Nebraska abolishes the death penalty

[AUDub 11,131]

Via an override of their governor's veto.

[cptau 169]

Nebraska has a unicameral legislature which makes overriding vetoes easier.

[80Tiger 899]

I don't agree with their decision, but a great example of democracy in action. Not court rulings, but a process of legislation; veto; then over ride. This is how things are suppose to work. The people then will support or reject through the election process.

[aujeff11 6,243]

Good. Maybe the United States will abolish it one day. We don't belong in the same sentence with Iran, China, Yemen, Northern Korea and a few others as one of the few with the death penalty.

[TexasTiger 12,798]

Good. Maybe the United States will abolish it one day. We don't belong in the same sentence with Iran, China, Yemen, Northern Korea and a few others as one of the few with the death penalty.

We incarcerate more of our citizens than all those.

[aujeff11 6,243]

Good. Maybe the United States will abolish it one day. We don't belong in the same sentence with Iran, China, Yemen, Northern Korea and a few others as one of the few with the death penalty.

We incarcerate more of our citizens than all those.

And? We do have a mass incarceration problem. I don't know if having a debtor's prison is something to brag about though.

[TexasTiger 12,798]

Good. Maybe the United States will abolish it one day. We don't belong in the same sentence with Iran, China, Yemen, Northern Korea and a few others as one of the few with the death penalty.

We incarcerate more of our citizens than all those.

And? We do have a mass incarceration problem. I don't know if having a debtor's prison is something to brag about though.

Just saying we're gonna be at the front of that sentence with those countries until we get a more same approach.

[autigeremt 6,562]

Anyone want to guess just how "conservative" Irans legal system is? I mean.....chop off a hand of a thief.

[AURaptor 1,121]

Rachel Maddow was trying her best to be pissed about this, just because the very RICH, WHITE, Republican governor was against banning the DP. Only, the main driving force behind the action to end the death penalty in Nebraska was a fiscally minded conservative LIBERTARIAN group. Maddow focused all her venom on the guy who lost, the RICH, WHITE , REPUBLICAN , and yet because it was part of the story, she was forced to admit that it was conservatives who won.

Fun to watch a Liberal struggle w/ hating anyone on the Right, even when they achieve something she fully approves.

[quietfan 233]

I'm not really concerned about who did what, or what persons/party are primarily responsible, I'm just glad it happened and dream of the day when nowhere in the United States is such barbarism allowed. But I am grateful to everyone responsible for this progress.

[alexava 6,972]

I am all for death penalty. It is rarely used except to get people to cop pleas to life w/out parole. Prosecution just got more difficult.

[autigeremt 6,562]

I'm not really concerned about who did what, or what persons/party are primarily responsible, I'm just glad it happened and dream of the day when nowhere in the United States is such barbarism allowed. But I am grateful to everyone responsible for this progress.

I think it should always be there to deter. However the burden of proof has to be great.

[AUDub 11,131]

I'm not really concerned about who did what, or what persons/party are primarily responsible, I'm just glad it happened and dream of the day when nowhere in the United States is such barbarism allowed. But I am grateful to everyone responsible for this progress.

I think it should always be there to deter. However the burden of proof has to be great.

The deterrent effect is a myth.

[autigeremt 6,562]

I'm not really concerned about who did what, or what persons/party are primarily responsible, I'm just glad it happened and dream of the day when nowhere in the United States is such barbarism allowed. But I am grateful to everyone responsible for this progress.

I think it should always be there to deter. However the burden of proof has to be great.

The deterrent effect is a myth.

My take....myth or not. But I will say this....if someone raped and killed one of my girls or my wife and I knew who it was, the deterrent is no longer in the hands of the state.

[alexava 6,972]

I'm not really concerned about who did what, or what persons/party are primarily responsible, I'm just glad it happened and dream of the day when nowhere in the United States is such barbarism allowed. But I am grateful to everyone responsible for this progress.

I think it should always be there to deter. However the burden of proof has to be great.

The deterrent effect is a myth.

My take....myth or not. But I will say this....if someone raped and killed one of my girls or my wife and I knew who it was, the deterrent is no longer in the hands of the state.

yeah, proof has to be overwhelming.

[quietfan 233]

I'm not really concerned about who did what, or what persons/party are primarily responsible, I'm just glad it happened and dream of the day when nowhere in the United States is such barbarism allowed. But I am grateful to everyone responsible for this progress.

I think it should always be there to deter. However the burden of proof has to be great.

The deterrent effect is a myth.

My take....myth or not. But I will say this....if someone raped and killed one of my girls or my wife and I knew who it was, the deterrent is no longer in the hands of the state.

Sounds to me like you are confusing deterrence, which is supposed to prevent such acts and must occur before the crime, with vengeance, which occurs after the fact.

While I understand that many believe the death penalty serves as a deterrent, there is no actual evidence that it does.

[alexava 6,972]

I'm not really concerned about who did what, or what persons/party are primarily responsible, I'm just glad it happened and dream of the day when nowhere in the United States is such barbarism allowed. But I am grateful to everyone responsible for this progress.

I think it should always be there to deter. However the burden of proof has to be great.

The deterrent effect is a myth.

My take....myth or not. But I will say this....if someone raped and killed one of my girls or my wife and I knew who it was, the deterrent is no longer in the hands of the state.

Sounds to me like you are confusing deterrence, which is supposed to prevent such acts and must occur before the crime, with vengeance, which occurs after the fact.

While I understand that many believe the death penalty serves as a deterrent, there is no actual evidence that it does.

i don't consider it a deterrence, i consider it a useful tool to prosecute.

[aujeff11 6,243]

I'm not really concerned about who did what, or what persons/party are primarily responsible, I'm just glad it happened and dream of the day when nowhere in the United States is such barbarism allowed. But I am grateful to everyone responsible for this progress.

