Indiana State Penitentiary

[Bruv]

I have just finished watching a TV documentary about Indiana State Penitentiary.

This is not a thread about the death penalty as such, although it does touch on it.
My query about the American system is why after convicting and sentencing a guilty person to suffer the ultimate sanction, the death penalty, why it takes so many years to act on that sentence?

The last interview was with a man seven years after receiving the death sentence who had raped and stabbed to death a mother and her four year old daughter, by his own admission.

Why the delay ?

[AnneBoleyn]

Because the prisoner has the right of appeal, & to exhaust this can take a decade or more.

eta--the prisoner can reject all appeals, but I believe in the beginning at least one appeal is virtually mandatory & done in prisoner's name if prisoner resists.

[AnneBoleyn]

Bruv, what was this particular inmate's appeal status?

[Wandrin]

Then there are the cases where someone was sentenced to death on eye witness testimony that was later recanted and it came out that the prosecutor decided not to spend the money to do DNA testing at the time. Unfortunately, it seems that sometimes this info comes out shortly after someone is executed.

The short answer is that appeals are as much a political process as a function of the justice system.

[tude dog]

I have just finished watching a TV documentary about Indiana State Penitentiary.

This is not a thread about the death penalty as such, although it does touch on it.
My query about the American system is why after convicting and sentencing a guilty person to suffer the ultimate sanction, the death penalty, why it takes so many years to act on that sentence?

The last interview was with a man seven years after receiving the death sentence who had raped and stabbed to death a mother and her four year old daughter, by his own admission.

Why the delay ?

Great question, wish there were a simple answer.

All the states which have capital punishment on the books are different in how they process such cases. From a casual point of view I see it as a combination of a judicial system gone awry, political indifference/hostility.

California is a great example of where the people have voted for capital punishment, and the will has been successfully frustrated, going back to

Proposition 17 of 1972 was a measure enacted by California voters to reintroduce the death penalty in that state. The California Supreme Court had ruled on February 17, 1972, that capital punishment was contrary to the state constitution. Proposition 17 amended the Constitution of California in order to overturn that decision. It was submitted to a referendum by means of the initiative process, and approved by voters on November 7.

California Proposition 17 (1972)

Then there was Rose Bird.
Bird was the first and remains the only Chief Justice to be removed from that office by a majority of the state's voters. California justices are selected by the Governor but must be regularly reconfirmed by the electorate; prior to Bird, no California appellate judge had ever failed such a vote.[3]
She was removed in the November 4, 1986 election by a margin of 67 to 33 percent after a high-profile campaign that cited her categorical opposition to the death penalty.[4] She reviewed a total of 64 capital cases appealed to the court. In each instance she issued a decision overturning the death penalty that had been imposed at trial. She was joined in her decision to overturn by at least three other members of the court in 61 of those cases.[5] This led Bird's critics to claim that she was substituting her own opinions and ideas for the laws and precedents upon which judicial decisions are supposed to be made. In addition, the Bird court struck down California's "use a gun, go to jail" law that made a prison term mandatory for any crime in which the use of a gun was involved.

That was an example of the injustice system.

But what happened since you may ask?

The answer to that has more to do with politics. Must be to allow 724 inmates to sit, just getting old. Costing taxpayers so much many would just give them life without parole to save a bundle of money.

[Ahso!]

Great question, wish there were a simple answer.

All the states which have capital punishment on the books are different in how they process such cases. From a casual point of view I see it as a combination of a judicial system gone awry, political indifference/hostility.

California is a great example of where the people have voted for capital punishment, and the will has been successfully frustrated, going back to



California Proposition 17 (1972)



That was an example of the injustice system.

But what happened since you may ask?

The answer to that has more to do with politics. Must be to allow 724 inmates to sit, just getting old. Costing taxpayers so much many would just give them life without parole to save a bundle of money.

Bird is not the reason there were no executions in California after 1972.
From your source:

Despite Proposition 17 no executions were carried out in California until 1992. This was due to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in the same year in Furman v. Georgia (which temporarily suspended capital punishment in the United States) and to extensive litigation that occurred thereafter.

As an aside: It's good to see citing Wikipedia is now acceptable.

[tude dog]

Bird is not the reason there were no executions in California after 1972.
From your source:

Once again, it would be helpful if you actually read my post where I wrote:
That was an example of the injustice system.

But what happened since you may ask?

The answer to that has more to do with politics. Must be to allow 724 inmates to sit, just getting old. Costing taxpayers so much many would just give them life without parole to save a bundle of money.

As an aside: It's good to see citing Wikipedia is now acceptable.

Never knew it wasn't acceptable.

[Ahso!]

But what happened since you may ask?

The answer to that has more to do with politics. Must be to allow 724 inmates to sit, just getting old. Costing taxpayers so much many would just give them life without parole to save a bundle of money.

You said this after writing about Bird like it was a chronological order. Perhaps rereading your post is something you should do?

I fail to see why a supreme court decision is being labeled as political.

[tude dog]

You said this after writing about Bird like it was a chronological order. Perhaps rereading your post is something you should do?

I fail to see why a supreme court decision is being labeled as political.

My post was plenty clear.

[Ahso!]

My post was plenty clear.

No it wasn't but we'll move on.

So you'd agree that a referendum that passes by a majority of the people should always be honored?

Catholic Hospital's Ethical, Unethical Defense