Florida to allow death penalty with 8-4 jury vote instead of unanimously

[Xbob42]

On 4/21/2023 at 7:38 AM, sblfilms said:

I’m not even ok with the death penalty in theory. Committing acts of violence against a person who is no longer a threat is a real problem.

"No longer a threat" is a very absolute statement with no basis in reality. As long as a person is alive, they can be a threat. We don't have perfect prisons that hold people for eternity, and heinous murderers occasionally get out of their short terms early due to good behavior or an appeal getting them off on a technicality or perhaps a pardon from a shitty politician because apparently we thought it was a good idea for a public employee to just bypass the entire justice system on fee fees alone. 

 

And, when some of these people get out, they go back to doing exactly what they always did. The idea that because they're not currently in the active process of raping and murdering meaning they're not a threat is borderline delusional to me. 

 

That said, I'm also of the opinion that the state cannot be trusted with this. First, we have absolutely zero rehabilitation in the US, making prison merely punitive, just a big punishment that makes things worse. Then the actual justice system is totally fucked, sending disproportionately more black and poor people to prison, while being terrified to touch most rich people and especially politicians. Then because we as a nation seek vengeance for wrongdoings, we're happy so long as someone, somewhere suffers in the name of justice. Then the laws are bizarrely protective of certain crimes depending on the state, with drug dealing (as defined as whatever the fuck the cop that arrested you claimed you were doing) often having harsher penalties than rape and even murder on occasion. It's absolutely insane. All of this isn't even taking into account our wild west for profit prison system, or our chickenshit police force out there being racist pieces of violent shit.

 

If we somehow fixed all of this, I think it would result in far, far fewer people in prison to begin with, and the death penalty would only be a conversation with the absolute most heinous criminals. And frankly, even then, yeah, I'm 100% down for the dude raping and killing children to be put down. I want a 0% chance he can ever get out and do that again, and life in prison does not guarantee that. I do not care about his punishment or his rehabilitation, just making sure he is absolutely, 100% no longer a threat, ever. 

[Kamusha]

On 4/20/2023 at 9:54 PM, mclumber1 said:

 

I wouldn't say I'm exactly pro-death penalty.  If the death penalty went away I suppose I wouldn't put up to much of a fuss. 

 

I do think it's interesting though that some people seem to have this opinion that:

 

1.  The death penalty is cruel and unusual

2. Life in prison is actually a much harsher sentence than execution.

 

If life in prison a worse sentence, doesn't that mean an innocent person who ends up dying of old age behind bars is actually in a worse position than an innocent person who is executed?

 

I think in order to hold opinion #1, you can't also hold opinion #2. 

I can’t argue for everyone who Is against the death penalty, but I know for me it’s more about the imperfections of our justice system

and whether the state should have the right to take a right. That’s why support for this way is a good way to discern between actual libertarians and conservatives dressing in libertarian drag.

 

As for whether which form of punishment is more humane, do

you think supporters of capital punishment do so because they believe it to be more humane to kill someone than to sentence them to death? C’mon, man.

 

And as an aside we should consider how popular the death is amongst “pro-life” evangelicals. They truly believe that killing someone they believe is guilty will send them to hell quicker for all of eternity, a fate they consider to be much worse than a life sentence. They believe they are fated for

he’ll eventually - they just want to use the state to speed up the process. But keep in mind these evangelicals supposedly follow the teachings of a man who preached a message of salvation and redemption.

[Kamusha]

Recently read that in Florida you can be removed from a capital punishment jury if you oppose capital punishments, so because of this black and brown people are less likely to be jurors in a capital punishment because they are more likely to oppose it.