What is Digg?Sponsored by Travelzoo
Take Advantage of Ridiculously Low Holiday Airfares view!
travelzoo.com - Flights $52 and up for Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Year. But move on it now.
98 Comments
- sat0shi, on 06/26/2008, -1/+28I dunno... Every once in a while you find a hard working minority that really can't go on to that next level of education for some reason or another.
When I was in high school there was this Mexican kid who worked hard and made straight A's. Not really remarkable, until you find out he was also working after school until 10 or 11 PM to help support his family because they were so poor. He didn't have a dad, because his dad died of heart disease when he was in junior high, so he was pretty much the man of the house.
Anyway, he wasn't able to go on to college because he had to get a job immediately and help support his family. His mom couldn't speak English (very well) so it was hard for her to find work. Overall, he was a great kid and I wish he could have been able to go, but he couldn't because of the situation he was in.
I know you probably think a lot of poor minorities/immigrants are just worthless people, but I guarantee you that a lot more of them are working extremely hard to make something of themselves... You just don't know it. - helpfulcorn, on 06/26/2008, -3/+23Do you know how many executions take place in the Bible? Lot's uncle kills an entire village alone and kills the children. Using "Thou shall not kill" (even though it's actually murder, not kill) as a way to say execution is bad makes little, to no sense, considering how the Bible praises execution as a form of punishment.
- racco, on 06/26/2008, -4/+19its always baffled my head that a country that stamps "In God We Trust" on their money doesn't seem to understand the very simple to understand commandment "Thou shall not kill"
- aladrin, on 06/26/2008, -0/+11Or maybe you just didn't bother to stop and understand it.
They didn't say ANYTHING about convictions. They were only talking about people already on death row and whether or not they are executed. If "Blacks are executed at a ratio of 4 to 1 vs. whites" it's because there are 4 times as many of them there. Blame the rest of the system if you like, but apparently this portion of it isn't biased by race. - MarkusX, on 06/26/2008, -10/+20Race is not a decisive factor, but education is?
Well, it's just too bad, that these two factors are standing in direct relation to each other in most cases.
Due to the fact that white people (in average) make more money than African Americans or Mexicans, they also can afford a better education. Therefore, if education IS a factor, so is race. - FuryOfThor, on 06/25/2008, -2/+11So smarter, more educated inmates stand a better chance at not dying for as long as possible. Makes sense, though it doesn't seem totally fair.
- Diggnabbit, on 06/26/2008, -0/+9You'd think that motivation wouldn't be much of a problem.
- phoenixshard, on 06/26/2008, -0/+8@Darksidisbetter-
Thank you for proving my point for me. Lets use those statistics from the page you linked.
• 10% of white children (4.2 million). In the 10 most populated states, rates of child poverty among white children range from 7% in Texas to 12% in Michigan.
• 27% of Latino children (4 million). In the 10 most populated states, rates of child poverty among Latino children range from 19% in Florida to 35% in Pennsylvania.
• 33% of black children (3.6 million). In the 10 most populated states, rates of child poverty among black children range from 29% in California and Florida to 47% in Ohio.
• 12% of Asian children (400,000) and 40% of American Indian (200,000) Comparable state comparisons are not possible due to small sample sizes.
Whites are the majority in this country, and we have 4.2 million people in poverty. The other races there make up less than 35% of the total population in the US, yet they have double the number of people in poverty when compared to whites.
So again, race and education level do go hand in hand. - sabach, on 06/26/2008, -0/+8The education factor might be better expressed as the ability to learn, when I worked Death Row the ones who survived the longest and even got themselves out to general population were the ones who were intelligent and motivated enough to learn the law and direct their own cases.
- durzagott, on 06/26/2008, -0/+7State sponsored murder is barbaric and backward. The only reason you think that executions are acceptable is because you've grown up in a country that allows it. If you had grown up in any other western country you would see it for what it really is - murder.
In Europe we have psychopaths, serial killers, child rapists, and all those other terrible people. Do you know what? We're fine without executing them. I'm sleeping safe at night. There is no great flood of serial-killer-paedophiles coming to get my children.
Until the American state renounces its violent intimidation towards its citizens (not just executions, but the whole police-state mentality) how can anyone ever expect its citizens to renounce violence themselves. America is one of the most violent cultures in the world and the state is setting the example that its people follow. - KarateMedia, on 06/26/2008, -0/+7When I read "But it may not be the profile you are thinking of" I thought the twist would be that the predictions were made based on scanning the inmate's *facial* profile. Wild, I thought - the shape of one's nose, chin and brow might say something about their character? Like modern day Phrenology?
