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Originally Posted by Porphyria
Texas is the only state in which it's legal to execute mentally handicapped people. And they don't really count because the residents of other states sort of consider Texas to be like that wierd uncle no one wants to acknowledge… like Quebec and the rest of Canada. I lived in Texas for a while. It's seriously not anything like the rest of America.
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Heh, this is true. Don't get me started on Texas...
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Again, Couey's defense never stated that he was mentally ill or that he had impulse-control issues. They claimed he was mentally retarded and lacked the judgment to discern right from wrong. Mental retardation is a developmental disorder, OCD is a psychological disorder. They're NOT the same.
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Your basing your assumptions on the legal work of Coueys legal team. Their job wasn't to help him with these issues, nor was it to prove these issues, they merely provided a legal defence. His legal defence is not what we are discussing here, we shouldn't be focusing on the slim defence arguments of one legal team. The system itself in America doesn't recognise this as a mental issue, therefore his legal team wouldn't address it in court as it bears no relevance to his defence. Thats something that needs to be changed.
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But who are you to judge who is really ill and who's just a bastard? The state of Flordia, with the aid of trained psychologists and developmental specialists, have decided John Couey is the latter. You're assuming they're incompetent based on nothing but your own highly biased opinion. I like to assume that people with medical degrees know what they're talking about and people who serve on juries are intelligent enough to make informed decisions.
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The state of Florida also kept Terry Shivo alive against the wishes of her family because 'they knew what was best'. I don't put much stock in a government that likes to play politics with peoples lives. This is very much the same thing. If the state didn't execute this man, people much like yourself get angry. He was convicted before he even entered the courtroom. As I stated previously, not one serial killer has ever been let off even though they all were proven to be insane. They were convicted because of politics rather than judged on the merits of the law.
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If "life in prison" really meant that, then I wouldn't care so much about the death penalty. One in five people may be rehabilitated (many for fewer than 5 years), but how do you justify the release of the other four (and more) to their subsequent victims? You can't look at these crimes as numbers or statistics. Every "sex crime" is a real person who is either dead or permanently traumatized.
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I'm not saying put them in a normal prison. Prisons for the criminally insane work as both and offer help as well. They don't get out of one of those quick either. The thing is, the US government under reagan and bush 1 did away with those back in the 80's. Now, people who need treatment who could be helped are thrown into normal prisons and yes, you are correct, let out before they are rehabilitated. Yet another issue I have with the current system.
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I value the life of every child who suffers at the hands of sick fuck who should have never been allowed to walk out of a prison after a previous conviction. I value the sanctity of childhood.
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...until they grow up and do something you don't like. Your for killing them then if it saves a few bucks. You value the lives children, before they become adults is what your saying.
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What makes me different is that I think an innocent girl should have had the chance to live her life and the bastard who murdered her gave up that right in doing so.
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Thats aside from the point. If this girl had died by falling into a tiger cage, would you hate all tigers? My point being is its not the crime you should be focusing on, it's the person committing it. In many cases, these people are born with defects, and they are not responsible for their actions anymore than an animal which does whats in it's nature. The only difference is with proper medication and treatment people with such afflictions can be made into a contributing member of society.
The fact that in this case, and thousands of others in America, treatment is never offered. They kill first, and never ask any questions later.
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You're going to say that emotion has clouded my judgment, but you're wrong.
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The fact you acknowledged what I was about to say seems to point out that even you know this to be true. Every person in the world feels that way about the loss of someone they know. Nothing is more important than their own personal loss.
But once again, thats aside from the point. I'm not saying the crime isn't horrible, it is. I'm not saying let criminals run free, I'm not.
I'm saying unless you give treatment a chance, you are putting to death people who might be helped, people who do not wish to act they way they do. These people are controlled by urges and due to brain disorders they are born with have no control to stop their own actions. Many do not wish to do what they do, and feel just as bad when they commit such acts.
Executing someone without first attempting to help that person who may be trapped in their own mind is no different than killing an innocent person.
