NEWS: SCOTUS Interruptus: Supreme Court Halts the Death Penalty… Kinda

The average starting salaries are total horseshit. Don't believe them one iota.

14 bucks the HARD way?

Family education fund. I come from a family of work-o-holics with a healthy respect for education (and hopefully scholarships).

No, they ain't. The average starting salaries are only for those folks who
a) have a job, and
B) have a good enough job that they care to report their salary to their alma mater

It's a racket, it's bullshit, it's entirely skewed. Trust me on this. Adjust downward accordingly.

*duly noted*

. . . and don't expect to live in the Keys on 50k a year either.

In regards to the original post, it is true that Justice Kennedy is a strong Catholic. That matters only if he considers the position of the Church, which is that capital punishment is wrong,

It should be noted that the Chief, Justice Scalia, Justice Thomas, and Justice Alito are also strong Catholics.

By the way, I have a JD but have never practiced. Seemed like it was a lot more fun to trade securities. I got your forty hour work weeks right here!

Someone didn't pass the BAR.

I really didn't mean to come off like an ass. I was just trying provide an alternate example of a way to make a living, but given my ignorance on the subject I suppose I just look like a dick (although I wasn't suggesting, in my example, that an expensive IVY degree was required for happiness, I think that was a inference on your part). Apologies all around...

And for those of you paying attention FUCK LSU!

Again, no they ain't. Your results are not "average".

Never took the BAR. Went off to get an MPP.

I was just teasing, I hope you didn't take that seriously.

Those statistics are compiled by admissions officers looking to up their average for USNWP. It is in their own interest to fudge that data and leave out the people who are looking for work and/or don't choose to report their salaries. Every school in the country does it. I'm sure the top 10 schools do to. I'll grant that there are probably a higher proportion of people from the top ten making market rate coming from those schools, but I'm sure it's not 95%. Hell, I work with enough people from those schools in my line of work that aren't making NY market rate that I know that's an overestimate.

Sigh... this was an interesting thread, until the lawyers started arguing like my kids...

I do have a quick question for those who argue that the death penalty is not a deterrant - is jail a deterrant? That has never been a very good argument, as far as I'm concerned, because the same thing applies to jail - should we stop putting criminals in jail too? Of course not.

I'll be honest, I don't really know where I stand on the death penalty issue, likely because I live in a country where it isn't legal anyway. But while I think there is probably a revenge aspect in it for some advocates, I think others are just worried about true psychos getting out of jail and repeating their crimes, which is always a risk if the criminal is jailed.

This is why I'm not sure where I stand... I hate to think of someone like Paul Bernardo or his psycho ex-wife walking around free (although, she already is), but at the same time, I shudder to think of someone like Guy Paul Morin being wrongly executed.

The death penalty is a really tricky thing, I have no problem if it's carried out where there is evidence piled to the ceiling irrefutable evidence, otherwise life in prison is just fine. The main issue with the prison system that I have is that it's not designed to do anything but store people. They don't get an education, rehabilitation, or any job skills. They do however get to make more criminal and gang contacts while they are in there as well as being forced in many cases to join a gang simply to survive. This is counterproductive to say the least.

See now considering the rights pathological hatred of gays that last statement right there would have gotten you billions in funding to stop the spread of the gheys in prison.

Reality check, dude.

Check your sarcasm meter it's obviously not working.

But they also believe it's a sinful life choice, so they would be stopping people from choosing this sinful path.

Sure they do... but only if it's spent on more walls, more bars, and more guards.

Name the book... win a prize!

Fair enough... where did you get the info on the error rates, BTW? It's something I'd like to read up on.

Usually those who commit capital crimes don't exactly sit back and weigh the consequences prior to doing so.

Sorry never mind... I found the link a few pages back.

As always, The Onion does it best.

I believe in the death penalty but I also tend to think that it is cruel and unusual to die by electrocution or gas. Lethal injection sounds more humane but I did read somewhere that if the procedure goes wrong the detainee would not be able to alert the executioners of any kind of pain. Still I don't think it should be an even trade, one life for another, which I think is what they're trying to avoid by using those methods.

Who are the types of people who kill people? The statistics tell you that it's mostly uneducated minorities committing murder anyway. I'm not sure if that's any consolation or not, but it does help you put into perspective who is affected by capital punishment laws. I don't think that it's a race issue, that is just a product of a racially ignorant society. It's just another sad fact... I think it should apply to rape as well.