Perhaps the term'Life in Prison' means living in prison, however long, to liberals.

Maybe it would clear things up if the term was changed to "Imprisonment until the End of Life'.

I'm not really in favor of the death penalty, mostly because we tend to get things wrong at least part of the time. It's a lot easier to tell some guy "sorry we locked you up wrongly for twenty years" than to exhume a body and bring it back to life.

On the other hand, we need to write up some real, honest, "if you get a life sentence, you never get out" rules, and keep those guys locked up until they die of natural causes or manage to off themselves.

Courts would have less of a load, too, since the incessant automatic appeals that accompany death row cases wouldn't be necessary.

The left are plain idiots. What would the solution to crime be for them? Nothing...they would reduce the crime rate by making nothing a crime.

Harry,

Me too, then.

The front page article's headline caught my eye this morning while in-line awaiting my cruelty-free coffee.

It.is.to.laugh.

Literally.

Is this something, someone, somewhere is worried about?

Inmates who committed capital crimes, like murder in the first degree, will spend the rest of their lives behind bars, as opposed to...what exactly?

Simpering.

Where did the NYT dig up the following? "And as the nation's enthusiasm for the death penalty wanes amid restrictive Supreme Court rulings and a spate of death row exonerations, more states are turning to life sentences"

Do these clowns make this stuff up as they go along?

Lets build even more prisons and make things like car theft and purse snatching a LWOP offense.

Anyone want to bet that the car theft and purse snatching rates don't plunge to near zero?

Flamethrowers and shotguns only. And hope Vasquez and Dietrich are hiding spare citcuit plugs

I care everything for the victim and their families, and nothing for the criminal.

Families deserve retribution for what the murderer did to their family member. Retribution is a key component of Justice.

The worst criminals are the young, they say, so when a guy is older, you're just being mean if you keep him in prison.

Here's two reasons to keep the geezers in prison:
Lawrence Singleton
Kenneth Parnell

I read that piece lastninght in the NYT.
Am I supossed to feel sorry for these lifers? I don't, am I supposed to?
Let me know because I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight knowing these poor bastards are stuck in prison for no good reason.
Oops, gotta go, the Chiefs are in danger of losing to the Eagles.

But let me know, someone, if I should be concerned about the lifers. By the way, who likes the Panthers tomorrow night? I do. Poor poor prisoners. Go Panthers! I'm so confused.

You know I was wondering what happened to Captain Obvious. I'm glad he found a paying gig.

On the other hand, we need to write up some real, honest, "if you get a life sentence, you never get out" rules, and keep those guys locked up until they die of natural causes or manage to off themselves.

We already have that. It's called lwop or life without possibility of parole.

Courts would have less of a load, too, since the incessant automatic appeals that accompany death row cases wouldn't be necessary.

The difference between automatic and non-automatic appeal is that the attorney or defendant doesn't have to sign and file a one page form. Do away with the death penalty, and all that energy fighting the dp will be transfered to lwop and life sentences. With the dp on the table, they are more likely to plead to lwop and waive their right to appeal. Take it away, what do they have to lose by fighting a lwop sentence? And, many states already allot additional resources in the appeals of life and lwop sentences.

The goal is to do away with all lwop and life sentences and become a nation of euroweenies:

Western Europeans regard 10 or 12 years as an extremely long term, even for offenders sentenced in theory to life," said James Q. Whitman, a law professor at Yale and the author of "Harsh Justice," which compares criminal punishment in the United States and Europe.

By a conservative estimate, it costs $3 billion a year to house America's lifers. And as prisoners age, their medical care can become very expensive.

Seems harsh to kick them to the street to avoid paying for their care doen't it? And this coming from the bleeding hearts, too. Oh wait . . . release them, and the tax payer will still be stuck with the bill for their housing, food, health care!

The problem with life in prison sentencing is that often "life in prison" means anything but. Often life in prison really means "in prison until paroled" or "in prison until released due to prison overcrowding" or "in prison until you age a little and sympathetic liberals let you go" or "in prison until you escape".

If we are not going to have the death penalty, than it needs to be understood and agreed upon that a sentence of "life in prison" means, at a minimum "you stay in prison until you die in prison". No parole, no exceptions, no nothing.

If that is not good enough for liberals, then I say bring back the guillotine!

Liberals whine about prison population and such, but where to they suppose the declining crime rates came from?

Its axiomatic that prisoners in prison aren't out on the street doing repeat crimes and victimizing people.

I subscribe to the "warehouse them as long as possible" theory. "reform" and "rehabilitation" are quaint notions academics can debate till they're blue in the face, but just locking them up is a sure fire way to lower crime.

Whatever the cost of the prisons and incarcerations, its is undoubtedly less than the cost of having them on the streets. Somewhere I read (about 10 years ago) a typical career criminal does hundreds of crimes a year while on the street. It was probably in some NIJ report, or maybe some research by Wright and Rossi.

Western Europeans regard 10 or 12 years as an extremely long term, even for offenders sentenced in theory to life

In the UK, at least, they're finally catching on (free registration required). The money quote:

Guidelines in the Criminal Justice Act 2003 say that in exceptionally serious cases the starting point should be a whole-life tariff, which means that the prisoner will never be released. Such cases include the murder of two or more people, or of a single child, when there has been substantial premeditation, abduction, or sexual conduct.

Life in prison means life in prison. Life without possibility of parole is redundant. If the death penalty were to be replaced with life without possibility of parole, how long would it be before lwopp sentences routinely meant imprisonment until "work release", or "conjugal furlough", or "temporary resocialization release", or "supervised home and community confinement"?

Death is not a penalty, so much as it is a reliable preventive technique. If nothing else, we know that an executed convict will never reoffend.

The idea that a prisoner sentenced to life might actually die in prison is only a shock to a journalist that has his degree in journalism.

Ever notice that lefties are never in favor of protecting innocent life whether the unborn or born? But man o man do they ever feel for those who maim or murder law abiding citizens. You do have to give the left cridit for consistancy-- they think terrorists are victims of Western Imperialism and convicted murderers are victims of severe penalties. What a crock.

Why do liberals love criminals so much?

I field that one, Xoxotl. Liberals love criminals because they are the antithesis of the police.

I found this paragraph pretty ironic:

"Indeed, in just the last 30 years, the United States has created something never before seen in its history and unheard of around the globe: a booming population of prisoners whose only way out of prison is likely to be inside a coffin."

Oh yeah, those prisons in Pakistan and Egypt and pretty much any asian or african nation (or Cuba or South America for that matter) are just spitting out healthy parolees all the time.

To quote the great Bugs Bunny, "what a maroon!"

"I'll be back on the street! You can't keep the Democrats out of office forever!"

-- The Simpsons