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Would you want to be an execution witness?

Discussion in 'Journalism topics only' started by Eddie_Vedder, Jul 12, 2007.

?

Would you want to be an execution witness?

  1. Yes

    16 vote(s)
    47.1%
  2. No

    18 vote(s)
    52.9%
  1. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    ... and we used to. Public hangings and that ilk.

    That said, I would like to think the answer to Zeke's question is: Down. I don't think I can oppose the death penalty any more than I already do, but I think it's a lot easier to support when you don't have to stare death in the face, when it's just a name in the news, "Blankety-blank was put to death by lethal injection Thursday ..." It dehumanizes death, and I don't think that's necessarily a good thing.
     
  2. In case the governor decides to stop the execution at the last minute ... before the heart-stopping fluid hits. Suppose it would be a real shame if they the poor guy an infection just minutes after he got a second chance at life ...
     
  3. Really??? Damn, I'm going to have to pick up a history book ...
     
  4. buckweaver

    buckweaver Active Member

    From Wiki:

    "The last public hanging legally conducted in the United States (and also the last public execution in the United States) was that of Rainey Bethea, who was publicly hanged on August 14, 1936, in Owensboro, Kentucky. It was the last death sentence in the nation at which the general public was permitted to attend without any legally-imposed restrictions."

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment_in_the_United_States#Public_execution_versus_private_execution
     
  5. joe

    joe Active Member

    Little-known fact: Owensboro is Kentucky's third-largest city, 55,000 when I worked there many moons ago, when the paper was still family-owned.
     
  6. I was being sarcastic, Buck.

    I work in news and covered an execution, not to mention hundreds of murders. Really didn't think I knew how our legal system worked a hundred years ago? Not even the second time?
     
  7. I'm too talented to work blue. ;)

    Except in this case I'll make an exception, penguinassmuncher.
     
  8. mojo20205

    mojo20205 Member

    Would probably scar me for a long time to see someone temper out in front of me.

    Depends, if the crimes happened against a family member, I'm there.

    As an assignment, not so much.

    But there was this one editor a few years back....
     
  9. Freelance Hack

    Freelance Hack Active Member

    I went to Eddyville for an execution a few years ago. Our cops writer witnessed the execution. I was there to cover the protesters, some of whom were from our area (the condemned, however, wasn't).

    I ended up riding in the van with the prison official who made the death announcement to the protesters. Immediately after the official announced the death, the group recited The Lord's Prayer (aka Our Father).

    It's the most emotional and powerful scene I witnessed as a reporter.

    Covering the execution did give me pause about my view's on capital punishment, but the number of sentences reversed thanks to DNA evidence really convinced me to change my position.

    You can overturn a life sentence. You can't overturn a death sentence that's been carried out.
     
  10. chazp

    chazp Active Member

    No. [blue] Wait, if it was someone annoying like Stuart Scott, Tim McCarver or Skip Bayless, I might reconsider.[/blue]
     
  11. sigh
     
  12. Football_Bat

    Football_Bat Well-Known Member

    I am against the death penalty for numerous reasons, but the main one is that a life of man-rape in GP is a much more fitting punishment than 12 years of pampering in a solo cell on the Green Mile.
     
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