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-Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Washington Supreme Court rules death penalty unconstitutional, changes death sentences to life
2018-10-12
[RT]
The unanimous ruling, which makes Washington the latest state to throw out the capital punishment, said that the death penalty
 was "unequally applied ‐sometimes by where the crime took place, or the county of residence, or the available budgetary resources at any given point in time, or the race of the defendant."

The ruling came in the case of Allen Eugene Gregory, who was convicted of the rape, robbery and murder of 43-year-old Geneine Harshfield in 1996. Lawyers for Gregory said the death penalty was arbitrarily applied in contravention of the constitution.

Washington’s Democratic governor Jay Inslee, who was a former supporter of the death penalty, had placed a moratorium on capital punishment in 2014, saying that executions would not take place while he was in office.

Following the supreme court ruling, Inslee released a statement calling the ruling a "hugely important moment" in the pursuit of "equal and fair application of justice".

"The court makes it perfectly clear that capital punishment in our state has been imposed in an ’arbitrary and racially biased manner,’ is ’unequally applied’ and serves no criminal justice goal," the statement said.

As it stands, 31 US states still have the death penalty, while 19 states do not. There are also four states where a governor-imposed moratorium on capital punishment has been put in place.

Posted by:Fred

#10  I must be missing something.

yes, the ability to immediate remove jurist who demonstrate the inability to read the Constitution.

Amendment V

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2018-10-12 21:13  

#9  How the hell does this work. The Constitution specifically mentions "capital punishment".

I must be missing something.

Maybe to much Lutefisk. Which some people claim should be under death penalty.
Posted by: Woodrow   2018-10-12 16:06  

#8  I agree that prisons should be a deterrent to criminal behavior.

My favorite story is that John Wesley Hardin begged the Judge to hang him when the Federal Judge sentenced him to 20 years hard labor at Yuma...hard labor being literally busting rocks with a sledge hammer.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom   2018-10-12 15:47  

#7  All prisoners should be initially released near the judge and his families residence.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2018-10-12 12:50  

#6  I don't believe that prison is a punishment. Not currently. It was originally simply where you were held.

Some people do deserve death. And it should be done in such a way to make an impact on people. Executing people quietly in the dark the way we currently do is sucked dry of any deterrent value.

Make it public and make it gruesome. Put them in glass jars in the public square and let people watch them die slowly, baking in the sun. There is always the option of using them as organ donors as well, which can be said to possibly save more lives than they took.

People should be terrified of breaking the law. It should have very real, permanent consequences.
Posted by: Silentbrick   2018-10-12 11:07  

#5  Just arm the prisoners and let them have at each other. Airdrop food periodically (but not enough to feed them all) and put it on pay-per-view. Throw a liberal lawyer (or three) in each week, pour encourager les autres
Posted by: Frank G   2018-10-12 10:23  

#4  Going for a mandatory life sentence for capital crimes does save states a lot of money on legal fees with the huge number of endless procedural challenges that defense attorneys crank up for their clients.

I have come to the point that the only way capital punishment works is if it is implemented immediately and in public. back in the day, when Wildcat Willie was sentenced to be hanged, the gallows had already been build. AND the towns people treated it like free entertainment...some may comment on that but given the mob mentality of human nature and the blood lust that inhabits therein, it is understandable.

If you don't want to pay millions in legal fees, you should be willing to hang them immediately after the verdict.

I am for that.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom   2018-10-12 09:50  

#3  There are definitely people who deserve to be executed. The system just isn't anywhere near up to snuff on applying it correctly and in a timely fashion.
Posted by: M. Murcek   2018-10-12 06:42  

#2   "unequally applied ‐sometimes by where the crime took place, or the county of residence, or the available budgetary resources at any given point in time, or the race of the defendant."

The disparate impact fiction created by the judiciary. Never mind that the stats for male vs female deaths on the job are horrendously out of proportion or that military cemeteries across the country suffer from similar disparate representation. It's a tool created to garner more power to the rulers and steal it from the ruled.

Meanwhile, the death penalty will still be carried out in your streets, your neighborhoods, and businesses. There's a reason blocks upon blocks of Chicago belong to the gangs and not the 'authorities'. One has an effective death penalty, the other really doesn't.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2018-10-12 06:20  

#1  Anyone ever did stats on the correlation between death penalty and serious crimes?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2018-10-12 02:36  

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