For Aurora shooter James Holmes (and all murderers) I oppose the death penalty — it’s too damn good! But so are prisons’ libraries and weight rooms. Make him repay society via:
1) Work: Sort garbage for recycling, dig ditches for America’s infrastructure, pick crops for America’s farmers.
2) Tests: new drugs, treatments, surgical techniques, food additives (eliminate animal tests, PETA!).
3) Donations: blood weekly, spinal fluid and marrow monthly, half his liver annually (it grows back), one kidney/lung/eye, etc.
And when he dies, screw his will: Donate all organs and assets to those who need and deserve them more.
J. Andrew Smith
Bloomfield, NJ
Dale Whiting posted at 5:23 pm on Fri, Jul 27, 2012.
Andrew,
I have yet to reach the conclusions you have. But I do have questions for you to consider.
First, where the cost to incarcerate a prisoner has become outlandish, do you realize the housing and keeping them when doing work details is even greater? Is the value to society from the work done greater that the marginal increased security costs incurred while doing that work?
Second, testing on animals first does not reduce the need to test on humans next. And where human testing is inherently riskier, isn't skipping animal testing a waste of resources?
Third, involuntary donations seems to make sense. Should be impose this only on mass murders? How about other prisioners? Where do we draw the line?
Fourth, By saying 's c r e w the will' are you saying the society knows best? Where did you get that notion?
So how about addressing these questions and getting back to us?
Dale Whiting posted at 5:25 pm on Fri, Jul 27, 2012.
P.S.
Do the readers find it odd that Andrew can use the word 's c r e w' but the commenters can not? Editors, your profanity program is hypocrital. If it's good for you geese, shouldn't it also be good for us ganders?
chatmandu002 posted at 10:15 pm on Fri, Jul 27, 2012.
I hope he gets found guilty of murder and sentenced to life in the general population of the worse prison. If he's not dead within a year send him to another prison until some one gives him the justice he deserves.
jasmith4 posted at 9:12 am on Tue, Aug 7, 2012.
Dale: to your three questions:
First: I think prisoners repaying society through work is far more valuable to society than allowing them access to weight rooms to increase their strength and fighting ability. OK, some read books and even get degrees, but that's by far the minority. We need garbage collected, we need infrastructure rebuilt, we need crops picked, and many more jobs done which are less than palatable. It would save money to get prisoners to do them for 25 cents an hour rather than workers at minimum wage, and they'd get them done faster too, because prisoners would work seven days a week and far more than eight hours a day.
Second: Who's denying the need for testing on humans? On the contrary, I'm saying prisoners are the very humans we should test on! Occasionally they do get cancer, diabetes, AIDS, etc., etc., so why not test drugs on them? Animal testing takes at least ten years, and it doesn't translate well to human testing. Imagine if we had working drugs on the market ten years sooner? Now that's what I call value to society!
Third: I suggest the line be: felons. Not just violent felons like murderers, rapists, arsonists, child-abusers, etc., but also fraudsters in finance, insurance, taxes, real estate, etc. (you know, like Bernie Madoff); spies and double-agents (Robert Hansen) -- whatever the legal definition of "felon" is. We need blood, organs, tissues, etc., to save lives -- how better to repay society?
Fourth: I'm saying that the convicted felon (see above) has lost ALL individual rights except life. S/he no longer has the right to decide where all personal or business assets go. S/he lost that right upon conviction. S/he is now a slave to society, and the will should be treated as that of a missing person with no heirs other than the victims. Hell, s/he shouldn't even vote! But to be fair, all of these would be re-instated after completion of the sentence.
Chatmandu002:
I disagree -- Holmes should be enslaved, forced to work at awful jobs all day every day, give blood and organs, and submit to tests of new drugs, surgeries -- and even tortures. He's young -- make him repay society by suffering as such a slave for decades to come!