Spousal abuse is rarely a first degree crime. People don't plan to harm their spouse, it is an act of spontaneity that is programmed by our upbringing. Shoplifting is up in the air, but usually done by minors too. Minors can be excluded from adult sentencing. Besides, shoplifting is usually spontaneous, and not a first degree crime under such cir stances.
You are thinking like a democrat, thinking raising taxes raises revenue. With enough warning, people will curtail their actions.
First degree crimes are planned crimes. Do you really think that the crime rate of such crimes will remain constant, that someone who plans to kill, steal, etc. will not take the death sentence into account?
I would expect very few overload if any, needing to commute. Maybe at first all should be commuted for like the first 90 days or so once the law is effective with a second time the kicker?
Oh… serious crimes would not be commuted.
I think you seriously overestimate humanity's ability.
Or, you know that already, and dont particularly care about the people who would do such things like steal a car.
If stealing a car is a death sentence, then youre saying that the worth of that vehicle is more than another human being.
Thats a leap of general principle I am not willing to make.
Not true. A car is often the only means a person has to make it to and from work, maybe pick their kids up, or one of many different things. Stealing a car can result in loss of a job. How does one measure that damage. There are several things that can happen from crimes that are seem meaningless in value compared to life. To me, those who plan the harm of others have no place in society.
Are you by chance saying you tolerate such criminals in your circle of friends? Is that why you are so defensive?
Would their be people stupid enough to steal if they were executed if caught? Do you want to have such stupid people procreating? Maybe they deserve to be removed from the gene pool?
Bingo.
Ive been known to speak such rhetoric, but even I admit its just talk. The actual implementation isnt fathomable to a normal human being. I am not sure if you have ever espoused your Christianity in the various religious threads, but if so, youre a hypocrite with a bloodlust.
I think maybe you need to redefine "first-degree" as "whatever the most severe class of felony is in a given state." Be that "Class A" or "first-degree" or whatever. Because, for example, defrauding a retail outlet of $1,000 is a "first-degree" felony in the state of Michigan, but is not in the most severe class. I would regard capital punishment in that cir stance as unacceptably exterme.
The crimes I hope you are talking about are the ones that otherwise would draw life sentences. If you are talking about crimes that might draw 25 years, and are proposing making those capital, that is beyond the pale.
Take that away, and you've reduced this to a discussion about values (eye for an eye, specifically), and the relative efficacy of capital punishment.
I would submit that taking a human life as punishment for a property crime is unbiblical.
I would also admonish the use of caution in applying the death penalty, given the not-insignificant frequency of wrongful conviction and the high cost of the appeals process, which usually exceeds the cost of lifetime incarceration. The Catch-22 of that is trying to fix one of those problems exacerbates the other. And unlike life in prison, if new evidence exonerates somebody who already has been executed, they can't be released. But that is true also of capital murder cases. It is up to the people to decide the trade-off.
Come to Portland, Oregon and see all the crime around here. Maybe you'll change your viewpoint.
I live near Detroit, about 18 miles due north of Detroit, Im sure Portland has its fair share of crime but dont act like I dont know what I am talking about.
Move out of the ghetto if you are near such activity. Its really that simple.
Just look at this link. It describes the four degrees of a crime:
Wikipedia on Culpability
I am being extreme. I won't deny that. I am so sick of crime, I will take an exteme position if I can.
Consider the subtle difference between first and second degree in the above wiki definitions. Even when crimes are committed, I never said the judicial system cannot convice of with a lesser crime. Pleas often do just that.
What is your solution to dramatically curtail crime?
Damn, I forgot about this earlier.
I'd require every school system in the country to teach a second language from K-12 and demand fluency testing in statewide standardized tests. Most states have a hard-on for those idiotic things anyway...let's at least make them useful.
Oh, and I want a spring / summer professional football league game to replace every reality show on network television.
The solution will have to be long term, and it will have to involve fundamental changes to our educational system, welfare system, law enforcement, drug laws, and maybe gun laws.
Your proposal, I believe, would dramatically increase crime and cause all-out war in urban areas. You would make martyrs and heroes out of criminals, on a wider scale than they already are in some areas.
A dictator would kill every hero. Only he commands center stage.
I would have most of you killed.
Thanks for the reminder. I'd make English our official language and make everyone speak it before they could emigrate.
I agree these need to be changed. I doubt we agree on how...
Return the schools to local control for the most part. Our schools took a serious dive since the Department of Education was established. Require certain standards before grade advancement. Merit pay for teachers, eliminate the standard pay by time system. Return to real teaching, eliminate political agendas in schools.
Now that borders are better enforced, farmers are having rotted crops. Put the able bodied welfare recipients to work!
Enforce the laws that affect others and eliminate victimless crime laws. Encourage the purchase of firearms and training for protection.
How do you figure? That just doesn’t make sense to me. Educate me how please
Now that the borders are better enforced, people are paying $8-$10 fan hour for unskilled Mexican labor, and $12-$16 for skilled Mexican labor.
You could hire a "welfare recipient" for less than that, but the problem is their productivity is so much lower.
Because black people will think you are trying to exterminate them, and will riot.
Jarring, but ultimately, completely true. Well said.
Basically.
And then what? You have all these First Degree crimes happening at a high rate in small areas, so you could simply ins ute Martial Law and execute immediate death sentences on the rioters by using Military force.
That would look beautiful in the History books.
I think you guys got it all wrong, WC is just adopting Hammurabi's code
Ha... ha...
You really think?
Code of Hammurabi
And that would stand out in history how? You people think your little Utopia of this Republic is going to stand the test of a Millenia?
It's been around less than 1/20th of Civilization's do entable history...
Good point.
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
The liberal political philosophies of the European Enlightenment found their most significant manifestation when the colonies of British North America declared their independence and formed a liberal democracy.
The new nation grew in power and wealth as it spread across the North American continent. The political liberties enjoyed by many Americans spurred a wave of liberalism in the 19th century back in Europe.
While the USA manifested many concepts of political freedom, it also was one of the last bastions of African slavery, and its Southern provinces reflected an aristocratic social model more reminiscent of pre-liberal Europe.
This juxtaposition exploded into a bloody civil war in the mid-19th century, in which the ins ution of slavery was abolished, but the destruction in the Southern provinces re ed economic and social development for over a century.
Meanwhile, the political rights and freedoms extended to American citizens were not extended to the pre-existing native population, which was displaced by wars of conquest as the nation expanded.
Warts notwithstanding, the United States developed into the world's greatest economic and military power by the mid-20th century, and its ideals and culture spread throughout much of the world. Its system of political liberty and economic dynamism outlasted its chief rival, the Soviet Union, whose Marxist system collapsed in the late-20th century.
However, in the 21st century, the USA fell into decline. Its vast wealth was depleted by a series of wars attempting to retain its global economic empire. It gradually eroded away the political liberties upon which it was founded. By 2100, the USA had adopted the autocratic model of emergent Eurasian powers such as Russia and China.
so is it fair to say that given the chance most of us here would run a country like Saddam or Fidel?
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