5 ms·

Last Statements

41 points by sethbannon 7mo ago

the_real_cher 7mo ago
How come no one ever makes a joke?
- llbbdd 7mo ago
  The joke is in the long-winded, self-centered empty apologies and appeals to God; the punchline is in the subsequent brief and clinical descriptions of completely unforgivable acts. These are nauseating to read.
  - fkdk 7mo ago
    I advise having a read through Sapolskys book "Determined" to get another perspective
    - llbbdd 7mo ago
      I appreciate the recommendation and I will read it (I also appreciate that you made a recommendation instead of downvoting me), however I don't think free will has much to do with this. If they were predetermined to be like this then I have sympathy for the bad dice roll, but once they've stomped an infant to death they're always that person. It doesn't change much about how to deal with them; you can't trust that they won't do it again no matter how much time passes, and that means that saying sorry and making Pascal's wager come off as completely hollow.
      - SirFatty 7mo ago
        "If they were predetermined to be like this..." Lack of free will is not the same is predeterminism.
    - worthless-trash 7mo ago
      What is your goal in asking someone to read this book, we're supposed to have sympathy for those who have had a bad rap in nature and nurture. That 'the system' is responsible for driving them to their actions ?
      - childintime 7mo ago
        > That 'the system' is responsible for driving them to their actions ? not the system, but the design of life itself we all sustain. the "system" is only a projection of it. everything that happens in the world is your responsibility also, as you help make it happen. it's our world after all. if something happens but is not supposed to happen, either the person made a mistake, or the design is broken and nudges to make it happen, or both. blame-the-person is the default strategy, but it doesn't lead to a better design, and it denies the plain reality that the design puts some people at the center, so they can party and are not to be bothered by the downsides of their actions, and others are pushed to the edge, and will fall off. by design. you probably prefer to pay the police than to pay someone a meal so she doesn't need to steal and expose herself to the risk of killing someone. it's what people at the center would think, but it's not a good idea to give them power over the design of our lives that puts them first. there's clearly worthless trash on both sides of the equation.
        worthless-trash 7mo ago
        > everything that happens in the world is your responsibility also, as you help make it happen. it's our world after all. No, there clearly are things that are 'outside the individual or groups control'. There are three kinds of events, things we can control, things we have partial control, and things we can't control. Nobody is responsible for the sun rising, nobody is responsible for gravity. Nobody is responsible for another persons actions, each person has choice, love it or hate it they do. If you can't see that I don't know what to say, we fundamentally have a disagreement on reality. If individuals are 'responsible' for everything, we all should share the same yolk of punishment for individual actions, and this should extend to all sentient life, why stop at people, why not kill their pets and farm animals, trees and plants nearby, (I assume this is what you want, see what i did there ?) > you probably prefer to pay the police than to pay someone a meal so she doesn't need to steal and expose herself to the risk of killing someone Please don't assume my take on caring for people, this take is very wrong. > there's clearly worthless trash on both sides of the equation. Right back at ya ;P
- whoamii 7mo ago
  You didn’t find the “that will be 5 dollars” one funny?
random_duck 7mo ago
Interesting but now suprizing how many have found solace in religion.
- david_shi 7mo ago
  Where else would you go?
- crote 7mo ago
  For a lot of parole boards "belief in a higher power" is a mandatory part of being eligible for any kind of clemency. In other words: if they want to have any chance of making it out alive, they have to at least pretend to be religious.
- RickJWagner 7mo ago
  They all knew they were going to die soon. They knew how broken the world is— they took part in the mayhem. They knew there is great evil around. They found peace. Most asked forgiveness and apologized for what they had done. They left their relatives and friends with reasons to think of them as deeply flawed, but not completely terrible. It seems a smart thing to do. It’s better than staying evil, frustrated and scared of your impending death.
saucymew 7mo ago
An interesting Asian counterpart is the Japanese death haiku. MUMON GENSEN Died on the twenty-second day of the third month, 1390 at the age of sixty-eight Life is an ever-rolling wheel And every day is the right one. He who recites poems at his death Adds frost to snow.
glitchc 7mo ago
There's at least one wrongful conviction in there.
galkk 7mo ago
The deeds are horrifying to read. You can do nothing wrong and die by hands of some piece of shit just because you were at wrong place at wrong time. follow up actions of some are even more sad and scary. Killing another human being meant nothing to some of murderers, like killing a fly. Those apologies are too little too late. Good riddance. I have no sympathy for them, and I’m all in for using those for involuntary dangerous drug testing and stuff like that. Those pieces of shit lost their human privileges after what they did.
- maest 7mo ago
  Yes, those acts are immensely terrible and the apologies feel minuscule by comparison. But I think there's room for more nuance here. There are multiple reasons we put people in jail: 1. the victims can feel some vindication and retribution 2. other members of society can feel some vindication and retribution and a sense of justice 3. other would-be criminals are detered from committing similar crimes for fear of punishment 4. making people feel safe by showing them criminals are punished 5. removing a bad actor from society 6. reforming a bad actor and reintroducing them into society Different cultures emphasize different combinations of reasons. For example, ine notable divide is how, in the US, 6. is considered to be the product of a naive mind, whereas in some nordic countries, that goal is taken seriously, with some amount of success (and perhaps at the detriment of other goals). Anyway, I think your point is that, even if you take the convicts' apologies at face value, goals 1. and 2. remain unfulfilled. And 3. is probably weakened.
  - sam0x17 7mo ago
    I've always felt very alone in my view on this, so don't feel bad if you disagree with me because most people probably do, but I just feel super morally icky when I hear about how part of our justice system is built around "retribution" / "vindication". Like it is one thing to punish, it is quite another to allow others to derive some sort of satisfaction from that punishment, even if they were victims, I just find it sick. It means as a society we are no better than the perpetrators at the end of the day.
    - 7mo ago
charlie90 7mo ago
Just evil
blell 7mo ago
They should put the reason before the text so you know none of them are worth reading.
- 1_08iu 7mo ago
  I think it is important to be reminded that first and foremost they are humans too. A basic level of respect does not mean you like or agree with them. Leading with the statements emphasises that. Besides, aren't their last words the entire point of the site?
iammjm 7mo ago
"Charles Thompson, executed January 28, 2026 In April 1998, Thompson forced his way into a Houston residence and shot a man and a woman following an argument. Both victims succumbed to their injuries as a result of the shooting." Wow so they kept this guy for almost 30 years on death row and then killed him. USA is so fucked
- captn3m0 7mo ago
  Convicted in 1999, escaped in 2001, caught again. And then appeals ran all the way to th Supreme Court till 2021.

