If state's death penalty is broken, it can still be fixed

Multiple points have been made as to why we should NOT have the death penalty. What are the main points to have the penalty?

Sen. Coash's the "death penalty system broken beyond repair" nonsense is dishonest in four ways.

Coash's Dishonesty 1

It is not the death penalty system which is broken, it is the management of that system - the people who control it, all to some degree - the legislature, the governor, the attorney general and the judges.

Sen. Coash has concluded that what many other states can do, that Nebraskans, including Coash, are too incompetent to, also, do.

If Coash is that incompetent, he should resign, as all others who also find themseleves so incompetent. I feel certain most voters would agree.

It is no surprising that Coash deflects to the "system", without taking any individual responsibility.

Why has Nebraska not executed any murderers since 1997?

Not because the system is "beyond repair", but because some or all of management has, intentionally, stopped executions. How do I know?

Other jurisdictions have executed nearly 1000 murderers since 1997.

Since 1976, Virginia has executed 111 of her death row murderers, which is 70% of those sentenced to death, and has done so within 7 years of appeals, on average, with an 11% rate of overturning cases, with not even a false claim of an actual innocent executed (1).

There is no legal nor rational reason for appeals to take longer than 6-9 years, on average, prior to execution, that being 2-3 years each, at the state supreme court, federal district court and federal circuit court levels. Cases rarely go to SCOTUS.

You should have public hearings to determine why it takes longer than this in Nebraska, then fix it.

All the mess is caused by management, as is always the case.

Coash would blame the highways for the potholes.

Coash's Dishonesty 2

In fact, the "death penalty system" is, easily, repaired. All it takes is management agreeing to move forward.

What Coash doesn't tell you is that he and other anti death penalty folks, both within and outside the legislature, will do all they can to make sure there are no more executions in Nebraska.

Coash, as his mentor, Ernie Chambers, and other anti death penalty folks are THE intentional roadblocks to justice. They are what is "broken beyond repair" what, in fact. most voters are sick of.

For Coash, the well known anti death penalty mantra "death penalty system broken beyond repair" is just a common, dishonest, cynical, self fulfilling prophecy. It could not be more transparent.

Coash's Dishonesty 3

How easy is the "system" fixed?

1) Make Nebraska's Corrections Dept., procedurally, in charge of selecting the best execution methods and protocols, thereby, overcoming having to pass new bills through the legislature.

As Corrections is, currently, in charge of managing all other corrections based sentences, there will be no rational reasons to oppose this change.

2) Drugs for lethal injection

a) Any states having problems getting lethal injections drugs should hire their own compounding pharmacist within the prison system to produce the necessary drugs for execution. Once one state does this, all other states have a source for the needed drugs.

Currently, the one drug protocol, using pentabarbital, is a well proven drug, causing a peaceful death, without the alleged complications of a three drug protocol.

b) Neither the DEA nor the FDA should have any jurisdiction over the drugs used in lawful executions in any jurisdiction. Simply insert the appropriate language into federal law, to make that the case.

c) Alternate methods:

Oklahoma has already passed a law, authorizing the use of nitrogen gas, as an alternative execution method. Why?

Nitrogen gas is well known as painless, causes euphoria, acts very quickly, is easily accessible, impossible to restrict, easy to administer -- using only an oxygen mask and a tank of nitrogen gas -- no gas chamber needed and is inexpensive (2).

There are other considerations for alternate execution methods, but nitrogen gas appears the best alternative, if one is needed.

SCOTUS has never found any execution method unconstitutional.

Nebraska's Supreme Court found the sole execution method, electrocution, unconstitutional in 2008 and lethal injection became legal in Nebraska in May, 2009.

Coash's Dishonesty 4:

A Life Sentence Means Never Getting out of Prison

Well, no.

There are 6 ways for guilty lifers and death row (and all other) inmates to get out of prison, early: Existing law, commutation, change in the law, case law, escape and released by error.

