4 ms·
No matter how many times I read about the death penalty in America, I just can't wrap my head around the fact that it still exists, that the powers that be kill
by ablation 11y ago
No matter how many times I read about the death penalty in America, I just can't wrap my head around the fact that it still exists, that the powers that be kill their own citizens in such a way.
It's so incredibly horrifying to me that it almost becomes an abstract concept, but then you read an article like this and - guilty or innocent - the true human cost and all that associated suffering comes right back to you.
- happyscrappy 11y agoWhen the Boston Bomber was sentenced to death you heard...crickets.
- at-fates-hands 11y agoYou sure about that? http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/05/14/boston-marathon-bombing-sentence/27336839/ http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/05/14/boston-maratho... Reaction to the sentencing was swift with praise for the difficult work of the jury in making a decision that many said was just. "My mother and I think that NOW he will go away and we will be able to move on. Justice. In his own words, 'Eye for an eye.' " Carmen Ortiz, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, said after the decision that Tsarnaev's crime was not motivated by religion; it was motivated by politics. She said the gravity of the crime, the murder of a child, a police officer and two young women merited the death penalty. "Check them off," she told jurors in her closing statement. She explained there should be no doubt his crimes met the aggravating criteria because they were premeditated, cruel, depraved and especially heinous.
- mikeash 11y agoI heard a ton of interviews of random people on the street in Boston condemning the sentence. Maybe you were listening to the entomology channel by accident.
- seivan 11y agoWhat do you suggest in regards for money being spent on containing people who have zero chance on rehabilitation? Sweden can't afford cancer medication for certain people, but has no issues containing violent sadists. http://www.svd.se/effektiv-cancermedicin-anvands-inte http://www.svd.se/effektiv-cancermedicin-anvands-inte http://www.sydsvenskan.se/skane/hon-fick-ny-cancermedicin-utomlands/ http://www.sydsvenskan.se/skane/hon-fick-ny-cancermedicin-ut... Some people in the middle east tortured children, women and committed other atrocities while laughing and recording it. Whats your take on that?
- ablation 11y agoI have no take on it.
- DanBC 11y agoThe death penalty is more expensive than life in prison. If the US didn't imprison so many people they'd easily be able to afford to house the actually violent criminals.
- seivan 11y agoDoes it have to be that expensive? Have there been efforts to cut costs? I don't disagree with the second statement, frivolous prison sentences cause all sorts of problems, but I disagree that life sentence costs are insignificant.
- mikeash 11y agoMaking an effort to cut costs is likely to mean that more innocent people get executed.
- maxlybbert 11y agoThat's only true because the cost of appeals is included in the cost of having somebody on death row. For the record, I'm very happy that people on death row get so many appeals. I'm very happy that some of those appeals are automatic (all states I'm familiar with automatically appeal any death penalty sentence to the state supreme court). But given that the average death row inmate lives 20 years or so in custody, and that the average life sentence prisoner lives two or three times that long, and assuming that the people on death row don't get incredibly expensive food, it seems that the only reasons for a difference would be increased security costs (are life sentence inmates less likely to try to break out?) or costs not directly related to jail, such as legal appeals. We could save a lot of money by simply denying appeals to inmates on death row, but I don't think that would be an improvement. If anything, the difference in cost between death row and life imprisonment suggests that life sentences aren't getting the same scrutiny that death sentences get, and we probably have more innocent people serving life sentences than awaiting execution.
- scrrr 11y agoHaving the death penalty also seems to be a very un-Christian thing. Relevant, if a large portion of the population define themselves as Christians.
- ikeboy 11y agoThat was addressed in the article, though.