Thursday, September 22, 2011

The Questions Remain

After a last minute delay of the scheduled execution, the Supreme Court rejected the appeal for a stay of execution for Troy Davis.
The questions remain... about this case and about the death penalty in general. 

 Interesting company the US is in.

"An estimated 139 countries have completely abolished the death penalty. China has by far the most number of executions annually with estimates running in the thousands, although the exact number is hard to pinpoint because of the country's self-reporting mechanisms, Amnesty International reports. Number two on that list is Iran, which executed more than 380 prisoners in 2009. The U.S. comes in fifth on that list, behind Iraq and Saudi Arabia."
 
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17 comments:

Ms. A said...

This case has so many people stirred up with doubt. Then, you have a certain young mother, who I'm convinced killed her daughter, and she walks free. I'd never make it as a juror in a murder trial.

Martin said...

My heart sank when I read the news this morning. There has to be another way.

Marilyn & Jeff said...

I agree with martin. There just has to be another way.

Brian Miller said...

we are in great company there eh?

Carol Murdock said...

This is very sad. I have NEVER believed in Capital Punishment, two wrongs never make it right. If I had a family member murdered, I would want the person to get life without parole so that everyday they would be reminded of their crime.

Sam Hoffer / My Carolina Kitchen said...

Vicki,
I'm with Martin on this too. There has to be another way.
Sam

Wayfarin' Stranger said...

Not only are we a world leader in executions, we have the highest documented incarceration rate in the world, followed by Russia and South Africa. We seem to be in denial about who we really are as a nation. I don't see things moving in a positive direction, either. Jim

JJ Roa Rodriguez said...

News like this is always heartbreaking for me. God bless us all! I am just glad that the Philippines abolished it. With the poor justice system, This just cant be considered in our country...

JJRod'z

NCmountainwoman said...

It is indeed a sad day for our country. I sincerely hope this execution will result in another look at the death penalty. As others have said, there has to be another way.

Folkways Note Book said...

Vicki -- those are astounding statistics that you quote. Where is this country going???? -- barbara

Deanna said...

I will have to admit there was a time that I felt the death penalty as warranted and that justice was served. Period. My heart has sunk these past few years as it has come to light that more and more innocent victims have been put to death. I was so wrong. It is so wrong.

I've watched this one with sadness. It is so wrong. I agree with Martin, there has to be another way.

Avril Joy said...

I saw the news on UK television and felt sad too. There's the question of justice and innocence but more than this. I worked for twenty five years with prisoners, mostly women and there was barely one who had not been a victim of crime (recognised or unrecognised) herself. Brutal punishments are never justified and never contribute to good in the world

Vicki Lane said...

While there have been executions that seem justified (to me) such as the one that happened on the same day as Davis's -- the execution of the White Supremacist who dragged a man to death behind his truck and went to his death saying that he wasn't sorry and would do it again, I realize that as long as capital punishment is an option, there will always be the possibility of mistakes. So. yes, I too believe that capital punishment should be abolished.

Brenda said...

You occasionally do serious posts that are so succinct and compelling both, that I find myself wanting to copy and paste them somewhere a lot of people could see. This is one of those.

Susan M. Bell said...

I used to be for the death penalty, then I was on the fence about it, now I'm totally against it. It's not a deterrent, it's used more for revenge than justice, and upon doing some research for a CJ class I was taking, I found out that in the end, it's even more expensive to put someone to death than to house them for the rest of their natural life (for those who use the money argument). And how can we talk about the sanctity of life, how wrong it is to take another life, while we are doing the same thing? In the Troy Davis case, there was way too much doubt there. Way too much.

Desiree said...

This case has reached around the world and shocked many of us!

jennyfreckles said...

There are people here (UK) (including my MP!) who want to bring the death penalty back. Revenge is not justice, as Susan so rightly says.