'Shame!' Clinton Defends Death Penalty to Man Who Wrongly Served Years on Death Row

[eridani]

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/03/14/shame-clinton-defends-death-penalty-man-who-wrongly-served-years-death-row

Presidential contender Hillary Clinton was forced to defend her stance on the death penalty at Sunday night's Democratic town hall in Ohio, after being confronted on the issue by a man wrongfully imprisoned for 39 years.

The man was Ricky Jackson, who, upon being freed in 2014, had served more time in prison than any other inmate in the U.S. who has been exonerated.

"I spent some of those years on death row," he told Clinton Sunday night, choking back emotion. "I came perilously close to my own execution."

"In light of what I just shared with you and in light of the fact that there are documented cases of innocent people who have been executed in our country, I would like to know how you can still take your stance on the death penalty," Jackson asked.

Clinton stated in October that she opposes abolishing the death penalty "because I do think there are certain egregious cases that still deserve the consideration of the death penalty, but I’d like to see those be very limited and rare, as opposed to what we’ve seen in most states."

[tk2kewl]

1. Did she tell him...

"Mere factual innocence is no reason not to carry out a death sentence properly reached."

[eridani]

2. That such garbage could come out of our Supreme Court is extremely disheartening n/t

[shadowandblossom]

5. Wait until you see what happens if

we fail to take the white house. We are all constantly shaping the direction of our society and there are all sorts of directions it could go.

[pdsimdars]

3. She may have fooled a lot of people yesterday, but she's still the same person

[shadowandblossom]

4. I feel like your post is misrepresentative. That was such a powerful moment though...

That was a pretty powerful moment, I cried a little for that gentleman watching the townhall and thinking of the 39 years (believe that's what he said that he lost in jail.) A nightmare.

She said she doesn't support the death penalty at the state level, but for some cases at the federal level (eg like when the Oklahoma city bombing killed over 150 people including small children. When she says the federal system it's my understanding she is talking about cases dealt with by the fbi whose investigative abilities, tools, and standards are far better and then only for certain particularly heinous crimes.

Many other liberals, like yourself, will disagree with her. However I feel that your presentation was disengenuos. I'm also not moved by your cry of "shame!".

I do respect that you are entitled to your opinion though, have you considered that even were her beliefs regarding the death penalty to be enforced for some reason it would actually lead to a dramatic Reduction in it's practice? It would almost never be used under the conditions she described. As a person against the death penalty, shouldn't that be something you would consider a great improvement?

Anyway, I'm leaving a link in case anybody is interested in seeing it themselves without the lens of someone else's interpretation.

[eridani]

6. Given how it's application is so racially disparate, there is no plce for the death penalty--

--at any level, period.

[shadowandblossom]

7. Thanks for sharing your thoughts

I welcome your opinion. Even if her beliefs regarding the death penalty were implemented it would lead to a dramatic decrease in it's use. Just pointing that out.

[shadowandblossom]

8. I'd love it if you answered the questions I asked in my reply.

I would like to hear your thoughts on those points.

[eridani]

9. For fany candidate to defend the death penalty on any level is utter barbarism

Insure more and kill less. OK, better than nothing. But zero vision.

[shadowandblossom]

11. That just sounds like black and white thinking to me.

Disagreeing with you is not the same as a lack of vision. That's just a personal attack.

[eridani]

14. I see no vision concerning anything on the Clinton campaign website

[Jitter65]

10. Funny how he said he accepted her response even though he didn't agree with it.

He has more character than any BS supporter I have seen posting here.

[shadowandblossom]

12. Can you believe what that man must've gone through?

Hell. He lived hell, he breathed hell. He slept aching for freedom every moment and he was plainly terrified for his life. He knows ugliness I pray I never know.

[eridani]

13. Cheering the loss of 39 years of someone'e life--

--is just what I would expect from a Clinton supporter.

[shadowandblossom]

15. No one said anything remotely like that.

.

[eridani]

17. No, but the implication is that it is OK to continue killing people of color as long as--

--the number is reduced.

[vintx]

16. Just more evidence of the fact that she will not lead this country forward.

This country needs a leader, not coporatist neoliberal business as usual.

[Freddie Stubbs]

18. Good for her. She stood her ground rather than pandering to the audience.

[Vinca]

19. It's not so good when you're standing on the wrong ground.

The innocent man who asked the question might easily have been killed by the government. There is no gray area when it comes to the death penalty. You either embrace it and acknowledge innocent people are going to fall through the holes and be executed or you are against it and for life imprisonment instead. I can't condone anything that might take an innocent life and she shouldn't either.

[Freddie Stubbs]

20. The we better stop sending people to prison to begin with

We are at risk of innocent people to jail.

[Vinca]

22. An innocent person in jail is alive. An innocent person executed is dead.

Which would you like to be when your innocence is proven?

[restorefreedom]

21. time to join the rest of then civilized world

Or stop pretending we have any moral authority on anything.

According to Amnesty International, as of July 2015, 101 countries have abolished the death penalty for all crimes in law, while 140 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or practice. At least 607 executions were carried out worldwide in 2014, a decrease of almost 22% compared to the figures recorded for 2013. Executions were recorded in 22 countries in 2014, the same number as 2013. This is a significant decrease from 20 years ago in 1995, when there were executions in 42 countries, highlighting the clear global trend of states moving away from the death penalty. Three countries have signed treaties to abolish the death penalty, but not have not yet ratified them: Angola, Madagascar, Sao Tome and Principe.

source: infoplease.com

executions in 22 countries but not 140. do we really want to be in this club?

china
iran
north korea
somalia

among others?