Last Statements

41 points by sethbannon 7mo ago

the_real_cher 7mo ago

How come no one ever makes a joke?

llbbdd 7mo ago
The joke is in the long-winded, self-centered empty apologies and appeals to God; the punchline is in the subsequent brief and clinical descriptions of completely unforgivable acts. These are nauseating to read.
- fkdk 7mo ago
  I advise having a read through Sapolskys book "Determined" to get another perspective
  - llbbdd 7mo ago
    I appreciate the recommendation and I will read it (I also appreciate that you made a recommendation instead of downvoting me), however I don't think free will has much to do with this. If they were predetermined to be like this then I have sympathy for the bad dice roll, but once they've stomped an infant to death they're always that person. It doesn't change much about how to deal with them; you can't trust that they won't do it again no matter how much time passes, and that means that saying sorry and making Pascal's wager come off as completely hollow.
    - SirFatty 7mo ago
      "If they were predetermined to be like this..." Lack of free will is not the same is predeterminism.
  - worthless-trash 7mo ago
    What is your goal in asking someone to read this book, we're supposed to have sympathy for those who have had a bad rap in nature and nurture. That 'the system' is responsible for driving them to their actions ?
    - childintime 7mo ago
      > That 'the system' is responsible for driving them to their actions ? not the system, but the design of life itself we all sustain. the "system" is only a projection of it. everything that happens in the world is your responsibility also, as you help make it happen. it's our world after all. if something happens but is not supposed to happen, either the person made a mistake, or the design is broken and nudges to make it happen, or both. blame-the-person is the default strategy, but it doesn't lead to a better design, and it denies the plain reality that the design puts some people at the center, so they can party and are not to be bothered by the downsides of their actions, and others are pushed to the edge, and will fall off. by design. you probably prefer to pay the police than to pay someone a meal so she doesn't need to steal and expose herself to the risk of killing someone. it's what people at the center would think, but it's not a good idea to give them power over the design of our lives that puts them first. there's clearly worthless trash on both sides of the equation.
      - worthless-trash 7mo ago
        > everything that happens in the world is your responsibility also, as you help make it happen. it's our world after all. No, there clearly are things that are 'outside the individual or groups control'. There are three kinds of events, things we can control, things we have partial control, and things we can't control. Nobody is responsible for the sun rising, nobody is responsible for gravity. Nobody is responsible for another persons actions, each person has choice, love it or hate it they do. If you can't see that I don't know what to say, we fundamentally have a disagreement on reality. If individuals are 'responsible' for everything, we all should share the same yolk of punishment for individual actions, and this should extend to all sentient life, why stop at people, why not kill their pets and farm animals, trees and plants nearby, (I assume this is what you want, see what i did there ?) > you probably prefer to pay the police than to pay someone a meal so she doesn't need to steal and expose herself to the risk of killing someone Please don't assume my take on caring for people, this take is very wrong. > there's clearly worthless trash on both sides of the equation. Right back at ya ;P
whoamii 7mo ago
You didn’t find the “that will be 5 dollars” one funny?

