Death sentences as punishment is backwards and counter to the goal. Ending life is not a punishment, it is disposal. At best it is cathartic revenge for the victims and their loved ones. But true punishment would be a long term restriction of rights and reparations through service and financial donation. And really, rehabilitation should always be the primary (if not exclusive) goal of the justice system.

State sanctioned killing of a prisoner should only be performed for compassionate purposes or maaaaaybe in the exceptionally vanishingly rare case that someone is genuinely too dangerous to even keep in prison with others in which case it is more humane than permanent solitary or sedation into catatonia. And, in either case, it should be heavily regulated and only allowable if medical and mental health professionals sign off of on it.

And I bet they wouldn't return their shopping carts either.

"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.

A mentally unwell teenager, who's life was full of sexual abuse and neglect up to that point, in a fit of jealous rage...

I think she deserves more empathy than lindsey clancey. Where are the protests for this woman? the mothers carting their babies to the courthouse with signs? Where are the donations?

Is it just me or are Americans uniquely bloodthirsty and their justice system is focused on revenge more than in civilized countries? I don't really notice many stories from Europe where victims demand more punishment decades after a crime happened. I'm sure many individuals want criminals that hurt them be punished as harshly as possible but I don't see the media focusing on in that much. It's like in Europe it's understood that the punishment has to, above all, serve the society, not satisfy the victim.

I remember watching a doc about re-sentencing of minors sentenced to life in prison after some Supreme Court decision. They were showing a kid who got life in prison at 16 for armed robbery. When his sentence was re-evaluated he was 30+, got educated in prison and was clearly resocialized and ready to be a productive citizen. The victim (the cashier that was threatened with a gun) showed up at the trial and said that he should stay in prison because she would not feel safe with him walking freely. Not only don't I understand how someone can be so vindictive but also why a justice system would pay so much attention to the desires of an individual who's the worst possible person to give an opinion about the case. The guy's life sentence was turned into 50 years so he was set to get out of prison at 66... Such a fucked up country.

My view on the death penalty is that some crimes ultimately deserve it. However, I believe that the state should never have the right to execute its own citizens. The government should not be trusted with the power to set laws and execute people. They can change the laws and make whatever crime they want subject to the death penalty.

So morally I find the death penalty okay in some cases, but practically I find it unusable

That's because death penalty is not about justice, is about revenge.

Honestly, and this is definitely a hot take, it feels more evil to indefinitely imprison someone than to simply execute them. I hope policing false positives become less of a thing in my lifetime, because both options blow

I'd personally also rather not execute the ones that are out in the general population, but you can choose your own hill I guess.

Time doesn't bring back the victim