4 ms·

You can't un-execute someone. You can't give a person two decades of their life back either. Sure, it's better to only take away two decades from someone than

by blfr 7y ago

You can't un-execute someone. You can't give a person two decades of their life back either. Sure, it's better to only take away two decades from someone than all of their remaining years but not as much as people like to believe. Especially when you consider that earlier years have a much higher utility than later years. And later years have again higher utility if you could freely spend your earlier years creating a life you would enjoy, in particular have kids to watch them grow up.

throwaway5752 7y ago
I would challenge you to find a person that was exonerated after an incorrect death sentence that wished they were executed instead of eventually released.
- blfr 7y ago
  Why? I just wrote that it's obviously better. Just not nearly as much better as people seem to believe.
  - throwaway5752 7y ago
    Given our ability to exist in just one universe, the choice is not an alternate history versus present reality. It makes your framing odd. If you take the wrongful conviction as an axiom, the choice between death penalty and life imprisonment seems like an infinitely better improvement. If you can solve wrongful conviction (a separate issue that is much wider ranging that just the death penalty, given being barred from many lines of work and loss of one's right to vote after felony convictions, among other things) then that would obviously be better.
    - ulisesrmzroche 7y ago
      You’ve never been to jail, huh?
      - throwaway5752 7y ago
        Nope, have you? I don't see how it matters. I'm 100% sure I'd rather go to jail than be executed if I were falsely convicted.
        ulisesrmzroche 7y ago
        I was condescending for a reason. Lots of people lose their minds when they realize it’s gonna be like that forever. I’m sure you’d change your mind.
- LitFan 7y ago
  It wouldn't be as hard as you're implying. The rate of suicide is much higher in prison than out, and is also higher after release for people who have served their prison sentence. And that's without an impending death sentence - just a regular prison term. I can't imagine it'd be that different because they were incarcerated incorrectly.
  - throwaway5752 7y ago
    This isn't some hypothetical challenge. There's only a few hundred known cases in the US and most of the dismissals are recent because of the feasibility and availability of PCR and other DNA amplification techniques. Anyone could exhaustively read through every case in a few days (which seems to be only fair when you're talking about taking people's lives). Here's a list, for example: https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocence-cases https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocence-cases edit: and why would you expect differently about suicide rates? Prison is awful. It is punishment, and it the punishment doesn't end after you have left because loss of vote, inability to work in many fields, social stigma, and broken relationships. However, generally speaking, most people in prison are guilty (even if many are not). It is a distinctly different group than people than those exonerated after a death sentence, who are invariably not guilty and they know it. The two groups aren't comparable even though one is a subset of the other.

by blfr 7y ago

throwaway5752 7y ago

I would challenge you to find a person that was exonerated after an incorrect death sentence that wished they were executed instead of eventually released.

blfr 7y ago
Why? I just wrote that it's obviously better. Just not nearly as much better as people seem to believe.
- throwaway5752 7y ago
  Given our ability to exist in just one universe, the choice is not an alternate history versus present reality. It makes your framing odd. If you take the wrongful conviction as an axiom, the choice between death penalty and life imprisonment seems like an infinitely better improvement. If you can solve wrongful conviction (a separate issue that is much wider ranging that just the death penalty, given being barred from many lines of work and loss of one's right to vote after felony convictions, among other things) then that would obviously be better.
  - ulisesrmzroche 7y ago
    You’ve never been to jail, huh?
    - throwaway5752 7y ago
      Nope, have you? I don't see how it matters. I'm 100% sure I'd rather go to jail than be executed if I were falsely convicted.
      - ulisesrmzroche 7y ago
        I was condescending for a reason. Lots of people lose their minds when they realize it’s gonna be like that forever. I’m sure you’d change your mind.
LitFan 7y ago
It wouldn't be as hard as you're implying. The rate of suicide is much higher in prison than out, and is also higher after release for people who have served their prison sentence. And that's without an impending death sentence - just a regular prison term. I can't imagine it'd be that different because they were incarcerated incorrectly.
- throwaway5752 7y ago
  This isn't some hypothetical challenge. There's only a few hundred known cases in the US and most of the dismissals are recent because of the feasibility and availability of PCR and other DNA amplification techniques. Anyone could exhaustively read through every case in a few days (which seems to be only fair when you're talking about taking people's lives). Here's a list, for example: https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocence-cases https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/innocence-cases edit: and why would you expect differently about suicide rates? Prison is awful. It is punishment, and it the punishment doesn't end after you have left because loss of vote, inability to work in many fields, social stigma, and broken relationships. However, generally speaking, most people in prison are guilty (even if many are not). It is a distinctly different group than people than those exonerated after a death sentence, who are invariably not guilty and they know it. The two groups aren't comparable even though one is a subset of the other.