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

[zevhonith]

I chose "mixed" on the death penalty, and I would like to explain why.

I do not have an inherent problem with the idea of capital punishment. However, I have very specific problems with capital punishment as it's carried out in our country.

1. I think there needs to be a standard of acceptable evidence for a capital case. 80% of false convictions are based on coerced confessions and/or eyewitness testimony. I don't think anyone should EVER be put to death based on either or both of those pieces of evidence alone. It's just too faulty, and there's no way of correcting the error when the prisoner's dead.

2. Capital punishment as it stands now is a long and arduous process. I fully support the right of criminals to appeal, etc., but more often than not what ends up happening is prisoners spend so long on death row that they often rehabilitate themselves - see the case of the founder of the Crips (?) who wrote a best-selling children's book about avoiding gangs and then was put to death. Someone needs to be taking into account the life they've lived while in prison. Too often the person convicted is not the person killed.

3. Developmentally disabled people should never be put to death. Ever.

Unrelated to capital punishment, but related to my feelings about the justice system in general, something has to be done about prison rape. It's undeniably cruel and unusual punishment and cops, prosecutors, and prison officials use it as part of the punishment/threat process instead of trying to stop it. It's barbaric and appalling and there needs to be more attention paid to it.

Additionally there needs to be a better system of rehabilitation. It does nobody any good when petty criminals go into jail as hooligans and come out hardened criminals. There also needs to be a better release program; in a lot of cases it's just easier for criminals to go back to crime than it is for them to find a good job.

[7ghent]

Holy crap we sort of agree on something political.

[zevhonith]

I'm just as shocked as you are! Clearly our opinions in this matter must be the objective truth. ;)

[7ghent]

Well, the US and Japan are pretty much the only industrialized, non-totalitarian nations which still use the death penalty, so clearly most people in the world think that it is a bad thing, at least in practice.

[zevhonith]

Yeah, that's really my fundamental point about the death penalty - I just don't think it can ever really *work* the way it ideally should, so best to just get rid of it like everyone else already has.

[7ghent]

If there were a way to be ABSOLUTELY certain of someone's guilt, there might be an argument for killing criminals who are guilty of particularly egregious crimes, but that is a fundamentally impossible proposition. There's also a valid argument that even in that hypothetical situation, the state does not have the right to terminate someone's life when further harm to society can averted through other means. I lean towards the latter, but it's pretty much moot outside of the hypothetical perfect knowledge scenario.

[thatgirly]

LMAO!

Incidentally, I also agree, which pretty much seals deal, wouldn't you say?