Remember the little girl in Tracy, CA, who was kidnapped, raped, murdered, and stuffed in a suitcase just before Easter last year? The monster who did it pleaded guilty this morning in exchange for life w/o parole instead of the death penalty. Someone who knows about the prison system please enlighten me as to why we allow people to live off our dime when they'll never be released; they've committed heinous crimes and will drain our tax money? IMO, such a sentence is ridiculous. I'm a very liberal person, but when it comes to this crap, I'm very for the death penalty. Why should she get to live and visit her own child when she brutally raped and murdered a little girl and threw her away like trash? Flame away anti-death penalty people.
Re: The Sandra Cantu case
I won't flame because I have a hard time understanding things like this, as well. And some people it does seem like they "deserve" to die.
But, the death penalty doesn't change anything that happened. It has been shown that it is not a deterrant for other crimes. And, although I am not a religious person, I personally don't feel any human has the right to decide that another human deserves to die.
Also, I just think it is ironic in the whole "2 wrongs don't make a right: category. Don't kill someone or else we will kill you! It doesn't make sense.
I have heard/read that putting someone through death row is actually more expensive than keeping someone in prison the rest of their life.
ETA: I also totally agree with everything DevonPow just posted.?
I can only hope that Karma will visit her in prison.
I am not really anti-DP. It's not something that I really have a moral opposition to - but I will say life w/out parole is FAR FAR cheaper for our justice system. DP is expensive, and it is often a long, drawn out process with appeals (people sentenced to death have all manner of appeal avenues they can pursue) that cost our system time and money to a very large degree.
Personally, I like that they have to be in jail for life. And suffer every day thinking about the horrible things they did.
Ditto this, although I think some people don't feel any remorse for their actions, regardless of how heinous (Scott Peterson comes to mind).
Alex (11/14/06) and Nate (5/25/10)
"Want what you have, do what you can, be who you are." - Rev. Forrest Church
I think this is ideal...."And suffer every day thinking about the horrible things they did."
but do you really think that someone who could rape, murder and stuff a body in a suitcasre *really* thinks about what they have done every day? With remorse? Probably not.
I do,however, hope that all the hell they have brought on to another being comes back to them in one way shape or form while they are behind bars....so in that respect, if they are getting what they gave (so to speak), then I'm all for keeping them alive.
Annelise 3.22.2007 Norah 10.24.2009 Amelia 8.7.2011
ultimately I think it would be the ideal to have the person not put to death, but forced into some sort of service to the community.
they should be earning their keep, and their life in prison should not include free gym memberships and access to the internet or cable tv.
sorry. jail shouldn't be a place to relax and live out your days responsibility free- for some people, the sort that commit the kind of crimes that land you there, it is a better looking alternative to the outside world.
why don't we change this? make prison an unpleasant experience no matter WHERE you're coming from.
also, the reason they allow people to plead guilty and avoid a death penalty or stronger punishment, is because they assign value to having the case officially closed- if the perpetrator confesses, there's no question that they got the bad guy, which is a closure and somewhat of a relief. unless they falsely confess! then nobody knows!
So if it's the costs of appeals that make the death penalty more expensive, why, in the case of someone who pleads guilty, are we offering appeals? I have a hard time believing the cost of the injection is more than feeding, dressing, water use, guard, etc. that goes with a life in prison. As for the 2 wrongs don't make a right issue....yes, if you kidnap, rape, and kill a child and throw away their body in a suitcase, you should die. You take a life, you give up your life. It seems fair enough to me. Your victim didn't have the choice to live or die, why should you? I'm pretty sure Sandra Cantu or any murder victim would gladly choose to live. She needs to be punished in the same way she acted, IMO. She is what I call a waste of human life. Now if they can stick her in solitary confinement where she gets no phone calls, letters, visits, etc. from friends and family and no contact with the outside world, then sure...give her life. I just don't get how she deserves to watch her daughter grow up (even if it's through pictures or a phone call every once in a while) while Sandra's mom only gets to visit a gravesite.
She won't have appeals in this case because she's pleading guilty. The government has to offer something in return for her pleading guilty, otherwise they do the trial and go for the death penalty. It's a deal - she wouldn't agree w/out the carrot of no death penalty.
Also, I'm pretty sure you cannot agree to forgoing your appeals. Even if you did, you'd have the option to change your mind, I'm sure, as your execution drew near.
Maybe I'm missing something, but wouldn't not allowing appeals in a death penalty case be kind of... wrong? Certainly there are people on death row who are actually innocent, right?
ETA: Oh, duh, you said in the case of someone who pleads guilty.
I agree with e. I'm sure she wouldn't have entered a guilty plea without some kind of incentive, and life in prison was the incentive.
Alex (11/14/06) and Nate (5/25/10)
"Want what you have, do what you can, be who you are." - Rev. Forrest Church
But what about her daughter? Is justice served if a little child loses her mother, no matter how ghastly her crime is?
And whoever wrote about prison being a nice place - what?!??! Whoever said prison was a nice place to spend your days? My concern is how terrible it is - most people end up released back into the public in worse shape than when they were imprisoned in the first place.