But no. It just turns out that tgdaily.com thinks I'm a racist. - allluckysevens, on 06/26/2008, -0/+6@Darksidesbetter: Meaningless statistic. Whites make up the highest percentage of people in the US too, so it's only natural that they take the largest slice of poverty. If you'll read down further in the article you linked, it states that a higher percentage of other races (ex. 27% of latinos, vs. 10% of whites) live in poverty. That's what actually matters here.
- jimmick, on 06/26/2008, -2/+7Here's to a long, painful bury brigade.
- zeptobyte, on 06/26/2008, -1/+6It's sort of a survival of the fittest [smartest] I guess.
- phoenixshard, on 06/26/2008, -0/+5He is actually right about race and education going hand in hand. Its been proven time and again that those that poorer families don't have the same education level of someone that is of middle class or higher. Guess what groups have the highest rate of being poor? It isn't whites.
- aladrin, on 06/26/2008, -5/+10I have to agree. There were no conditions set on that commandment, no excuses as to why it might be okay sometimes. People can say 'But the rest of the Bible says' all they want, but God gave 10 commandments to follow, period.
Note that I'm not a devout anything... I'm even a wishy-washy agnostic. But the majority of the US is Christian and you'd think they'd vote as Christians. - etgryphon, on 06/26/2008, -3/+7Helpfulcom is right. The literal translation of the commandment is "Thou shall not MURDER". Executing a criminal for a crime is not considered murder according to Biblical text.
- Ravatar, on 06/26/2008, -0/+4Yea I'm more interested in family history and financial health throughout life.
- lazyguy, on 06/26/2008, -1/+5God gave the commandment, "Thou shall not murder" in the original text. When it was translated to English, someone used the word murder.
Kill and murder have different meanings... subtle, but different.
12 years of Catholic school and THAT is what I learned... weird. - jgtg32a, on 06/26/2008, -0/+4That sounds like a movie tag line
- rsHoratio, on 06/26/2008, -0/+4I can't wait till this make this into a facebook app!
- Scrappy1850, on 06/26/2008, -0/+4yeah, i didnt quite get that... was there a time frame involved? i say all deathrow inmates will die. i am now more accurate than the software.
- inactive, on 06/26/2008, -1/+5If only you had paid more attention in school.
- neko6, on 06/26/2008, -0/+4Its a mistranslation. The commandment is "thou shall not murder". Religiously based killing was quite common in that time and place - it wasn't considered murder.
- ZenMojo, on 06/26/2008, -0/+3Student loans don't cover 100% of college. And in a recession, the first thing to go is credit, which means you can't get a loan.
- D4CH, on 06/26/2008, -0/+3Why did you capitalize the A? If you looks closely then you will see it is a comma :-)
- helpfulcorn, on 06/26/2008, -2/+5There are 613 commandments, the first 10 are never said to be more important than any of the others, why do you think Orthodox Jews and Muslims try to fallow all (or some form of) nearly all 613, but most Christians seem to think that doing the majority of the first 10 makes them Saints?
- SSUK, on 06/26/2008, -0/+3//int deathlol = (rand()%2)+1;
int deathlol = 1;
if (deathlol == 1) {
printf ("Fry him!");
}
else {
printf("Aw...");
} - TopSlacker, on 06/26/2008, -0/+3"death is a far better destiny than 30, 40, 50, or more years locked in a cage."
Exactly, so wouldn't you rather the rapist or child killer suffers the worse fate not the easy option out? - cassarani, on 06/26/2008, -0/+3This Voltaire ***** has to stop.
- diggmc, on 06/26/2008, -5/+810 A=(RND(0)*10)
20 IF A > 5 THEN PRINT "Kill Prisoner" ELSE PRINT "Don't Kill Prisoner"
30 END
Simple! - Weaselboy, on 06/26/2008, -0/+3Cliff's notes>> Dumb guys get executed.
- aladrin, on 06/26/2008, -0/+3So then I have to ask: How often does the Bible make reference to following the laws of the country? It seems odd that it would suddenly pick this situation to let some random king make a law that let's people do what they want with impunity. The only difference between 'murder' and 'kill' is that murder is a kill that's against the law.
And it doesn't really matter if it's a mistranslation or not. The Bible says it, and either it's right or it's wrong. If the Bible is wrong, why has it not been corrected? We've had long enough.
Sorry, but you have failed to shake my belief that killing is wrong with your claim of a mistranslation of a book I don't follow. - cassarani, on 06/26/2008, -1/+4What on earth does "But it may not be the profile you are thinking of..." mean anyway?
- ErikHK, on 06/26/2008, -2/+4It is also pretty interesting to see which other countries that offer the splendid punishment of death. There is essentially no other western country that practices this form of punishment..
