Physical & Emotional Abuse Support Group
Abuse is a general term for the treatment of someone that causes some kind of harm (to the abused person, to the abusers themselves, or to someone else) that is unlawful or wrongful. No one deserves abuse, period. Abuse can be emotional, physical, or sexual.
pasted in from today's Wolf's Daily Howl
In 1985 Gaile Owens set in motion a set of events that ultimately took the life of her husband. The fact that her husband was a cruelly abusive partner was not admitted into the court records. Twenty-five years since then, women whove done what Gaile Owens did, have gotten different sentences. But Gaile Owens was sentenced to death. Unless theres a major intervention in the next week or so, Gaile will be dead before the end of June.
When I was growing up, I was sent to Hebrew School after school twice a week, through most of my childhood. It was in Hebrew School that I was first exposed to the controversy around capital punishment. In Hebrew School I learned that Jewish laws (which are arguably untenable in matters of gender-related matters), came down on the side of being opposed to passing judgements of execution. The reasoning was that there's a possibility that the person accused and/or convicted of the crime, might possibly be innocent. The reasoning for the opposition was that the system is fallible. Six thousand years later, that reasoning was proven correct. In the decades during which we've had DNA testing, many people imprisoned for large chunks of their lifetimes, have been freed from prison when science showed that they were innocent of the crime for which they'd been convicted.
In addition to the possibility of killing innocent people by mistake, there are other reasons to argue that it's simply, morally not right for society to decide to kill certain citizens.
Here's one of those arguments:
Let's picture a pair of siblings. One sibling decides its fun to beat up on her/his brother or sister. A parent discovers the offense, grabs the offender and administers punishment in the form of a hearty spanking.
Here's the subtext of the spanking:
Im going to teach you how terrible it is that you physically beat up on your sibling by beating up on YOU.
In the case of the death penalty, we're saying: We, as a society, abhor murder, the crime of which you've just been convicted. Nobody should be kiling anybody else! So we're going to kill you because of what you did.
Another argument against capital punishment, is that even when the justice system can prove beyond a doubt that the accused is guilty of the crime, there may be circumstances that mitigate, lessen somewhat, the grievous nature of the crime.
Such in my view is the case with Gaile Owens.
Yes. Of course. There are psychopaths who commit acts so heinous, they are not fit to enjoy being free in society. Yes. Of course. So, lock um up!
If we believe that Gaile Owens, the victim of awful abuse at the hands of an abusive husband, is guilty of avenging that abuse with inciting a murder, then keep her locked up.
Must we kill her?
Please keep Gaile in your thoughts and prayers.
(And I hope you will spend some thought on when violence ---- be it spanking or murder ---- is a justified punishment.)
In 1985 Gaile Owens set in motion a set of events that ultimately took the life of her husband. The fact that her husband was a cruelly abusive partner was not admitted into the court records. Twenty-five years since then, women whove done what Gaile Owens did, have gotten different sentences. But Gaile Owens was sentenced to death. Unless theres a major intervention in the next week or so, Gaile will be dead before the end of June.
When I was growing up, I was sent to Hebrew School after school twice a week, through most of my childhood. It was in Hebrew School that I was first exposed to the controversy around capital punishment. In Hebrew School I learned that Jewish laws (which are arguably untenable in matters of gender-related matters), came down on the side of being opposed to passing judgements of execution. The reasoning was that there's a possibility that the person accused and/or convicted of the crime, might possibly be innocent. The reasoning for the opposition was that the system is fallible. Six thousand years later, that reasoning was proven correct. In the decades during which we've had DNA testing, many people imprisoned for large chunks of their lifetimes, have been freed from prison when science showed that they were innocent of the crime for which they'd been convicted.
In addition to the possibility of killing innocent people by mistake, there are other reasons to argue that it's simply, morally not right for society to decide to kill certain citizens.
Here's one of those arguments:
Let's picture a pair of siblings. One sibling decides its fun to beat up on her/his brother or sister. A parent discovers the offense, grabs the offender and administers punishment in the form of a hearty spanking.
Here's the subtext of the spanking:
Im going to teach you how terrible it is that you physically beat up on your sibling by beating up on YOU.
In the case of the death penalty, we're saying: We, as a society, abhor murder, the crime of which you've just been convicted. Nobody should be kiling anybody else! So we're going to kill you because of what you did.
Another argument against capital punishment, is that even when the justice system can prove beyond a doubt that the accused is guilty of the crime, there may be circumstances that mitigate, lessen somewhat, the grievous nature of the crime.
Such in my view is the case with Gaile Owens.
Yes. Of course. There are psychopaths who commit acts so heinous, they are not fit to enjoy being free in society. Yes. Of course. So, lock um up!
If we believe that Gaile Owens, the victim of awful abuse at the hands of an abusive husband, is guilty of avenging that abuse with inciting a murder, then keep her locked up.
Must we kill her?
Please keep Gaile in your thoughts and prayers.
(And I hope you will spend some thought on when violence ---- be it spanking or murder ---- is a justified punishment.)
Using violence to prevent or punish violence seems illogical to me.
I so agree with you, the choice against the death penalty gives us a chance to lift ourselves en masse to a higher consciousness.
AS far as violence being justified...I think it is often justified. But that doesn't make it right....
Making me more against capital punishment as well....
That's a very good way to illustrate
one of the connections between
violence and love.
Here's one web-address for the story on Gaile ----
I'm sure there are others:
http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/gaile-owens-has-been-on-tennessees-death-row-for-25-years-for-setting-her-husbands-murder-in-motion-but-a-jury-never-heard-the-whole-story/Content?oid=1518362