random_duck 7mo ago

Interesting but now suprizing how many have found solace in religion.

david_shi 7mo ago
Where else would you go?
crote 7mo ago
For a lot of parole boards "belief in a higher power" is a mandatory part of being eligible for any kind of clemency. In other words: if they want to have any chance of making it out alive, they have to at least pretend to be religious.
RickJWagner 7mo ago
They all knew they were going to die soon. They knew how broken the world is— they took part in the mayhem. They knew there is great evil around. They found peace. Most asked forgiveness and apologized for what they had done. They left their relatives and friends with reasons to think of them as deeply flawed, but not completely terrible. It seems a smart thing to do. It’s better than staying evil, frustrated and scared of your impending death.

saucymew 7mo ago

An interesting Asian counterpart is the Japanese death haiku. MUMON GENSEN Died on the twenty-second day of the third month, 1390 at the age of sixty-eight Life is an ever-rolling wheel And every day is the right one. He who recites poems at his death Adds frost to snow.

glitchc 7mo ago

There's at least one wrongful conviction in there.

galkk 7mo ago

The deeds are horrifying to read. You can do nothing wrong and die by hands of some piece of shit just because you were at wrong place at wrong time. follow up actions of some are even more sad and scary. Killing another human being meant nothing to some of murderers, like killing a fly. Those apologies are too little too late. Good riddance. I have no sympathy for them, and I’m all in for using those for involuntary dangerous drug testing and stuff like that. Those pieces of shit lost their human privileges after what they did.

maest 7mo ago
Yes, those acts are immensely terrible and the apologies feel minuscule by comparison. But I think there's room for more nuance here. There are multiple reasons we put people in jail: 1. the victims can feel some vindication and retribution 2. other members of society can feel some vindication and retribution and a sense of justice 3. other would-be criminals are detered from committing similar crimes for fear of punishment 4. making people feel safe by showing them criminals are punished 5. removing a bad actor from society 6. reforming a bad actor and reintroducing them into society Different cultures emphasize different combinations of reasons. For example, ine notable divide is how, in the US, 6. is considered to be the product of a naive mind, whereas in some nordic countries, that goal is taken seriously, with some amount of success (and perhaps at the detriment of other goals). Anyway, I think your point is that, even if you take the convicts' apologies at face value, goals 1. and 2. remain unfulfilled. And 3. is probably weakened.
- sam0x17 7mo ago
  I've always felt very alone in my view on this, so don't feel bad if you disagree with me because most people probably do, but I just feel super morally icky when I hear about how part of our justice system is built around "retribution" / "vindication". Like it is one thing to punish, it is quite another to allow others to derive some sort of satisfaction from that punishment, even if they were victims, I just find it sick. It means as a society we are no better than the perpetrators at the end of the day.
  - 7mo ago

charlie90 7mo ago

Just evil

blell 7mo ago

They should put the reason before the text so you know none of them are worth reading.

1_08iu 7mo ago
I think it is important to be reminded that first and foremost they are humans too. A basic level of respect does not mean you like or agree with them. Leading with the statements emphasises that. Besides, aren't their last words the entire point of the site?

iammjm 7mo ago

"Charles Thompson, executed January 28, 2026 In April 1998, Thompson forced his way into a Houston residence and shot a man and a woman following an argument. Both victims succumbed to their injuries as a result of the shooting." Wow so they kept this guy for almost 30 years on death row and then killed him. USA is so fucked

captn3m0 7mo ago
Convicted in 1999, escaped in 2001, caught again. And then appeals ran all the way to th Supreme Court till 2021.