- phoenixshard, on 06/26/2008, -0/+2"Even if we execute the wrong person, death is a far better destiny than 30, 40, 50, or more years locked in a cage."
Tell that to the person that was put to death before the advent of DNA and their innocence could have been proven with it. Any time an innocent person is put to death, the system is flawed, that person has lost any chance of showing their innocence with the discovery of new evidence that could prove their innocence. - jgtg32a, on 06/26/2008, -1/+3With only 90% accuracy, there's a quality piece of work.
- blackinthmiddle, on 06/26/2008, -2/+4"And the same can be said for people of all races"
Well not exactly. Let me fix your sentence to:
And the same can be said for people of all races *in those circumstances*.
If you look at the stories of people, regardless of race, who've just come to America you'll probably find similar stories to the one sat0shi told of the Mexican. I guarantee that Mexican kid will work his ass off so that his kid won't have to make such a decision and that's the point. It's called resources and having access to them.
Clearly you're just a *tad* sensitive and feel the need to attack any story that even hints of the fact that whites have it better than non-whites. sat0shi's story was not a story of race, it was a story of means. Try not to let your agenda cloud your judgment. - inactive, on 06/26/2008, -1/+3yeah until the monthly declarations of global warfare, and the worlds economy resting on handbag and shoe prices.
you didnt really think this through did you? - jcsoc, on 06/26/2008, -5/+7imagine that, software that can predict whether people on DEATH row are going to DIE....
- dwightfagen, on 06/26/2008, -0/+2yeah, that struck me too. especially because it WAS the profile i was thinking of. in fact, i only clicked on the article because of that since it led me to believe they were making these predictions with 90+% accuracy based on the outline of their faces.
- webagogue, on 06/27/2008, -0/+2No matter how motivated I am or how hard I work, I cannot change my race. That's not the case for education.
- dafragsta, on 06/26/2008, -0/+2No, because it's a fact that the average minority family doesn't make as much money and they probably grew up in much rougher neighborhoods where you probably get your ass kicked if you are of a certain age and show no interest in gangs. It might be a generalization, but I'm sure you could find enough examples by throwing darts at a wall of death row inmates' wrap sheets.
Modern culture places little value on intelligence, outside of capitalism. Culturally, being intelligent, regardless of race, is like wearing a scarlet ***** letter. Don't talk about nerdy things if you want to get laid or have non-nerd friends. I think that is the seed of idiocracy every bit as much as careless breeding. What kid WANTS to be the smartest kid in the class these days, and how do the classmates of the smartest kid treat him or her? - phoenixshard, on 06/26/2008, -0/+2Locking someone up for their crimes is far less severe than putting someone to death. Saying its not is one of the most idiotic things I've ever heard. Lets talk about that astronomically small chance of executing the wrong person shall we? Lets just say the average time on death row is 10 years. In the past 10 years there have been 54 people found to be innocent that were on death row. http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/article.php?did=23 ... The lastest figure I could find with the number of people on death row nation wide is 3254 at the end of 2005 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic ...
That's more than a 1% rate that we know of that are on death row that were innocent. Again, that we KNOW were innocent. How many more are there? 1% might not sound high to you, but its hardly astronomical. Astronomical is the chance you'll be hit by lightning or attacked by a shark. - phoenixshard, on 06/26/2008, -0/+2Why don't you ask the person that has been there whether they'd rather be dead or have been locked in prison and then at least coming out alive?
- pauleric, on 06/26/2008, -1/+3It's standard practice to statistically correct for correlations (e.g. education and race) when you want to find the real cause. Otherwise you might assume the judge is prejudiced against blacks, when in reality the system is skewed against poor people.
So they say something like: considering ONLY people with a certain level of education, what percentage of whites in that group are executed, and what percentage of blacks...etc.
So when you say "Therefore, if education IS a factor, so is race", you are wrong. This article is about why people are executed. it is not about a societal problem which leads to inequities in education. - helpfulcorn, on 06/26/2008, -0/+1My point was that people who say the death penalty is "cruel and usual" will opt out for the even more cruel option of locking someone up and telling themselves that profound suffering of even an innocent person is more noble than taking a astronomically small chance of killing the wrong person.
- phoenixshard, on 06/26/2008, -0/+1Man, you're a freaking moron, and I'm sure you're brother was in prison too. You can tell your "brother" that he doesn't know what he's talking about anymore than you do. What with those high suicide rates and all.
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/glance/shipj.htm
And all those people wanting to die would explain why they chose to have the police kill them instead of going back to prison for 3+ times. Oh wait, they already do go back to prison that often.
You need to also up your reading comprehension skills a little bit, I said innocent people in prison, not actual criminals moron. -
Show 51 - 100 of 108 discussions
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is