Scalia quote on capital punishment

[jerry611]

"The American people have determined that the good to be derived from capital punishment — in deterrence, and perhaps most of all in the meting out of condign justice for horrible crimes — outweighs the risk of error. It is no proper part of the business of this court, or of its justices, to second-guess that judgment, much less to impugn it before the world ...," Scalia wrote in a case decision today in Kansas v. Marsh.

What is scary is not that Scalia said this...that is expected. But I fear that Scalia is correct to an extent. I think that the American people do believe that the good derived from capital punishment outweighs the risk of error. Americans seem to only want revenge. They want blood. Someone is arrested for a brutal murder and instantly the people demand execution before we even have a trial.

So much for a party that claims to be pro-life... And so much for the presumption of innocence.

[jackster]

1. I'm pro-death penalty

in SOME circumstances, but that statement scares the bejebus outa me!

[acmavm]

4. I am too in SOME cases. Generally any murder that involves

a child. Well, maybe not any, accidents do happen.

But knowing how smug and self centered some DAs and cops are, they really don't give a shit. They'd rather fry someone than admit a mistake.

And as they say, someone has to graduate at the bottom of the class. I'd sure hate to think that some C minus goober had (police or DA) had my life in his hands. For example pResident Pity Grade (C-).

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

2. The money shot:

"and perhaps most of all in the meting out of condign justice for horrible crimes"

That's it. Protecting society, for sufferers of the personality disorder known as Punishism like Mr. Scalia, is secondary. The satisfction of their sadistic urges is more important.

[smokey nj]

3. What pisses me off about this is the hypocracy.........

First of all the death penalty deters NOTHING!!!!!! I'm so fucking tired of these "good" Catholics who use their Catholicism as a justification for their anti-choice stance, but ignore it when it comes to the death penalty.

[jerry611]

11. Homicide rates are higher in pro-death penalty states

That's a statistic that you will never hear the right talk about.

Homicides are statistically more in number and more brutal in states that have a death penalty.

If you ever studied criminology, you would learn that many of the beliefs people have about criminals is completely false. Crime is motivated by money, power, greed, and self-interest. Every single violent crime can be linked to at least one of those motivating factors. Simply making punishment more severe does absolutely nothing to diminish the factors of those motivations.

[kenny blankenship]

5. Before pro football and NASCAR took over, public hangings in America were

the best attended community event bar none.

[PA Democrat]

6. Capital punishment is NOT a deterrent

http://www.amnestyusa.org/abolish/deterrence.html

[jerry611]

12. You are making too much sense....

Show those stats to someone who is pro-death penalty and you better be ready for all sorts of obnoxious responses and excuses.

[gratuitous]

7. The American people have determined this?

Do you recall seeing that on a national ballot somewhere? That the death penalty "deters" or "metes out condign justice for horrible crimes"? Or that such "deterrence" or "meting out of justice" is good? I don't remember being asked those questions, Mr. Scalia. Could you explain what you mean when you say that "The American people have determined" these specific facts? Also, could you explain how a determination by the American people equates to a finding of fact? Was this introduced as evidence in the Kansas case, or are you going outside the court record to create a "fact" that supports your conclusion?

Is this "activist" judging, or is that term reserved only for so-called liberal conclusions?

[izzie]

8. This is of course if you are not the error

I frankly think it is scary and I see how well it has worked since we keep killing them off as the bad guys keep killing us off. One would think it would just make you think on that alone. Revenge? Does it ever work?

[Hubert Flottz]

10. Who would Jesus Fry?

[sinkingfeeling]

9. When did the American people get to vote on the issue of the death

penalty? I don't recall that one.

[OneBlueSky]

13. so by the same logic . . .

if the American people determined that the good to be derived from enslaving minorities — in cheap labor, and perhaps most of all in maintaining the purity of the "white race" — outweighed the risk of error (enslaving the wrong person), it would not be proper part of the business of the court, or of its justices, to second-guess that judgment, much less to impugn it before the world? . . .

what a dork . . .

[RaleighNCDUer]

14. Better to execute a hundred innocent

than to allow a single guilty to escape punishment.

:puke:

[charlie]

15. I saw Scalia give a talk

once on the tube and he said that since most Americans were Christians who believed in an afterlife, the death penalty was not only moral, it tweren't no great thang. We dispatch them to God, what's the big deal? Scary asshole.

[PA Democrat]

16. Scalia apparently has no problem with the racial bias of death penalty

Amnesty Report Finds Racial Injustice in Death Penalty -

According to a new report issued by Amnesty International, race continues to play a strong role in U.S. death penalty cases. In "U.S.: Death by Discrimination - The Continuing Role of Race in Capital Cases," Amnesty states that:

-Even though blacks and whites are murder victims in nearly equal numbers of crimes, 80% of people executed since the death penalty was reinstated have been executed for murders involving white victims.


-More than 20% of black defendants who have been executed were convicted by all-white juries.


http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=105&scid=5

[Caution]

17. Whether the people want it or not isn't the question.

The Constitution bars "Cruel and unusual punishment" Death is cruel. Period. End of fucking story.

If the people want it badly enough they can amend the Constitution.

Scalia is a jackass.

[Swamp Rat]

18. Replace "The American people" with the 'power elite'

No, the "American People" do NOT want this or nor do we believe this.