I think it should always be there to deter. However the burden of proof has to be great.

The deterrent effect is a myth.

My take....myth or not. But I will say this....if someone raped and killed one of my girls or my wife and I knew who it was, the deterrent is no longer in the hands of the state.

:blink:/> Sounds to me like you are confusing deterrence, which is supposed to prevent such acts and must occur before the crime, with vengeance, which occurs after the fact.

While I understand that many believe the death penalty serves as a deterrent, there is no actual evidence that it does.

i don't consider it a deterrence, i consider it a useful tool to prosecute.

I'm sure many on both sides wont agree with this but here it goes anyway. Alex, you are worried about the death penalty forcing the prosecutor to do work because they lost a handy bargaining chip. I couldn't agree any less. I hope a side effect of the death penalty being banned is that more capital punishment defendants that are falsely accused are more willing to invoke their right to trial. I dont agree with throwing out plea deals like candy to capital punishment defendants just to escape another burden of a case. Many defendants can't receive a fair trial because their court assigned public defenders( ahem, prison drivers) are content to reach their quota of pro bono cases per year and be done with it, so the defendants are forced to ask for a plea bargain. In one case, a defendant was eventually sent to prison for life for 20 dollars of weed,but the pro bono lawyer only offered a 30 second opening argument and didnt even know the defendant's name. WTF! I think the defendants are pressured by their pro bono lawyers to take plea deals and to waive their Sixth amendment rights to a trial by jury just to appease the court that appointed them.

If I was falsely accused of committing a capital offense and without money, I would be screwed either way. I could either hope for a plea bargain and rot in a prison cell or I could fight for innocence with the supposed help of a pro bono lawyer at the risk of the death penalty. Pick your poison huh. Plea bargaining is not justice. Making it easier on the prosecutors to put away defendants without ever proving the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt isn't justice either.

I'm done typing because our FUBAR criminal justice system wont be fixed any time soon and there isn't anything I can do about it. Please read the following article to disprove your opinion that no death penalty will hurt the prosecutors ability to make plea bargains. http://ejusa.org/learn/plea%20bargains

[homersapien 11,352]

Right or wrong, it's my understanding that plea bargaining is as endemic to our criminal judicial system as money is to politics.

I doubt we have the infrastructure to work without it.

Regardless, that's a sad excuse to justify the death penalty.

[aujeff11 6,243]

Right or wrong, it's my understanding that plea bargaining is as endemic to our criminal judicial system as money is to politics.

I doubt we have the infrastructure to work without it.

Regardless, that's a sad excuse to justify the death penalty.

It's a necessary evil but more often than not is abused.

[alexava 6,972]

Right or wrong, it's my understanding that plea bargaining is as endemic to our criminal judicial system as money is to politics.

I doubt we have the infrastructure to work without it.

Regardless, that's a sad excuse to justify the death penalty.

the death penalty does not need an excuse. when the death penalty is on the table it has been earned. the death penalty is rarely given, but is very useful. as i said i would only consider death when the evidence is overwhelming.

[aujeff11 6,243]

Right or wrong, it's my understanding that plea bargaining is as endemic to our criminal judicial system as money is to politics.

I doubt we have the infrastructure to work without it.

Regardless, that's a sad excuse to justify the death penalty.

the death penalty does not need an excuse. when the death penalty is on the table it has been earned. the death penalty is rarely given, but is very useful. as i said i would only consider death when the evidence is overwhelming.

How is the death penalty useful? Clear that up for me. I gave an article that clearly showed the death penalty was not at as useful as you thought it was when it comes to plea bargaining.

[alexava 6,972]

Right or wrong, it's my understanding that plea bargaining is as endemic to our criminal judicial system as money is to politics.

I doubt we have the infrastructure to work without it.

Regardless, that's a sad excuse to justify the death penalty.

the death penalty does not need an excuse. when the death penalty is on the table it has been earned. the death penalty is rarely given, but is very useful. as i said i would only consider death when the evidence is overwhelming.

How is the death penalty useful? Clear that up for me. I gave an article that clearly showed the death penalty was not at as useful as you thought it was when it comes to plea bargaining.

the article was written with an agenda without any counter argument.

[aujeff11 6,243]

Right or wrong, it's my understanding that plea bargaining is as endemic to our criminal judicial system as money is to politics.

I doubt we have the infrastructure to work without it.

Regardless, that's a sad excuse to justify the death penalty.

the death penalty does not need an excuse. when the death penalty is on the table it has been earned. the death penalty is rarely given, but is very useful. as i said i would only consider death when the evidence is overwhelming.

How is the death penalty useful? Clear that up for me. I gave an article that clearly showed the death penalty was not at as useful as you thought it was when it comes to plea bargaining.

the article was written with an agenda without any counter argument.

"Prosecution just got more difficult" and "the death penalty is rarely given, but is very useful" were such great arguments. Move over Patrick Henry, Alex is now the great orator!

I mean seriously, If you can't give a better argument than that, you shouldn't be asking for counter arguments in an article.

happy reading!

[TitanTiger 20,465]

Right or wrong, it's my understanding that plea bargaining is as endemic to our criminal judicial system as money is to politics.

I doubt we have the infrastructure to work without it.

Regardless, that's a sad excuse to justify the death penalty.

the death penalty does not need an excuse. when the death penalty is on the table it has been earned. the death penalty is rarely given, but is very useful. as i said i would only consider death when the evidence is overwhelming.

How is the death penalty useful? Clear that up for me. I gave an article that clearly showed the death penalty was not at as useful as you thought it was when it comes to plea bargaining.

the article was written with an agenda without any counter argument.

Translation: "it is because I think it is."