XPost: talk.politics.drugs, talk.politics.guns, alt.current-events.usa   
   XPost: talk.politics.misc, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, alt.politics.usa.republican   
   XPost: alt.politics.bush, alt.law-enforcement   
   From: drp@drproctor.com   
      
   On 22 Dec 2003 07:55:51 -0800, guidosjunkmail@yahoo.com (Guido Marx)   
   wrote:   
      
   >Peter H. Proctor  wrote in message news:...   
      
   >>    Again,  a combination of the war on drugs plus the   
   >> dueling honor culture of inner city minority males drives the majority   
   >> of murders..   
   >   
   >Then - there is the stranger murder serial killer types like the   
   >"Green River Killer".  And - of course - he DOESN'T get the death   
   >penalty...   
      
         At least not officially..  Such people generally don't last long   
   in the general prison population.   
      
   >I would also contend that the deterrent effect of the death penalty is   
   >non-existent for these kind of sociopaths.   
      
         Punishment has two functions-- to do justice and to deter   
   others....  In the Green River Killer's case,  deterrence  is a   
   secondary consideration...  And yes,  the fact that someone like him   
   who definitely "Needs Killin" gets life,  while a lessor criminal gets   
   the shot shows how arbitrary and capricious the death penalty is.   
      
   Dr P   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)