Stanko

[GRITS]

My, My, My Stanko's lawyers are already appealing his case. I won't say told you so. This scum bag is going to cost you and me a lot of tax paying dollars and the lawyers are going to get rich at our expense....

Stanko is one guy that really knows how to work the system.

[Captain Worley]

Stanko is one guy that really knows how to work the system.

That is truer than you know. He is a complete waste of space.

[SouthernBoy]

I think many people don't truly understand the consequences of what actually happens in such cases as this. It may give everyone a warm fuzzy feeling that he was found quilty and he received the death sentence. However, someone like Stanko (and his attorneys) will drag this out for years. The victims will be victimized for the rest of their lives. I believe in swiftly carrying out of the death sentence and not dragging it out for years. The attorneys and solicitors turned over many rocks for a couple of years before the case even got to court.

I understand that many people think that death penalty is not a deterrent and that prison is for rehab. I maintain that the death penalty is a deterrent for the person who commit crimes that warrant the death penalty and that prison is for punishment. You will find no bleeding heart here!

[swampfox]

Appeal is automatic in cases where the sentence is death. The defense attorneys are obligated to do whatever they can, legally and without lying, to defend their client's interests. But I seriously doubt that this appeal is going to accomplish very much. So something was wrong with his brain? I say anybody who uses violence unnecessarily has something wrong with their brain, and that's what prisons are for.

Personally, I have no big moral problem with the death penalty. The way I look at it, if a person does the things that he did, they forfeit their right to compassion. But I do think that life without parole is a much worse punishment than execution.

I used to work in a prison. A lot of people don't realize that prisons for incarcerating regular people are a faily recent idea, since the early 1800s or thereabouts. That was when we first got the word "penitentiary", a place for criminals to repent, or do penitance. Before that prisons were only for holding the rich and powerful, while for the rest of us there was the death penalty for just about everything. Certainly for horse-stealin' and cattle rustlin'. There is no widespread agreement about just what prisons are for; rehabilitation, punishment, separation from society. I favor the latter. Rehabilitation these days is pretty much non-existent for violent criminals, and punishment, or the expectation of punishment does not seem to prevent crimes. I think the important point is separation from society, and if I were a judge I would want the authority to give out life without parole sentences for all kinds of crimes, including any violent crime or hate crime, and if guilt was not in doubt, I would give it on the first offense. There is just no reason why we should all have to worry about what such people are going to do.

In European countries sentences tend to be much lighter than ours. 10-15 years for murder is about what is expected over there. But many of those countries are re-evaluating their sentencing now in these days of terrorists and gangs.

[ZooFuzz]

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/68/Old_Sparky.jpg

[Captain Worley]

You need to put an "Insert Stanko Here" box on that picture.

[SouthernBoy]

WOW Swampfox, You've really been around the block (so to speak). I've seen from your other posts that you've held many jobs and wore many hats. This is not to insult. I know that our lives take many directions and to many different types of jobs. It seems you've had a great deal of experience.

[swampfox]

I still have all those hats displayed. They take up a whole wall in my living room. But mostly I have been a teacher, and for several years I was a teacher in a prison.

Capt, I wouldn't be putting "Insert Stanko here" on very many places or things that I could be connected to. Of course, that is one of the most common prison tattoos.

[Captain Worley]

Excellent point...<rubs chin thoughtfully>