James Holmes--The sentencing verdict is really bothering me

[Anonymous]

He is going to supermax, no one will get near him.


Hahaha! Jeffery Dahmer thought the same thing.

PS, we don't say "supermax" anymore.

Uh, I don't know who your 'we' is. 'Supermax' is a type of prison. And, Jeffery Dahmer was not in a supermax facility. He was in the Columbia Correctional Institution which is just a maximum security facilities.

http://www.incarceration101.com/types-of-prisons.php

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It bothers me because he should be sent to a mental institution, not a prison. He will be dead within six months in a prison so you will get your death sentence for which you pant.

If I had an innocent, mentally ill family member who was confined to a mental hospital I wouldn't want this monster anywhere near them. Holmes is in a maximum security prison in solitary confinement because he destroyed the lives of countless innocent people who never did a thing to him.

[Anonymous]

sure, he planned ahead. doesn't mean he was fully in control of his faculties, though. You do remember he thought he was the joker, right?

[Anonymous]

I have a mentally ill (nonviolent) family member and I say fry him. He doesn't deserve to live, and besides what kind of life is he going to have in jail?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:sure, he planned ahead. doesn't mean he was fully in control of his faculties, though. You do remember he thought he was the joker, right?

I happened to google his name and that was one of the things that popped up.

Didn't he color his hair orange after he was in jail? He looked like Ronald McDonald gone bad. And then his odd half asleep, nodding in and out during his hearing...some folks think it was all an act. Others aren't so sure. Did he look this outlandish at the time of the shooting? One would think that if he truly fancied himself to be The Joker he would have dyed his hair before he went into the theater. Of course, that would have called attention to himself.....

I do not know enough about this case to know what I would have decided as a juror. It's tragic and sad that so many promising young lives were taken or forever scarred by this man.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have a mentally ill (nonviolent) family member and I say fry him. He doesn't deserve to live, and besides what kind of life is he going to have in jail?

but what good does that do? I mean, really - other than vengeance, is there a purpose? It doesn't reverse what he did, which was of course awful. But I don't think the gov't should be in the business of deciding which of its citiznes "deserves" to live or die.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:sure, he planned ahead. doesn't mean he was fully in control of his faculties, though. You do remember he thought he was the joker, right?

I happened to google his name and that was one of the things that popped up.

Didn't he color his hair orange after he was in jail? He looked like Ronald McDonald gone bad. And then his odd half asleep, nodding in and out during his hearing...some folks think it was all an act. Others aren't so sure. Did he look this outlandish at the time of the shooting? One would think that if he truly fancied himself to be The Joker he would have dyed his hair before he went into the theater. Of course, that would have called attention to himself.....

I do not know enough about this case to know what I would have decided as a juror. It's tragic and sad that so many promising young lives were taken or forever scarred by this man.

Just read that he had that orange hair at the time of the shooting along with a fake orange beard. Maybe he was in "Joker role" or maybe he was using that orange hair/beard as a disguise that he would later dye back to his natural color.

But it is odd that a guy would dye his own hair such a bright, stand out color like that. It's not like he was going to be able to run off and blend into the crowd.

[Anonymous]

pretty sure his hair was already dyed when he was arrested.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mental health services available to everyone would be great, but this guy was already getting those services.

I have serious issues with the death penalty and think it should be barred from being used for people who mentally ill, mentally retarded and children. I think the Supreme Court has already ruled on the latter two.

He was getting services. And he was telling people for years about how he wanted to kill people. His one psychologist said he'd been obsessed with killing people for over a decade.

But he was allowed to buy guns and other weapons legally from stores. You can't pilot a plane if you are taking anti-depression meds, but you can buy a gun even if you've let everyone know you want to kill people.

Thanks NRA!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mental health services available to everyone would be great, but this guy was already getting those services.

I have serious issues with the death penalty and think it should be barred from being used for people who mentally ill, mentally retarded and children. I think the Supreme Court has already ruled on the latter two.

He was getting services. And he was telling people for years about how he wanted to kill people. His one psychologist said he'd been obsessed with killing people for over a decade.

But he was allowed to buy guns and other weapons legally from stores. You can't pilot a plane if you are taking anti-depression meds, but you can buy a gun even if you've let everyone know you want to kill people.

I agree with you but also think our mental health resources and professionals have made it too hard to provide institutionalized care for those who truly need it. I haven't seen one picture of him with what I would view as a "normal" facial expression.

We have grossly inadequate mental health resources services. That's the problem. In the 60s, there were 350 psychiatric beds per 100,000 people. Now there are about 15 beds. Most studies show we need a minimum of 50 beds per 100,000. I'm not talking about a return to insane asylums like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. But both modern-day community and residential services that actually meet our needs. Psychiatrists can't refer people somewhere if there's nowhere to go. Families can't figure out how to help their loved ones stay on or change medications to best suit needs if there are no providers out there.

Right now our jails are our nation's biggest mental health providers. That doesn't do anyone any good.

PP here. I am fully aware of all that you've said and agree completely.

Sorry, the way I read your statement was that mental health providers are not doing their best to treat people. That "they" make it too hard to get treatment. I just was pointing out it's a lack of resources in general, moreso than quality. If you didn't mean that, I apologize.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The government shouldn't be killing people. That's what the bad guys do.

I'd rather use the money - $$$ that makes criminals and murderers comfortable - for education. Isn't that more proactive?

Why house a nut job or a sick asshole on the taxpayer's dime?

The appeals process for someone on death row is far more expensive to the government than actually housing criminals for the rest of their lives (in far from comfortable conditions). I'd rather someone live in a tiny box for the rest of their lives, thinking of what they actually did, than killing them. I think it's actually the "better" punishment.

The death penalty is a failure on every level:

It costs more money.
We kill the wrong guy a LOT of the time.
We frequently botch the killing of the criminal, torturing him in the process.
Half of the country is against it.
It makes the U.S. look like a bunch of barbarians.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:sure, he planned ahead. doesn't mean he was fully in control of his faculties, though. You do remember he thought he was the joker, right?

There is a reason there is a difference between criminally insane and mentally ill. You are just being obtuse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The government shouldn't be killing people. That's what the bad guys do.

I'd rather use the money - $$$ that makes criminals and murderers comfortable - for education. Isn't that more proactive?

Why house a nut job or a sick asshole on the taxpayer's dime?

The appeals process for someone on death row is far more expensive to the government than actually housing criminals for the rest of their lives (in far from comfortable conditions). I'd rather someone live in a tiny box for the rest of their lives, thinking of what they actually did, than killing them. I think it's actually the "better" punishment.

The death penalty is a failure on every level:

It costs more money.
We kill the wrong guy a LOT of the time.
We frequently botch the killing of the criminal, torturing him in the process.
Half of the country is against it.
It makes the U.S. look like a bunch of barbarians.

IDK, there are clearly states in which the death penalty is used too often in cases in which the crime is not particularly uncommon or the evidence weak. Here, the crime was horrific, he continues to express a desire to kill, and there is no doubt that he committed the crime. If you believe in the death penalty (and that is a big if), this seems like an appropriate case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:sure, he planned ahead. doesn't mean he was fully in control of his faculties, though. You do remember he thought he was the joker, right?

There is a reason there is a difference between criminally insane and mentally ill. You are just being obtuse.

I realize there is a legal difference. In reality, I think there isn't much difference. People with schizophrenia suffer long term delusions if not treated. I don't believe he would be a violent killer if not for his disease.

[Anonymous]

We either allow the execution of the mentally ill or we preemptively put them in lockdown mental facilities. You can't have it any other way.