Christa Pike was 18 when she killed a classmate in a jealous rage and became one of the youngest women to be sent to death row. Now 50, she is scheduled to be put to death Wednesday in what would be Tennessee’s first execution of a woman in 200 years.

Pike and her boyfriend were convicted in the 1995 killing of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer, their classmate at Knoxville Job Corps. Prosecutors said Pike feared Slemmer was a romantic rival and lured her to a secluded area where she and her boyfriend tortured and killed Slemmer. The case got widespread attention because of the brutality of the killing, the ages of the people involved and because a satanic symbol was carved into the victim’s body.

Pike does not deny her guilt, but her attorneys and supporters argue a death sentence is not appropriate for a crime committed at that age by a teen with untreated mental illness after a childhood of brutal sexual abuse and neglect. Slemmer’s mother wants the lethal injection to go forward, saying she has waited decades to see Pike’s sentence carried out.

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[–] 39 points 1 day ago* (4 children)

USA is a country of extreme violence, the death penalty is a disgrace and USA is not a worthy democracy for having it.

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  • [–] 4 points 1 day ago (3 children)

    "is not a democracy" is all - not even European countries are, when you consider capitalist lobbyism. But Magastan is not even trying to pretend it is anymore.

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  • [–] 12 points 1 day ago (2 children)

    There are levels of quality of democracies, Scandinavian countries score high, and yes they are democracies, but no democracy is perfect, although a handful of countries are close.

    But USA is the most flawed (worst) democracy of the western developed world, with a 2 party system and FPP voting, and extreme powers to a single person which in itself is obviously undemocratic despite the president is somewhat democratically elected.

    Power should never be centralized like that, it's like USA is electing a dictator for 4 years.

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  • [+] -7 points 1 day ago

    You have a very naive view. The moment that - regardless of who gets elected - capital and lobbyism has a larger influence on policies made by those elected, than the program with which they campaigned, it is no longer a democracy. Same of course if elections are already heavily influenced by capital and lobbyism pushing favorable candidates.

    In such systems, a change of power by vote is still possible but it would require an overwhelming support for a new political movement to break the status quo (most recent example possibly being Hungary).

    That does not mean however that the system is a democracy anymore, neither before nor after such a change. After such a change, however, there's always a potential to try and return to a democracy.

    Due to globalisation, megacorporations are currently able to leverage policies in basically every country, if only by pressure from countries they have currently under their spell. Accordingly, I am not aware of a single actual democracy in today's world.

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