Texas will consider death penalty for repeat sexual predators

[deadparrot]

AUSTIN, Texas Texas lawmakers are talking tough about cracking down on sexual predators who prey on children.

Some propose the death penalty for repeat offenders. That could generate hundreds more death row inmates in a state that already executes more than any other.

Other ideas include long mandatory sentences for first-time offenders or eliminating probation.

But opposition is flaring from unexpected sources -- from prosecutors and victim advocates.

http://www.team4news.com/Global/story.asp?S=5939738&nav=menu90_3

[msongs]

1. how about for politicians who commit crimes against humanity? nt

[Porcupine]

7. or take bribes? or just plain corruption?

The funny thing about the law is that it provides for the punishment of everybody but crooked, DAs, cops, judges, lawyers and legislators. If they rip you off, take graft for votes, lie, cheat or steal they get off scot free.

I want to see a law that has the death penalty for corrupt judges. Then I'll believe that it should be applied to anybody else. Not until then.

Just stick them in Texas prisons. Isn't that a death penalty?

[MadMaddie]

2. Wow Texas just continues to take steps backwards..

Don't get me wrong...I have no sympathy for the type of criminal, I don't care about their childhood or anything like that. Many people have had bad childhood and not become sexual predators.

I think that trying to rehabilitate this type of criminal is useless, they have the highest recidivism rate of any group that's been in prison.

Life in Prison withought parole along with hard labor.

The Death Penalty is not the answer.

[Ignacio Upton]

3. Question: Since 1976, has the death penalty been used for anything other than murder?

This will send us further back as a country.

[sofa king]

4. You mean other than murder of innocents by torture?

I guess that doesn't count, as it's outside of our justice system.

Edit: Yeah, that was a joke, I guess. Not a funny one, but I tried.

I would like to see someone ask those Texas legislators right now what they're prepared to do when the murder rate inevitably rises as a result of such a law, as sexual predators try to protect themselves by killing their victims and witnesses.

[Ignacio Upton]

5. They'll still get the death penalty for doing that

n/t.

[sofa king]

9. Yes, but not before others die who might not have had to die.

[Judi Lynn]

6. Tough guys, eh? What do they have in mind for white collar offenders, then, like air pollutors?

They could start with Houston:



But hey, that's different. These criminals have a lot of money, and they pay taxes, god love'em!

Looks like Texas fears it has to continually rachet up its "tough on crime" image. Well, they could start by confronting the real problems they already have, without resorting to rewriting their laws, and "progressing" to more state-ordered executions.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

22. They are the ones getting the tax breaks

Texas air quality is just going to get worse over the next decade.

Smoke 'em if you got 'em, it's not much worse than breathing the air here.

At this very moment Perry is celebrating with his TXU and Exxon buddies. I bet they're all planning on leaving the state after they finish raping it for all it's worth.

[LynnTheDem]

8. Next; death penalty for gays and women who have abortions.

JFC.

[Coventina]

10. So then the offenders will kill all their victims, to eliminate witnesses

It's called "The Law of Unintended Consequences", look it up, Texas!

:eyes:

[noonwitch]

11. Either that, or children may become less likely to turn in family members

who abuse them, out of fear that the abuser will be executed. Kids don't necessarily want the abuser dead (it can be a highly conflictual thing), they just want the abuse to stop.

[Coventina]

13. Very good point.

Does the state of Texas want to make someone live with the fact that their testimony put Daddy in the chair?

[Doctor_J]

12. Why can't they just lock them up & throw away the key?

It serves the same purposes and allows for mistakes.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

14. Because it doesn't give the punishment fetishists the boners they crave.

Perverts, like the ones they want to see killed.

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

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[Coventina]

16. So "liberal" isn't "human"? I'm confused about your point.

:shrug:

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

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[Coventina]

23. You think beheading is a good method of capital punishment?

You should move to Saudi Arabia.....

[Turbineguy]

17. Reaching for the Easy Button

A number of years ago there was a case in my town where a guy beat to death his 5 year old son. He had been taking "anger management therapy" whatever that means. After the hour of therapy he would return to his poor home, to the dirty dishes in the sink, TV watching wife eating chips on the couch, cranky child. The justice system finally put him out of his misery by putting him in jail.

As a society we seem to look to the justice system to cure all our ills.

In this case we are offered a choice between killing somebody (or perhaps strategically cutting off body parts) or setting them free to re-offend. It seems to me that some sort of new approach to this is called for. There has to be something outside the limits of the justice system. If to these people abusing children is fun or fulfilling, perhaps something that is even more fun and fulfilling, but benign to society could be found.

Of course, I am a machinery guy, but not every technical problem calls for a progressively bigger hammer.

[raccoon]

18. That should really be a deterrent. (sarcasm) nt

[eagler]

20. texas judges need to be put on trial for executing innocents

nt

[Timmy5835]

21. Did ya ever stop to think that this is..........

.....a mental illness that's why the re-offend rate is so high. As long as we have looked at this as solely a crime we'll never find an answer.

[slackmaster]

24. Sounds "unusual" to me

:argh:

[glide625]

25. Texas Once Again Proves!

Stupid never takes a holiday! Thankfully, the bundle of incompetents that end up in the Texas Legislature can rarely agree on anything significant and usually pass only a few bills. And, they only meet every other year. Let's just keep our fingers crossed that another one of their poorly educated buffoons doesn't run for President.

[gratuitous]

26. I can't imagine why there's still crime in Texas

Isn't capital punishment supposed to be a deterrent? You'd think everyone in Texas would have been scared straight as a string by now.

Unless of course, the "deterrence" argument is . . . Hmmm.