[GPSCC-chat] Fwd: [gpca-forum] Who in the party has worked most on anti-death penalty and on amend three strikes?
Spencer Graves
spencer.graves at prodsyse.com
Tue Oct 9 20:46:54 PDT 2012
On 10/9/2012 6:19 PM, Gerry Gras wrote:
>
> Here's the sequence:
> - Mike Feinstein sent an email to the GPCA forum list
> - I forwarded it to the GPSCC list
> - Fred replied suggesting that Valerie knew more
> - Valerie made a short reply
> - Spencer made a lengthy reply with four numbered paragraphs,
> and a bottom line paragraph
> - you replied
> - now I am replying
sg-and I sent my lengthy reply to Mike Feinstein (without bothering this
list with a second copy of what I already sent).
>
> Does that help?
>
> Gerry
>
>
> Caroline Yacoub wrote:
>> I'm confused. Who wrote this?
>> Caroline
>>
>> --- On *Mon, 10/8/12, Spencer Graves /<spencer.graves at prodsyse.com>/*
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>> From: Spencer Graves <spencer.graves at prodsyse.com>
>> Subject: Re: [GPSCC-chat] Fwd: [gpca-forum] Who in the party has
>> worked most on anti-death penalty and on amend three strikes?
>> To: "Valerie D. Face" <vdf at juno.com>
>> Cc: sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org
>> Date: Monday, October 8, 2012, 7:44 PM
>>
>> Hi, All:
>>
>>
>> On 10/8/2012 6:23 PM, Valerie D. Face wrote:
>> > Hi folks,
>> >
>> > I have been somewhat involved, but really only sporadically over
>> the last few years (depending on job commitments, other issues I'm
>> working on and such). I wouldn't be surprised if there are other
>> Greens in the state who have been more involved, and for more years.
>>
>>
>> I reviewed the literature on this in the 1970s. I have not
>> followed the more recent developments in detail, but I think the
>> following is clear:
>>
>>
>> (1) Some studies have found a modest deterrent effect
>> from capital punishment. Others have found no statistically
>> significant effect. I'd be surprised if there were any serious
>> studies that found a large deterrent effect for capital punishment.
>>
>>
>> (2) There are reasonable numbers of former death row
>> inmates walking free today, because subsequent investigative
>> journalists found someone else who admitted to the crime. Other
>> former death row inmates are free today, because other (e.g., DNA)
>> evidence came to light to establish they were wrongly convicted. The
>> record of these and other cases make it fairly clear that many
>> convictions (including in capital cases) have been obtained on the
>> basis of coerced perjury and falsified evidence.
>>
>>
>> (3) The US today has the largest prison population per
>> capital in the world. The primary contributor to the increase in
>> the punitive nature of US law has been changes in the structure of
>> the mainstream commercial media: The increased concentration of
>> ownership of the media has meant that commercial media compete less
>> on content -- especially news content. This has enable a drastic
>> reduction in money spent on investigative journalism. The space has
>> been filled by increased reliance on the "police blotter". Reporting
>> on elite crimes is generally a losing proposition, because the
>> commercial media company could easily lose advertising that would
>> not likely be recouped by increase in the size of the audience --
>> and they could be sued for libel. However, if the alleged
>> perpetrator is poor, the media can disseminate whatever they want,
>> because they won't lose any advertising, and the alleged perpetrator
>> will not likely sue for libel. Also, the best data on crime in the
>> US is the National Victimization Survey: This is a random sample
>> survey asking people about whether they have been a victim of
>> crime. Changes in law and incarceration rates are not correlated
>> with actual victimization rates but are correlated with changes in
>> the structure of the ownership of the media and with the
>> accompanying editorial policy. (Potter and Kappeler 1998
>> Constructing Crime: Perspectives on Making News and Social
>> Problems, Waveland Pr.). It's also known that states and nations
>> with high rates of abortion have falling crime rates 15 - 20 years
>> later: States with very restrictive abortion laws have higher crime
>> rates 15 - 20 years later because the immature girls who might
>> otherwise abort don't do a very good job of parenting (Levitt and
>> Dubner 2005 Freakonomics, Harper Torch, pp. 141-142).
