Death Penalty Options

[Testm0nkey]

a judge knows the law and you would expect them to rule accordingly more so then a mixture of retards. if they werent deemed capable of doing that, they wouldnt be judges in the first place

[impala454]

a judge knows the law and you would expect them to rule accordingly more so then a mixture of retards. if they werent deemed capable of doing that, they wouldnt be judges in the first place

These cases aren't about interpreting the law, it's about deciding whether the defendant is guilty of the crime. So instead of having 12 randomly, meticulously screened people decide, you'd leave it up to ONE elected official???

I want some of that crack you got.

[Testm0nkey]

theres been a lot of research into the topic of jury decision making etc. and its practically all moot and totally biased. lost nearly all my faith in the court system

[Mommy]

In response to Will because quotes are acting funny for me:

umm...no. Its called protecting society. Playing God = giving and taking life (hence why I think cloning is silly). Dont exaggerate what I'm saying. If you want to do that, then why dont I just start thinking that taking laxatives is playing God? If God wanted me to shit, I would shit. Nope, dont think that. I think its wrong to take a life, unless its in self defense. I consider wars based on national security to be self defense.


I (ME MYSELF I, in other words NOT YOU) feel bad for these people because I trully don't want to know what that feels like...to have taken a life. Some people get messed up after watching someone be put to death. Imagine being the one that did that. Its just something I dont want anyone to have to be responsible for.

[Oasis]

You can't perfect an imperfect system.

Sure some jur"ists" are biased. That's why they go through screenings and tests to weed out the biased ones.

And judges don't decide verdicts. They announce verdicts and decide punishment

[Testm0nkey]

i am saying they should decide verdicts and if you think jury screening processes are great and mean a whole lot you are fooling yourself!

[Mommy]

i am saying they should decide verdicts and if you think jury screening processes are great and mean a whole lot you are fooling yourself!

I agree with you.

You can't perfect an imperfect system.

I think this gets my nomination for stupidest post of the day. Where is that post awards thread? This is going there.

[Testm0nkey]

for example they ask potential jurists if they would ever see themself voting in favor of a capital punishment sentence or would be able to make that deicison. if they say no they are striken from the jury pool because the court believes in a capital case, capital punishment decision may come about and a "fair" decision would have to be made. but research found that people who can imagine voting in favor of capital punishment are way more likely to rule out evidence from the defense and favor evidence from the prosecution even if it is flawed and unfair. the same study also found people who cannot imagine dishing out capital punishment or are unsure are LESS biased when weighing evidence from the defense or prosecution. so in capital cases they are just making the jury more flawed than they typically would be from the get go

that and studies even recent ones find that black males and males more than females are handed out stiffer sentences when presented the same exact case. you cant say a jury, made up of humans of course, can ever be totally unbiased. they are not trained to be that way


that and studies into group think! you can sway a group of people very easily by having common personality characteristics and people are way more likely to vote with the group when a deadlock happens or when they are unsure of how they feel.

[Oasis]

I think this gets my nomination for stupidest post of the day. Where is that post awards thread? This is going there.

Exactly what the fuck is stupid about that comment?

Obviously the legal system is imperfect. Not every piece of evidence is collected. Not every piece of evidence will be presented. Not every witness comes forward and testifies. Not every juror can be completely objective and unbiased. Identical crimes get different sentences. Lawyers withhold evidence. Investigators plant evidence.

It can't rationally nor logically be perfected. There will always be problems and deficiencies in any court case. Hence, an imperfect system.

But to discount the entire justice system because some jurors might be biased is fucking asinine because it's logistically impossible to find 12 completely unbiased jurors.

[impala454]

Oh please here comes the race bullshit. Bye bye thread. Ya lost me at "one judge makes a less biased decision than 12 random people."

[Mommy]

because its the attitude that it cant get better that keeps us down. Working towards perfection is a good thing. Even though it may never be reached, doing things to improve the situation is good.

[Testm0nkey]

Oh please here comes the race bullshit. Bye bye thread. Ya lost me at "one judge makes a less biased decision than 12 random people."

uh its been shown time and time again that it happens

dont kill the messenger!

[Oasis]

because its the attitude that it cant get better that keeps us down. Working towards perfection is a good thing. Even though it may never be reached, doing things to improve the situation is good.

It can get better and working towards making it better is always a good thing.

But it can't nor won't be perfected. That isn't a pessimistic attitude, it's a realistic one.

[Mommy]

It can get better and working towards making it better is always a good thing.

But it can't nor won't be perfected. That isn't a pessimistic attitude, it's a realistic one.

I quit. Carrying on a debate with you is useless. If you think about why you said that to begin with and then how youre responding now, its very contradictory. That is all.

[pebkac]

Oh please here comes the race bullshit. Bye bye thread. Ya lost me at "one judge makes a less biased decision than 12 random people."

Not that I necessarily agree with Cathryn's stance 100%, but our judicial system IS biased against minorities.