Inmate Who Transitioned In Prison Set To Be Executed Tuesday

[Carolyn Marie]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/first-us-execution-openly-transgender-woman-slated-tuesday-rcna63928

 

 

Carolyn Marie

[VickySGV]

I suspect the execution will go on as scheduled, but it bothers me that the Trans issue will dominate the event rather than the crime.  I am one who does not see death as a penalty, since it happens to Saints and all ordinary people as well as those who have done criminal acts but I do not like the way it is required for vengeance and revenge.  She did an act, several, that is bad in itself as her former self, but is the change enough for others to have mercy, I doubt it.

 

[awkward-yet-sweet]

I don't see death as a penalty....it is the natural consequence of some behavior.  We have codified it in law, and actually reduced it.  In the old days, murderers typically met their end quite swiftly.

Gender transition doesn't change a person's guilt or a person's past.  

 

I recall a study from Britain (I may have to dig it up) which showed that males who transition to female generally maintain a male pattern of criminality.  In other words, transition only changes appearance and social role, not a person's essence or how they have developed through their environment.

 

What bothers me about capital punishment is the complexity and publicity. If we have to do this, we ought to do it quietly and without fanfare.  It also bothers me that our "justice" system is unreliable, warped, and corrupt.  There have been a lot of cases where people have been falsely imprisoned.  

[Trans22]

20 minutes ago, awkward-yet-sweet said:

What bothers me about capital punishment is the complexity and publicity. If we have to do this, we ought to do it quietly and without fanfare.  It also bothers me that our "justice" system is unreliable, warped, and corrupt.  There have been a lot of cases where people have been falsely imprisoned.  

I'm with you on this one.  I really think that "Justice system" needs to be renamed "Punishment system".   Officially the justice system is all about "innocent until proven guilty" but I think it is really "guilty until proven innocent" behind the official facade.

[Ivy]

7 hours ago, awkward-yet-sweet said:

There have been a lot of cases where people have been falsely imprisoned.  

This the problem with the death penalty.  It's kinda permanent.

8 hours ago, VickySGV said:

it bothers me that the Trans issue will dominate the event rather than the crime.

This too.

Of course a trans-person can commit a crime - just like anybody else.  It shouldn't be an issue.

[Carolyn Marie]

I am not in favor of the death penalty, although it is not practiced in CA and hasn't been for 17 years.  Even if the justice system were miraculously fixed to eliminate any possibility of error (an impossibility), I wouldn't like it.  The government shouldn't be in the revenge business, and that's all it is, IMHO.  If there is a God, it should be their business.  And please, no "bleeding heart" accusations.  I was a cop for over 20 years, and I hate criminals as much as the next person.

 

Carolyn Marie

[VickySGV]

I just go the news from a Face Book friend that she was executed today.  Not a good start to this year.  At least she had some time to know and be her real self in the world. 

[awkward-yet-sweet]

I don't think the death penalty is "revenge."  Not exactly.  If it was revenge, the victims' relatives would be the ones to do it.  And actually, I think that would probably be more fair than the state doing it. 

 

The origin of the death penalty is...we don't want them around, and we don't want to hold them.  So, what's left?  We've gotten away from that idea with all the complications and pageantry.  Originally, the death penalty was efficient.  Sounds icky to say it that way, but it was socially more efficient than supporting somebody in prison into their 80's.  Massive prisons are a relatively modern thing, especially prisons where the occupants are treated humanely. 

 

 

[VickySGV]

 Link to Associated Press article

 

https://apnews.com/article/crime-legal-proceedings-missouri-st-louis-capital-punishment-b45a31029fa42d9eb67b5b4e1f6a6ffe

[Charlize]

I find the death penalty to be barbaric and doubt seriously that it in any way deters crime.  

 

Hugs,

 

Charlize

[VickySGV]

1 hour ago, Katie23 said:

Once again, this is reported as an anti-trans motivated piece by Fox News.

 

The Associated Press article I linked above does not hype the Trans trope in it, and I did see two other news outlets who did not even headline the Trans issue, so we do have some responsible reporting sources out there.  The AP makes this an unusual and singular type of event in their language which it is.  This article points out a peculiarity in Missouri law about judges being able to overrule a jury in regard to imposition of the death penalty that does bother me greatly.  In most other the states a judge can REDUCE the penalty finding, but NOT impose the harsher penalty when the jury cannot decide and the severity, which would elsewhere resolve to the penalty of Life Imprisonment.  

 

There are indeed some individuals who lives are so damaged that they are utterly bereft of human heart and consciousness that they will always remain a danger to society.  I agree there totally.  We will never know really what part GD played in her extensive early damage which is reported here but it would have played a part.

[Ivy]

1 hour ago, VickySGV said:

This article points out a peculiarity in Missouri law about judges being able to overrule a jury in regard to imposition of the death penalty that does bother me greatly.

I noticed that, and it just seems wrong.

And of course being transgender doesn't absolve one from their previous actions.

[Willow]

Personally, I have m d emotions about the whole subject of the death penalty.  
 

I believe the US has the greatest number of people on death row of all western countries.  And of all countries in the world we are far from the worst both in numbers and reasons.

 

But, there are killers that I don’t see as being capable of rehabilitation and their guilt is not in doubt. Those are the only ones I see as deserving our death penalty.  And I don’t agree with the bleeding hearts that it has to be humane and painless.  They didn’t care about any of that when they committed the crime.

 

I will also say, sadly, since we put cis women and men to death, why should a transgender person receive mercy not given to others.  We say that it’s genetic not chosen nor do to a mental illness.  Given that, suddenly claiming to be transgender should not be an excuse.

 

Willow