>>
>>
>> (4) The primary use of capital punishment from the dawn
>> of human history to the present day has been political. Jesus of
>> Nazareth was tried, convicted and lawfully executed. In his day,
>> the established government had reason to be concerned about
>> potential attacks on authority. A group know as the Zealots were
>> actively assassinating governmental officials (Wikipedia,
>> "Zealotry"). Capital punishment has no more justification today
>> than it did 2,000 years ago.
>>
>>
>> BOTTOM LINE: Changes in public opinion and law on many issues
>> including crime are driven first and foremost by changes in the
>> editorial policies of the media. Changes in incarcerations and
>> capital punishment are not correlated with actual crime rates.
>>
>>
>> Spencer
>>
>>
>> p.s. If you like this, I can polish it a bit more, update my
>> literature search, etc. See the Wikipedia article on "Capital
>> Punishment".
>> >
>> > Best wishes,
>> > Valerie
>> >
>> >
>> > ~*~*~*~
>> > Jill Stein for President -- A Green New Deal for America
>> > Campaign website: http://www.jillstein.org/
>> > Don't waste your vote: http://www.jillstein.org/only_wasted_vote
>> > First TV ad: http://youtu.be/vaObRxkX8K4
>> >
>> >
>> > ---------- Original Message ----------
>> > From: fred Duperrault <fredlois2 at gmail.com
>> <http://us.mc1813.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=fredlois2@gmail.com>>
>> > To: Gerry Gras <gerrygras at earthlink.net
>> <http://us.mc1813.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=gerrygras@earthlink.net>>
>> > Date: Sat, 6 Oct 2012 18:08:29 -0700
>> > Cc: GPSCC <sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org
>> <http://us.mc1813.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=sosfbay-discuss@cagreens.org>>
>> > Subject: Re: [GPSCC-chat] Fwd: [gpca-forum] Who in the party has
>> worked most
>> > on anti-death penalty and on amend three strikes?
>> >
>> > I think Valerie Face has focused on the "death penalty" issue
>> more
>> > than anyone.
>> >
>> > Fred D.
>> >
>> > On Oct 6, 2012, at 3:30 PM, Gerry Gras wrote:
>> >
>> >>
>> >> -------- Original Message --------
>> >> Subject: [gpca-forum] Who in the party has worked most on
>> anti-death
>> >> penalty and on amend three strikes?
>> >> Date: Sat, 06 Oct 2012 12:46:38 -0700
>> >> From: Mike Feinstein <mfeinstein at feinstein.org
>> <http://us.mc1813.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=mfeinstein@feinstein.org>>
>> >> To: GPCA Forum <gpca-forum at cagreens.org
>> <http://us.mc1813.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=gpca-forum@cagreens.org>>
>> >>
>> >> The state party is putting together press releases on Props 34
>> and 36
>> >> and would like to quote people who have been active on these
>> issues
>> >> within our party for a long time
>> >>
>> >> Prop 34 - end death penalty
>> >> http://www.cagreens.org/elections/propositions/34
>> >>
>> >> Prop 36 - amend three strikes
>> >> http://www.cagreens.org/elections/propositions/36
>> >> _______________________________________________
>> >> gpca-forum mailing list
>> >> gpca-forum at cagreens.org
>> <http://us.mc1813.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=gpca-forum@cagreens.org>
>> >> http://lists.cagreens.org/mailman/listinfo/gpca-forum
>> >>
>> >>
>>
>> -- Spencer Graves, PE, PhD
>> President and Chief Technology Officer
>> Structure Inspection and Monitoring, Inc.
>> 751 Emerson Ct.
>> San José, CA 95126
>> ph: 408-655-4567
>> web: www.structuremonitoring.com
>>
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>>
>>
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--
Spencer Graves, PE, PhD
President and Chief Technology Officer
Structure Inspection and Monitoring, Inc.
751 Emerson Ct.
San José, CA 95126
ph: 408-655-4567
web: www.structuremonitoring.com
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