A cause for celebration.

[Doc]

:P

I just happened to be watching the end of The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid on cable last night, which is 51 miles from where I live. I was pretty amused by a couple of scenes which were ficticious, but an interesting commentary on the times. In one scene the posse of farmers and town folk set out after the James-Younger gang, and they first came upon some land speculators in a whore house, so they summarily hanged them and rode on. Then the scene changes to a violent shoot out, and finally out gunned and having wounded two, there is a surrender. But it turns out the other side was a different posse that set out from a different town. Then the leader of the Northfield posse says proudly as if they just won a football scrimmage, "Those guys aren't that tough now are they?" Then, finally catching up with Cole, Jim and Bob Younger and Charlie Pitts the posse had a shoot out killing Charlie Pitts and seriously wounding the others.

The point is that this was pretty typical justice in 1876.

Or, in Texas you'd have characters like;

"It is the judgment of this court that you are hereby tried and convicted of illegally and unlawfully committing certain grave offenses against the peace and dignity of the State of Texas, particularly in my bailiwick, I fine you two dollars; then get the he// out of here and never show yourself in this court again. That's my rulin'." -- Judge Roy Bean

I don't have a problem with dealing harshly with terrorists, rapists, killers, torturers, or child molesters. But let's be consistent, from Abu Garib, to South Carolina, to Guantanamo, to California. If we want to demonstrate grim determination and civility then we need to be also guided by the rule of law and due process. It might be that it is happening, but it would be nice if we were confident is was happening everywhere equally.

Agreed, and well put.

And I am not trying to rehash the death penalty debate here, I am after a different horse with fresher flesh.

Not to long ago there was a feller here that dug out a dungeon under his trailer and tortured and raped some kids. This kind of thing happens all to often.

Now, leaving the death penalty out of this, what the hell do you do with these sorts of people? They can't be rehabilitated. All to often they are released early or even put under house arrest because people have this tendency to kill kiddie rapists in prison. In our current catch and release fishing for failure system, these guys just get out and do it again.

So, if we keep them alive, why? I am actually morbidly curious to see how the bleeding heart sorts view the other side of the issue and what these folks guys like this can contribute to society... What useful purpose they serve. We've argued the death penalty bit to death, so, how about some witty banter on why we should keep these people alive. Let's discuss life, shall we? Why should I, or anybody else for that matter, pay dimes out of our own pockets to keep these guys alive and in comfort for the rest of their lives? Why should we as tax payers, have to pay for a deputy sheriff or three to watch them at home and keep them safe from a pissed off neighborhood? Yeah, that happened here. The city actually was required to send out a sheriff to do protective duty for a convicted kiddie rapist, and keep him safe from the neighborhood that wanted to go after him with torches and pitchforks... Why are these guys protected? And why should we pay for this protection? Other places too where sex offender lists are letting the outraged public know where one lives, and people start threatening and then these kiddie rapists actually get protection for their miserable little lives. It is a pity that sort of man power wasn't around to actually protect kids from the kiddie rapists in the first place. But kiddie rapists get the victim status and all kinds of money is spent housing them, protecting them, and sheltering them from an outraged public. I'd like to know how anybody can consider that fair somehow, I'd like someone to explain to me how these sorts of scum deserve this sort of special treatment.

The penalty of death is imposed on the kiddie rapists... The penalty of life, whatever life that is, inside or out, is imposed on us, society. Why should we have to pay for their crimes?

I don't quite understand the need to change this sentence. Under existing law he goes into a deep dark hole and never comes out, and I've heard stories about how fellow inmates would treat a convicted child rapist.

I'm not really a death penalty advocate, but in this case I'd argue that putting him to death would be too merciful.
I sort of agree. It's not that I don't find the topics interesting and worthy of discussion, but I personally think that some form of effort should be put into the topic by the thread starter. I already know that I probably post too many topics, but I always try to add as much content as I can.

DeeBye, all to often that life with out parole thing sours because of prison overcrowding... There are several sex offenders right now in the upstate area where I live that were given life with out possibility of parole... One of which was let out to ease prison overcrowding after only five, that's right, count them, five years. See, that whole life with out parole thing is just plain horse#$%&. It doesn't mean much. It's to much trouble to keep guys like this is prison under constant protection from general population... To much tension, to much strain, increased chances for rioting, fights, etc. So to open up a cot or two, and ease off some of the pressure cooker effect, they let these guys right back out again.

One fella on the news a few months back was given a life with out parole in the 80s. He was out in the early 90s. Got in trouble a second time... You guessed it, life with out parole again. He just got out in April because he agreed to go to therapy and wear a monitor. Something tells me we'll be hearing from him again soon.