"Under the state constitution, Nebraska can't have a true life-without-parole sentence, because the state pardons board is given the authority under the constitution to commute a prisoner's sentence to a number of years." (3)

" . . . the only way to get a true life-without-parole sentence in Nebraska would be to change the state constitution, which can only be done through public referendum." (4)

Nationally, there has been an active anti life without parole (LWOP) movement for about 20 years, which has, recently, become more public, with some major success, here:

-- Case law declared mandatory LWOP sentences for minors to be unconstitutional.

-- Via commutation, 2300 lifers, convicted for murder, have been released in California over the past 6 years (4).

The goal of the anti LWOP movement is total abolition of LWOP, with release of countless violent criminals, the same pattern of thinking behind the anti death penalty movement, as is clear.

Just do a GOOGLE search

-- abolition "life without parole" --

The abolish LWOP movement, active in Nebraska, completely undermines the anti death penalty position.

Ernie Chambers has expressed that no one should die in prison.

Virtually all states, inclusive of Nebraska, are, currently, working on prison reforms to release more prisoners early and/or to otherwise soften sentencing, making it all the more dangerous for the innocent.

A lot of this is being packaged as "smart of crime", which some is and much is not.

As always, the devil is in the details and Coash is poor on those.

The recidivism rate for released prisoners is about 75%, within 5 years of release (5).

Both escapes and released by error, from jails and prisons, routinely, occur every year, in the US.

NOTE to Coash: Living murderers harm and murder, again, executed ones do not.

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1) See Virginia within

Saving Costs with The Death Penalty

http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/02/death-penalty-cost-saving-money.html

2) Nitrogen Gas; Flawless, peaceful, unrestricted method of execution

http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2014/09/nitrogen-gas-flawless-peaceful.html

3) Nebraska Supreme Court rejects life without parole, By MARGERY A. BECK, Associated Press, Journal Star, Jun 18, 2010.

4) "An unprecedented experiment in mass forgiveness", Rob Kuznia, Washington Post, February 8, 2016

5) Recidivism of Prisoners Released in 30 States in 2005: Patterns from 2005 to 2010 is available at http://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&iid=4986

The primary reason is justice, the foundation for all sanctions.

Secondarily, but very important, is that the death penalty protects innocent lives, in three ways, better than a life sentence.

The Death Penalty: Saving More Innocent Lives

http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-death-penalty-do-innocents-matter.html

Thanks for your thoughts Dud. However justice does not mean death. Life without release also protects innocent lives. The 156 prisoners that were on death row but later found not guilty would gave been innocent lives taken by the state. The death penalty would have taken their lives not saved them. Why are you in such a hurry to kill? Two wrongs do not make a right.

Dennis:

Fact checking is very important, as is reason.

Justice does mean death in all those cases that death penalty supporters find it to be appropriate.

Justice is the foundation for all sanctions.

Far from a wrong, justice may be the single most important goal and achievement of man.

The (now 156) "exonerated" from death row has been a very well known fraud since about 2000, as basic fact checking confirms (1).

The last known actual innocent executed, in the US, may be as recent as the 1930's (2).

Since 1973, in the US, we have allowed, at least, 16,000 actual innocents to be murderered by those known murderers that we have allowed to murder, again - recidivist murderers (2).

1) The Innocent Frauds: Standard Anti Death Penalty Strategy

READ SECTIONS 3&4 FIRST

http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-innocent-frauds-standard-anti-death.ht...

2) The Death Penalty: Saving More Innocent Lives

http://prodpinnc.blogspot.com/2013/10/the-death-penalty-do-innocents-matter.html

Dudley, I am a Pro Life person. Pro life for the unborn, pro life for the elderly and even pro life for for persons who commit horrible crimes. If the only way to protect society was to kill the killers, I would favor that. However we do have an option of life in prison with no chance of parole. I honor your right to want to continue killing. For me, I want killing to stop if at all possible.