4 ms·

That's my biggest issue with capital punishment. You can't take it back, if you're wrong you just killed someone's child, parent, sibling, or combination thereo

That's my biggest issue with capital punishment. You can't take it back, if you're wrong you just killed someone's child, parent, sibling, or combination thereof. While being sentenced to years of prison for a crime you didn't commit is also horrible, you can at the very least be released if you're found innocent.

SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
AND the search for the real perpetrator can begin again. If an innocent is executed for a crime they didn't commit what are the odds that anyone will be bothered to look for any more evidence ever again? It effectively ends the search for justice.
guerrilla 4y ago
You can't take back prison either, so you have reason to reconsider that as well, considering it steals years from someone's life and is torture in many (most?) places.
- jackson1442 4y ago
  Absolutely. There are many flaws with the American legal system that need to be dealt with, but it'll likely have to happen one step at a time.
- SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
  Agreed - the American prison industrial complex is ghastly. But if it's down to being in prison or being executed as an innocent person, only one offers a way for conditions to improve.
conductr 4y ago
The current process is a middle ground. Stay on death row for decades to ultimately be executed (after likelihood of being found innocent is extremely small). I like the idea of capital punishment because I don't want to pay to keep murderers alive for decades. I feel like the bigger issue is, and what pushes me to think twice on the issue, people get found guilty of murder "without a reasonable doubt" on purely circumstantial evidence and on crappy "eye witness" testimony (people can feel certain they saw something they absolutely did not.) If I were a juror, that wouldn't cut it for me. I'd need pretty hard evidence to give someone the death sentence. If that hard evidence was there, why give them room and board for 20 years before the execution? It's a total waste of money and further drag on society beyond the crime committed.
- SpeedilyDamage 4y ago
  This, to me, is a profoundly disturbing comment that presumes a level of competence and positive intent within the American criminal justice system that is provably absent.
  - conductr 4y ago
    I think that's my point. I like the idea of it but most times I'm not even comfortable with agreeing the person is guilty to begin with. In certain cases, say Jeffrey Dahmer, it's pretty clear cut and I see no use to delay the punishment.
    - SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
      What is the harm if they rot in jail? Why is it imperative that they be killed?
      - BarryMilo 4y ago
        Incredible that this needs to be asked, while the is the only western country with the death penalty. It's a remnant of a violent past.
  - lesuorac 4y ago
    I always liked the Boston Bombing example. Should the Boston bombers [1] receive the death penalty? A lot of arguments against the death penalty are that for many cases you can't actually be sure the person who committed the crime is actually the one convicted. So in those situations I don't think its appropriate it (i.e almost every death penalty case). However, something like the Boston bombing it's really beyond any reasonable doubt. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Marathon_bombing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Marathon_bombing
    - SpeedilyDamage 4y ago
      What? No, why do you like this example? There is nothing special about this case that makes his guilt any more "certain" than any other case. Confessions have been proven to be shit, physical evidence is disturbingly often faked, eyewitnesses are among the least reliable sources of information possible, etc. The American criminal justice system is designed to reach conclusions, and explicitly not designed to be accurate. That is no system upon which a capital punishment should ever be applied. I would argue the Boston bombing is a great example of why we shouldn't execute people. He is clearly a disturbed person who needs help, not death.
throwawaylinux 4y ago
You can't take any punishment back. If you sentence a man to 20 years but overturn it and release him after 10, that's still 10 years of his life you took. Being against capital punishment does not absolve you of the injustices of the justice system.

SketchySeaBeast 4y ago

AND the search for the real perpetrator can begin again. If an innocent is executed for a crime they didn't commit what are the odds that anyone will be bothered to look for any more evidence ever again? It effectively ends the search for justice.

guerrilla 4y ago

You can't take back prison either, so you have reason to reconsider that as well, considering it steals years from someone's life and is torture in many (most?) places.

jackson1442 4y ago
Absolutely. There are many flaws with the American legal system that need to be dealt with, but it'll likely have to happen one step at a time.
SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
Agreed - the American prison industrial complex is ghastly. But if it's down to being in prison or being executed as an innocent person, only one offers a way for conditions to improve.

conductr 4y ago

The current process is a middle ground. Stay on death row for decades to ultimately be executed (after likelihood of being found innocent is extremely small). I like the idea of capital punishment because I don't want to pay to keep murderers alive for decades. I feel like the bigger issue is, and what pushes me to think twice on the issue, people get found guilty of murder "without a reasonable doubt" on purely circumstantial evidence and on crappy "eye witness" testimony (people can feel certain they saw something they absolutely did not.) If I were a juror, that wouldn't cut it for me. I'd need pretty hard evidence to give someone the death sentence. If that hard evidence was there, why give them room and board for 20 years before the execution? It's a total waste of money and further drag on society beyond the crime committed.

SpeedilyDamage 4y ago
This, to me, is a profoundly disturbing comment that presumes a level of competence and positive intent within the American criminal justice system that is provably absent.
- conductr 4y ago
  I think that's my point. I like the idea of it but most times I'm not even comfortable with agreeing the person is guilty to begin with. In certain cases, say Jeffrey Dahmer, it's pretty clear cut and I see no use to delay the punishment.
  - SketchySeaBeast 4y ago
    What is the harm if they rot in jail? Why is it imperative that they be killed?
    - BarryMilo 4y ago
      Incredible that this needs to be asked, while the is the only western country with the death penalty. It's a remnant of a violent past.
- lesuorac 4y ago
  I always liked the Boston Bombing example. Should the Boston bombers [1] receive the death penalty? A lot of arguments against the death penalty are that for many cases you can't actually be sure the person who committed the crime is actually the one convicted. So in those situations I don't think its appropriate it (i.e almost every death penalty case). However, something like the Boston bombing it's really beyond any reasonable doubt. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Marathon_bombing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Marathon_bombing
  - SpeedilyDamage 4y ago
    What? No, why do you like this example? There is nothing special about this case that makes his guilt any more "certain" than any other case. Confessions have been proven to be shit, physical evidence is disturbingly often faked, eyewitnesses are among the least reliable sources of information possible, etc. The American criminal justice system is designed to reach conclusions, and explicitly not designed to be accurate. That is no system upon which a capital punishment should ever be applied. I would argue the Boston bombing is a great example of why we shouldn't execute people. He is clearly a disturbed person who needs help, not death.

throwawaylinux 4y ago

You can't take any punishment back. If you sentence a man to 20 years but overturn it and release him after 10, that's still 10 years of his life you took. Being against capital punishment does not absolve you of the injustices of the justice system.