Category: Crime and Punishment
-
What Ever Happened to Bernie Goetz?
Bernard Goetz, mild-mannered electronics nerd, looked like an easy mark, a slap job. And so he got slapped around, thrown through plate glass windows, mugged and harrassed. He just wanted to be left alone to tinker in his basement. One day he decided not to take it any more and acquired a .38 'equalizer.' And so…
-
Death Penalty, Abortion, and Certainty
Some opponents of the death penalty oppose it on the ground that one can never be certain whether the accused is guilty as charged. Some of these people are pro-choice. To them I say: Are you certain that the killing of the unborn is morally permissible? How can you be sure? How can you be…
-
Death Row and the Livin’s Easy
In California, death row's the place to be — for all the amen-i-ties. And little chance of being executed. So if you're thinking of messin' with Texas, better head west. Just don't stop in Arizona. We carry open and concealed in these parts, and we don't need no stinkin' permit either way.
-
Can One Consistently be Pro-Life and Pro-Death Penalty?
This topic just won't go away. Recent example: [Texas Governor Rick] Perry’s identification as a strong supporter of “a culture of life” and what he called the “ultimate justice” of capital punishment, however, raises some potentially thorny questions about the meaning of being “pro-life.” In campaign season, the question is whether American voters, especially voters…
-
Britain and the Barbarians
Commentary by Theodore Dalrymple. You may have noticed that liberals have a exasperatingly lenient and casual attitude toward criminal behavior: A single example will suffice, but one among many. A woman got into an argument with someone in a supermarket. She called her boyfriend, a violent habitual criminal, "to come and sort him out." The…
-
Flash Mobs
Another indicator of the decline of the West. And another argument for concealed carry. And of course there is a Pee Cee taboo on mentioning any of this: The hateful murders of Matthew Shephard, who was gay, and James Byrd, Jr., who was black, were memorialized with national legislation. When similar crimes are committed by…
-
Alan Dershowitz on the Casey Anthony Trial
Here it is in toto with my comments in blue. "This case [is] about seeking justice for Caylee . . . ." So argued the prosecutor in the Casey Anthony murder case. He was wrong, and the jury understood that. A criminal trial is never about seeking justice for the victim. If it were, there…
-
Capital Punishment and Deterrence
Bill Keezer e-mails: With respect to capital punishment: When I was a lab-tech at Ball State University, one of the professors was telling me about a demonstration of static electricity he did at the state prison in Pendleton, IN. He was using a Van de Graaff generator to create long, spectacular sparks and light neon…
-
Farrell, “Tookie,” Hannity and Colmes, and Bad Arguments
My last post ended with a reference to "Tookie" Williams. Here is a post from the old Powerblogs site dated 29 November 2005: I just viewed the Stanley "Tookie" Williams segment on Hannity and Colmes. Williams, co-founder of the L.A. Crips gang, and convicted of four brutal murders, faces execution on December 13th in California. …
-
Capital Punishment Again
Philoponus e-mails: On this issue, we are on the same page–I think we should celebrate our agreements! In fact, I probably support a broader use of CP than you do. I think CP a condign punishment for things like aggravated sexual assault on a minor, aggravated assault with torture, etc. I know people…
-
Three Arguments Against Capital Punishment Rebuilt?
A reader e-mails: I wondered whether I could rebuild the three arguments against capital punishment that you claimed to have demolished in your post: In 1), you say: If the wrong person has been executed, that person cannot be restored to life. Quite true. It is equally true, however, that if a person has been wrongly…
-
Three Arguments Against Capital Punishment Demolished
1. One could be called the 'epistemological' argument: it can't be known that one accused of a capital crime is guilty. The argument sometimes takes this enthymematic form: P2. Capital punishment is sometimes inflicted on the innocent.ThereforeC. Capital punishment ought to be banned. But this argument is invalid without the auxiliary premise: P1. Any type of…
-
On Being Guilty and Being Found Guilty
Blogging has been good to me. I have met a number of very interesting and intellectually stimulating characters via the blogosphere. I had breakfast with four of them last Sunday morning: Peter L., Mike V., Carolyn M. and Seldom Seen Slim. Topics included logic and existence, the concept of sin, the question why be moral, and…
-
Peter Berger on Dominique Strauss-Kahn and the ‘Perp Walk’
Peter Berger, in Symbols of Tyranny in America, writes (emphasis added): The “perp walk”, as far as I know, is a peculiar American institution. The police like to use it especially with high-status defendants, who would be particularly embarrassed by such public exposure. Beyond serving to enhance relations between the police and the press, the…
-
It is Good that Osama is Dead, but No Gloating
I was a bit disappointed with Dennis Prager this morning. He said he was "certain" that bin Laden is in hell. No one can be (objectively) certain that there even is a hell, let alone that any particular person has landed there. (Is Prager so en rapport with the divine nature that he understands the…