this post was submitted on 13 Jan 2024
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Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for the white supremacist who killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket.

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[–] Nobody@lemmy.world 77 points 2 years ago (30 children)

The death penalty is a barbaric institution. It always has been, and it always will be. The government says it’s okay to murder this person, so let’s murder him.

I don’t get why that doesn’t shock people’s consciences and sense of basic decency.

[–] MagicShel@programming.dev 74 points 2 years ago (11 children)

I think it's that guys like this one aren't a hill anyone is eager to die on. Like, it's bad, but let's not make this guy the poster boy for ending the practice. There are other cases I'm much happier to cite in arguments opposing the death penalty.

[–] teamevil@lemmy.world 51 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Perhaps one of the many innocent folks on death row, which includes a not insignificant amount of African Americans too.

But this guy can fuck right off, I am not losing a second of sleep to his suffering.

[–] CleoTheWizard@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I am never worried about guilty people on death row. I am worried about those that kill them, those that help kill them, those that witness the killing, and those who believe falsely that this form of justice will heal anyone from harms or prevent future harms.

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[–] Nobody@lemmy.world 28 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Even a single innocent person getting murdered by the state makes the practice barbaric. The state is imperfect. It should not have a license to murder.

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[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 15 points 2 years ago

I have a friend who went to protest outside the federal prison when Timothy McVeigh was executed. He had no love for McVeigh. He thought McVeigh was a monster. That wasn't the point. The point was that capital punishment is always wrong. The state should not have the power of life and death over its citizenry.

And I have great respect for him for doing so. Protesting capital punishment in cases like this are just as important as in lesser cases because the reason for the punishment isn't at issue.

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[–] MindSkipperBro12@lemmy.world 18 points 2 years ago

Probably because our morals and principles collapse at the first speed bump.

[–] ArugulaZ@kbin.social 9 points 2 years ago

Too busy getting our consciousnesses shocked by mass killings at supermarkets, I guess. By the way, nice work blinding that cyclops.

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[–] derf82@lemmy.world 39 points 2 years ago (3 children)

The only issue with the death penalty is the potential to execute the innocent. There is no danger of that here. I don’t want to share the planet with this racist prick.

[–] AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago (18 children)

The other issue is that it quite frequently costs exponentially more to administer the death penalty due to years of appeals. I'm not sure how that would work in this case, since as you said, it's apparent that the defendant is guilty.

His appeals will be focused on procedure, rather than facts. Pretty much the go-to defense strategy when a suspect is caught red handed. If you can’t argue the facts of the case, try to get the facts thrown out on technicality (like maybe the police mishandled evidence so it’s not admissible anymore,) or try to minimize the person’s crime as much as possible. Try to get the sentence reduced, try to downplay the convict’s actions, emphasize how much they have changed, etc…

Basically just damage control. Accept that you aren’t going to come out of it unscathed, so just work to mitigate the damage instead of trying to avoid it altogether.

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[–] tired_n_bored@lemmy.world 29 points 2 years ago

From Wikipedia

Motive Anti-black racism White supremacy Belief in the Great Replacement and white genocide conspiracy theories[6][7][8]

A political wing of the USA is responsible for this

[–] andrew_bidlaw@sh.itjust.works 26 points 2 years ago (5 children)

I don't even kill spiders. It's hard to look at that photo and understand, how this young adult even considered doing this. What broke him like that? Maybe, instead of killing him, we can somehow guarantee no new guys like him would happen. Not in a genetic crime bullshit fashion, but in providing psychological services, making regular checks, noticing them and reaching out before they act like that? He's a fucking idiot, but also a guy that fell through many safety nets proving them ineffective.

[–] chitak166@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

People who feel like they have nothing to live for often take their frustration out on others.

It's like they know their lives suck and likely won't get better, so they focus on making other people's lives worse because it's literally all they feel they can do.

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[–] IvanOverdrive@lemm.ee 25 points 2 years ago (22 children)

If you kill the man, his suffering is limited. If you lock him away in a supermax for the rest of his long days, his suffering is a thousandfold.

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[–] BeerMedic@lemmy.world 24 points 2 years ago (5 children)

It's a worse punishment to let him rot in prison.

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[–] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 22 points 2 years ago (6 children)

Let him rot in prison. Abolish capital punishment!

[–] ComradePorkRoll@lemmy.world 13 points 2 years ago (2 children)

The reactionary in me thinks "life in solidarity confinement without the chance of parole."

The me in me says he needs a long time in some sort of rehabilitation program. As much of a monster as he is, he's a bit of a victim. May he be studied so that we can pinpoint and prevent others from following his path.

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[–] snek@lemmy.world 14 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (78 children)

And will that help reduce violent deaths at all in the future? A large number of shooters are just out to commit a mass murder-suicide. Who does this serve justice to? Or is this just to get people feeling like they've been "avenged"?

I know it's a cliche, but it is a bit dumb to kill someone to show that killing is wrong.

[–] Pat_Riot@lemmy.today 7 points 2 years ago (4 children)

Why waste resources on one who has proven themselves to be the worst kind of man? He won't learn a lesson. He doesn't deserve an opportunity to ever rejoin society. Your suggestion is to house, feed and provide medicine for this monster for the rest of his life. To give him what millions of Americans can not obtain. You want to reward his actions.

The death penalty is not revenge. It's not a lesson.It should not be seen as some deterrent. It's culling a sick animal so it can't do any more harm to the rest of the population. It can be done quickly, humanely, and even cleanly though the cheapest method would make a small, containable mess.

[–] maryjayjay@lemmy.world 27 points 2 years ago (4 children)

In the US it usually three times more expensive to put someone to death than to incarcerate them for life

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[–] PopMyCop@iusearchlinux.fyi 10 points 2 years ago

I don't necessarily disagree with the reasons behind your conclusion, but it costs more to execute a prisoner than to house them for life. The nature of the death penalty means that every appeal must be heard and fought through, which is one reason why it takes so long to kill them after conviction. All of those people involved in that process are thus being dragged away from other things they could be doing.

About the only time an execution occurs quickly is if the individual decides not to appeal. Rare, understandably. The other option would be to ignore the appeals process, and frankly we have already executed too many innocents for any person, even those who believe in the death penalty, to believe that would be justice.

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