them. All of their lives are worth knowing about.
Secondly on February 14th the medical examiner and the chief nurse were engaged in numerous false illegal acts. They tried to cover up that thousands were wrongfully convicted by Matt Powell, district attorney. This needs to be brought to justice.
I call upon the FBI to investigate Matt Powell and the Lubbock County Medical Examiner. Lastly, I was born and raised Catholic and it was not lost upon me that this is Holy Week and last Sunday was Palm Sunday. Yesterday was my birthday. Today is the day I join my God and father. The state may have my body but not my soul.
In order to save my brothers on death row I call upon Pope Francis and all the people of the world.
Lastly, I want everyone to boycott every single business in the state of Texas until all the businesses are pressed to stop the death penalty.
With that Lord I commend my spirit.
Warden I am ready to join my father.”