A couple of things to throw out there after browsing through a couple of dozen of them.
1.) Interesting to see the number of convicts who maintained their innocence to the very end, when there was no possible way that what they said could ever save themselves. Several denials to the end, many people begging for forgiveness from the victim’s family, a few no statements. Some sadistic part of me was hoping for a “F!@# you all! I’m on a highway to hell!” sort of wig-out but I haven’t seen one.
2.) Interesting to see the number of people who believed that they were going to go to heaven. Now, I’m no theologian, so someone’s going to have to explain this to me. If you can shoot a liquor store owner point-blank in the face and rob him of $250, get captured by police the next day, have 15+ years in jail to think about your crime, and, having asked for God’s/Jesus’s forgiveness, still go to heaven, what the hell is the point of trying to live a life of virtue? How can a guy like that go to heaven but some guy who’s been diddling his secretary but is instantly killed in a car accident and thus had no time to repent go to hell?
Anyhow, try reading the Last Statements first, then the Offender Information. Then reverse the order.
I can assure you that the sort of idiots that commit these sorts of deeds will eyefuck you to death to prove their innocence. And this will be despite every indication to the contrary.
The very worst for me was the retarded boy that answered to "what you want done to your final meal of shit chain family pizza?, " said, “put it in the fridge, I’ll have it tomrrow night.”
I’m not a Christian or a theologian but forgiveness seems pretty central to the Christian message.
On the one hand, repent and ye shall be saved - exactly where and when you must repent in order to be forgiven, I’m not sure. Could be after death while hanging round in the cosmic waiting room. On the other hand, didn’t Jesus die for our sins, full stop? Doesn’t that mean all of us and all of our sins?
“Thou shalt not kill” seems pretty non negotiable. The politician, judge or executioner saying to the cosmic judge “but he did it first Lord” like kids at school or “I took it upon myself to practice justice on your behalf, Lord” seems pretty unlikely to work. If you believe in that kinda stuff, burn in the lake of fire anyone who ever voted for the death penalty, particularly those who said they were doing it in the name of God.
Either we individually repent of each of our sins (presumably in the cosmic waiting room since it would take a lifetime to do). Or, we repent of the whole lot in one go (potentially at any time, including or beyond the deathbed). This one seems a bit easy, but presumably God can read mens’ hearts. Or Jesus died for all our sins full stop, no repentance required - yippee!
Some might say because the right thing to do is the right thing to do!
Surely, if you believe in right and wrong, if you accept morality and its primacy over other factors in decision making, there can only be one choice - the right choice. If it really is the right thing to do, what is the possible point of doing the wrong thing? Every time you make the non-virtuous choice, you have done the wrong thing.
This sounds like a silly circular argument, but the alternative to right is right, is doing things according to some definition of consequence or self interest (be it individual, family, society etc), which leads to the unacceptable problems of utilitarianism - killing 6 million Jews for the “good” or betterment of 50 million Germans, anyone? I don’t think the holocaust did anyone much good, but you could conceive of someone making a utilitarian argument for it.
I don’t think that I avoid stealing (even when assured success) because of self interest, the warm feeling inside or the potential feeling of guilt if I did. I just do it because I don’t want to do what I feel is “wrong”. I don’t pick up a locked up bike that has fallen over because I believe any good will come back to me, though I do believe that good deeds in society foster good deeds - so it may help me, but that’s not my motivation.
I certainly don’t believe in cosmic law makers, judges and punishment. It smacks of anthropomorphism, though that is obviously rather a hard concept for humans to avoid. Whether a more Buddhist-like concept of cause and effect is any more rational, I’ll leave open.