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Christina Riggs in Arkansas on May 2, 2000 - Riggs, a licensed nurse, was convicted of murder by smothering her two preschool-aged children in their beds at the family's Sherwood home. She wrote suicide notes saying "I hope one day you will forgive me for taking my life and the life of my children. But I can’t live like this any more, and I couldn’t bear to leave my children behind to be a burden on you or to be separated and raised apart from their fathers and live knowing their mother killed herself." Then took 28 Elavil tablets, normally a lethal dose, and injected herself with enough undiluted potassium chloride to kill five people. The next day, police officers entered her apartment and found Riggs and rushed her to the hospital. During the death penalty phase, Riggs would not allow attorneys to put on a defense, saying she wanted a death sentence. The jury obliged, and she was sentenced to death by lethal injection. Riggs said "thank you" and squeezed her attorney's hand. Read "Woman Executed in Arkansas" by BBC News (May 3, 2000).
despite the Andrea Yates case (TX), there are many on death row, and have been executed.
The U.S. is the only first world nation which still invokes the death penalty. Thoughts? any true crime cases you are interested in?
I completely for it, especially if the crime is extremely evil. The opponents of the DP claim it's not a deterrent. IMO, who cares. Many of these DR inmates aren't being "punished".....they get TV, fan mail, noteriety and everyday they draw breath they get to relive their crime and take delight in doing so.
A far as specific cases I'd like to see Oba Chandler pay for what he did with his life. Although it's unclear exactly what order he killed his victims, imagine the horror of having to witness your family member thrown overboard bound and gagged tied to concrete blocks knowing that you'll soon suffer the same fate.
Christina Riggs in Arkansas on May 2, 2000 - Riggs, a licensed nurse, was convicted of murder by smothering her two preschool-aged children in their beds at the family's Sherwood home. She wrote suicide notes saying "I hope one day you will forgive me for taking my life and the life of my children. But I can’t live like this any more, and I couldn’t bear to leave my children behind to be a burden on you or to be separated and raised apart from their fathers and live knowing their mother killed herself." Then took 28 Elavil tablets, normally a lethal dose, and injected herself with enough undiluted potassium chloride to kill five people. The next day, police officers entered her apartment and found Riggs and rushed her to the hospital. During the death penalty phase, Riggs would not allow attorneys to put on a defense, saying she wanted a death sentence. The jury obliged, and she was sentenced to death by lethal injection. Riggs said "thank you" and squeezed her attorney's hand. Read "Woman Executed in Arkansas" by BBC News (May 3, 2000).
despite the Andrea Yates case (TX), there are many on death row, and have been executed.
The U.S. is the only first world nation which still invokes the death penalty. Thoughts? any true crime cases you are interested in?
I don't agree with the death penalty at all. I feel like that's any easy way out, I think life in prison is a far worse punishment. I'm hooked on the Casey Anthony trial, I wanna know why she killed her daughter.
Regarding death row and more particularly women on death row, I continue to fasciliate re: my position -- not so much re: the moral/ethical arena - and presuming that the person is correctly found guilty [meaning she really did it - not a miscarriage of justice] - I guess I need to consider the crime, the horribleness of the crime [degree-wise] - I believe that the more horrible the crime, the less likely that I would agree to death, whether by lethal injection or some other mechanism - I think it is too easy - granted the offender may have filed cazilion appeals because she does not want to be put to death - I would rather see this person in the most restricted, most severe lockup, maybe even 22 out of 24 hours, completely segregated from the general population - give her the opportunity to be haunted forever of the horribleness of her crimes - hmmm, perhaps I being a bit too harsh - but ....
This is always a toss up for me. I am pro-death penalty, but each individual case sort of stands on it's own merits. I guess I would tend to be more lenient on a female because maybe our hearts just work that way, but as pointed out, their crimes are just as lethal and violent as men.
I always wonder if, without some sort of Divine intervention, these people actually are capable of feeling remorse over their crime....especially when it comes to their own children. If they had a normal state of mind, they wouldn't be able to physically carry out such a crime to begin with. So, I then my mind starts drifting over to the areas of it costing so much to incarcerate a person for life, especially as they are older with medical needs, and oh gosh....are they WORTH the tax dollars spent?
So again, I wobble on this subject and hope I never have to serve on a jury to make such a call.
I agree, it wouldnt be a given in certain cases. However in some cases it seems warranted. The case of Judias Buenoano,(Fl DP case) for example.
Candace DeLong former FBI profiler and also Dr Michael Stone have good articles on these type of women. They exist. They can run over their own child for insurance money...
This is always a toss up for me. I am pro-death penalty, but each individual case sort of stands on it's own merits. I guess I would tend to be more lenient on a female because maybe our hearts just work that way, but as pointed out, their crimes are just as lethal and violent as men.
I always wonder if, without some sort of Divine intervention, these people actually are capable of feeling remorse over their crime....especially when it comes to their own children. If they had a normal state of mind, they wouldn't be able to physically carry out such a crime to begin with. So, I then my mind starts drifting over to the areas of it costing so much to incarcerate a person for life, especially as they are older with medical needs, and oh gosh....are they WORTH the tax dollars spent?
So again, I wobble on this subject and hope I never have to serve on a jury to make such a call.
There are people who are born without a "conscience" and are truly devoid of any chance for rehabilitation, therefore, will always be a threat to society if allowed to live and be a burden on tax payers. Such is the case with serial killers, ie., Bundy, Ridgeway, Gasey...et al. Only in this instance, will I look the other way...if a death penalty is rendered.
I agree with the death penalty, but I believe there should be a one year limit on appeals and reviews.
The only problem with the death penalty is that it does not deter crime. One would think it would. There is less crime in countries that have direct consequences of crime, like cutting off a hand for theft. But even that does not deter all theft.
I doubt Casey will be put to death. I do think she deserves it, she shows not one sign of guilt or remorse for her hienous act. Not an apology, and then she drags her family thru the mud. Off with her head!
Re: rehabilitation, there are so many theories, but none conclusive. Now if a person is still a minor he/she has not fully developed their thought processes, and may respond to cognitive behavioral therapy, if they are encoruraged to do so.
It would be dificult to be on a jury, and while its not a dererrent statistically, perhaps DP threat would stop some narcissisctic psychopaths fro m commiting their final acts...In the many cases though the killer will say..."they were theere, they deserved it "... (Gary Ridgeway on killing over 40 women) a monster like that could never be rehabilitated.
I'm opposed to the death penalty on both moral and practical grounds. However, there is a tremendously disproportionate use of the death penalty based upon the gender of the convicted murderer.
When the circumstances of the crime are equal, women are far less likely than men to receive the death penalty or to be executed. This is true even when "aggravating circumstances" would suggest the imposition of the death penalty. In South Carolina, Susan Smith was spared that punishment even though her crime met three such criteria under state law: a multiple murder, the murder of a child, and an especially heinous killing.
Speaking from purely anecdotal observation, it seems to me that the women who do get executed are those who don't fit the conventional image of feminine attractiveness...Cristina Riggs, Aileen Wuornos, etc.
Anthony is trying the same tactic as Smith did. She is suggesting that the responsibility for murdering a defenseless child should somehow be mitigated by the fact that she may have had sexual contact with her father (in Smith's case, it was her step-father) when she was an adolescent.
On a related topic, When a woman and a man jointly engage in violent behavior, the woman is almost always offered an opportunity to reduce or eliminate her sentence by testifying against her male partner. One needs only to look at Canada's most notorious murder trial... that of Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka... top see that practice at work.
I suspect that we are culturally not prepared to accept the notion of a female who is purely evil.
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