Take my poll!

[thatgirly]

Hey kids, I made a poll.  It's only 7 questions, and I'd like to hear your answers.  You can pick more than 1 answer on the Check boxes, if you think more than 1 applies.  Feel free to leave comments to explain your answers.  Have an absolutely fantastic day!Poll The Criminal Justice System

I made this viewable to everybody (gasp!) instead of just friends, so feel free to point

Comments

[ariadnemarie]

Yes, I am a Libra :D

I've seen examples of the justice system doing good, and of it failing miserably. I don't presume to know how it should be fixed, but feel it is certainly broken.

Also do not have enough knowledge to answer the 1-5 comparison with other nations, though they SEEM to be doing better.

[thatgirly]

Ha! Knew I'd catch a Libra answering that way! My Daddy used to have a clipped out comic in his office which said: "when making a decision, first waffle to-and-fro, then when you've made your mind up, just holler 'Yes and No!'" which he claimed was the Libra theme song

[ochre_and_bones]

What I disagree with is the way we execute criminals - it's like a medical procedure. Make an appointment and we'll give you a lethal injection. The manner in which it is done betrays a society that lacks the stomach to face what an execution actually is - killing someone as a form of punishment. If we don't have the guts to tie someone to a post and shoot them, or hang them, then there should be no death penalty.

[thatgirly]

Interesting way of looking at things... Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

[greylady]

I disagree with this. I tend to think of the death penalty as society's "we can't fix you, and you're too dangerous to keep around just in case" solution. It's not about killing, it's about a finalized removal from society.

The method is incidental, so it might as well be as painless as possible.

[zevhonith]

There's a lot of argument about whether lethal injection is actually painless, which I find extremely disturbing. I agree that if we're going to be removing someone from society for our good, it should be completely painless.

[7ghent]

If one innocent person is put to death, the death penalty makes murderers of us all. It is a demonstrable fact that many innocent people have been executed in the United States. This is utterly reprehensible.

[thatgirly]

I tend to agree with you. While I do tend to feel that there are folks who need killing, I certainly wouldn't want to be the one to make that choice, or push that button.
And yes, absolutely, if even one innocent person is put to death, it shows that the system is (if you'll excuse my horrible pun here) fatally flawed.

Though, I suppose it's worth mentioning that we kill innocent people in other countries every day. Of course, they're damned dirty foreigners, so that's different.

[7ghent]

I also think we shouldn't be killing people in other countries either, but that's a different discussion.

[thatgirly]

Maybe my next poll will be on foreign policy :)

[wylde_chylde99]

reinstitute the firing squad. why does killing people have to be so damn expensive? just shoot the fuckers and lets be done with it.

[thatgirly]

I don't think it's the killing them part is that expensive - probably a firing squad would be more expensive than lethal injection, what with all of the people on the squad, the Dr. there to make sure they're really dead, and don't forget the clean-up crew!

[wylde_chylde99]

are you kidding? lethal injection is HUGELY expensive.... and keeping someone on death row is 10x more expensive than regular incarceration

[7ghent]

Lethal Injection Consists Of:

* Sodium Thiopental (lethal dose - sedates person)
* Pancuronium Bromide (muscle relaxant-collapses diaphragm and lungs)
* Potassium Chloride (stops heart beat)
* The offender is usually pronounced dead approximately 7 minutes after the lethal injection begins.

Cost per execution for drugs used : $86.08

[miladycarol]

Ah... so many thoughts. I wish our justice system could be all it should, yet the variables are so vast, I wonder how to even begin sorting that out. There's so much of which I disapprove, yet I can't think of a great way to fix all the problems so they don't split apart at the seams a year later.

I often wish the government would keep its laws off my body and out of my personal life, then I see something so unconscionable that I thank goodness there is a law to keep them in check.

I'm not a libra, yet I'm all about balance and equality, which makes it very difficult for me to really find a fair plan to solve the issues.

[thatgirly]

"I often wish the government would keep its laws off my body and out of my personal life, then I see something so unconscionable that I thank goodness there is a law to keep them in check."

I couldn't have said it better myself!

[greylady]

Absolutely.

I'd be a proponent of a law-free state, but then i remember that there are many people who don't do things they know are wrong unless they fear being caught and punished.

And, I think it's a pretty good thing that there are a series of things specifically geared toward keeping people from doing stupid things to each other on purpose.