Barbarity in the USA! (Sung to Springsteen's memorable hit)

[I AM MOBIUS]

So, hey America, it's like the 21st Century...

But apparently down in Georgia they're preparing to execute a woman for the first time since 1945.

I'm just wondering if that's what passes for a Republican state's idea of sexual equality?

USA! USA! USA!

[Sava]

I'm only generally opposed to the death penalty in practice because the justice system is garbage. If you ask me, life in prison is more barbarous than putting someone out of our misery.

[N35t0r]

I can't really fit four syllabes in what used to be one...

[Sava]

yeah, thread title is stupid

should've gone with "proud to be a barbarian" or something

[Lorizael]

So, hey America, it's like the 21st Century...

But apparently down in Georgia they're preparing to execute a woman for the first time since 1945.

I'm just wondering if that's what passes for a Republican state's idea of sexual equality?

USA! USA! USA!

Is your argument that Georgia should be executing more women? I'm confused.

[Sava]

Is your argument that Georgia should be executing more women? I'm confused.

It also doesn't seem like her guilt is in question. While I'm certainly open to the whole "mercy" thing mentioned in the article, I can't really muster the "give a ****" to care at the moment. What's the difference between her dying now or in prison 30 years from now? Is her presence going to enrich the world somehow? She's just another person with very little to offer. That sounds cold. Believe me, I wish the world could be all rainbows and sugar plums.

I'm not saying I want to see her dead or anything. I'm just indifferent. And if you want to bash Georgia, there are better ways to do it.

[I AM MOBIUS]

Yeah, I admit it is pretty much a failure as far as a thread goes...

Didn't really think it through.

But yeah, if they're guilty and there's no question of that guilt, then more women should be executed.

[Sava]

I think you had the right idea, just stumbled on the execution.

[Lorizael]

I think you had the right idea, just stumbled on the execution.

...

I don't think this woman should be executed, because I'm universally opposed to the death penalty. In fact, I didn't even read the article and have no idea what her crime is. That said, in a state where the death penalty is legal, there's absolutely no reason why we shouldn't execute women, too.

[iHateFatPeople]

Gissendaner, 46, was found guilty in 1998 of recruiting her lover to kill her husband Doug. After 16 years on death row, she was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on 25 February, but a winter storm forced a delay.

Prosecutors said Gissendaner, a mother of three, wanted her husband dead so she could profit from two life insurance policies and the couple’s $84,000 house. Her husband’s body went undiscovered in the woods for nearly two weeks in February 1997.

Gregory Owen, Gissendaner’s boyfriend, testified against her as part of a plea bargain that landed him a life sentence but spared him the death penalty. Owen will be eligible for parole in eight years’ time, attorneys said.

What's ****ed up is the man who did the actual killing isn't getting the death penalty and will be able to leave prison in eight years. I guess this is Georgia's idea of sexual equality

[Sava]

I don't think this woman should be executed, because I'm universally opposed to the death penalty. In fact, I didn't even read the article and have no idea what her crime is. That said, in a state where the death penalty is legal, there's absolutely no reason why we shouldn't execute women, too.

I can get on board with this.

I recognize that I am a bloodthirsty savage. You ask me what we should do with a Hitler? Bam, shoot in the head. Hell, I want to see bankers swinging from the light poles in lower Manhattan.

Because of this, I probably shouldn't ever be in charge of anything involving criminal justice. I'm cool with that.

[I AM MOBIUS]

For me there are several problems with the DP/Life in prison debate:

1) Effectively it's too lenient. I mean, you kill the person and they are effectively let off the hook as their existence is extinguished.
2) Sometimes there's a miscarriage of justice.
3) It's super costly banging people up for the rest of their lives.

My middle road solution would be to have a period of incarceration of, say, about ten years, before killing them. That way they get a bit of time to reflect on their crimes; miscarriages can be prevented, and it saves a ton of money.

[Sava]

Your middle solution is generally how DP in America is handled... due to the appeals and whatnot. It is rarely carried out so swiftly.

[Lorizael]

I can get on board with this.

I recognize that I am a bloodthirsty savage. You ask me what we should do with a Hitler? Bam, shoot in the head. Hell, I want to see bankers swinging from the light poles in lower Manhattan.

Because of this, I probably shouldn't ever be in charge of anything involving criminal justice. I'm cool with that.

My answer to Hitler is a choice: brainwashing or exile. Anyone who does terrible things but wants to live in my society must consent to brainwashing so that they no longer want to do terrible things. If they do not consent, that's fine: exile. The problems with my system are that we're not yet very good at brainwashing people and if my utopia succeeds, there will be increasingly fewer places to exile a person that aren't, say, the moon. I should also not be in charge of anything.

[Sava]

My answer to Hitler is a choice: brainwashing or exile. Anyone who does terrible things but wants to live in my society must consent to brainwashing so that they no longer want to do terrible things. If they do not consent, that's fine: exile. The problems with my system are that we're not yet very good at brainwashing people and if my utopia succeeds, there will be increasingly fewer places to exile a person that aren't, say, the moon. I should also not be in charge of anything.

Nice to know you are okay with Hitler being Hitler as long as it is in another country.