Time To End The Death Penalty On America?

[ichkeria]

For some reason I thought most Americans supported it but it seems not.

The president elect has vowed to try to end it officially and from this it would appear that the current administration thinks he has a good chance of success.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55236260

[jim360]

There's presumably a separation between the Federal and State execution systems. Biden can only affect the Federal system, although let's hope that the States gradually follow suit. It's long past time for the US to catch up with the rest of the Western world, in this regard at least...

[ToraToraTora]

who's planning the death penalty on America?

[ichkeria]

I think only 19 of 30 states that have it have used it in the last 10 years and there had been no federal executions for years.
Rushing through killing people before you leave office strikes me as particularly odious.

[ToraToraTora]

I suspect the crimes they committed are also particularly odious too ich.

[ichkeria]

It would be interesting to see how many prisoners get pardons from the current administration

[Jackdaw33]

In fact there have been eight federal executions this year alone.

[ichkeria]

That is my point :-)
But before this year there had been nine since the GW Bush era and there are 5 more scheduled before the current administration departs

[ichkeria]

None, not nine

[mushroom25]

// I suspect the crimes they committed are also particularly odious too ich. //

one of the 5 condemned is Lisa Montgomery, who (in 2004) murdered a pregnant woman and cut her unborn baby from the body.

[Jackdaw33]

Of the eight executions seven took place before Trump lost the election so they can hardly be linked to his leaving office.

[ichkeria]

No but 5 are

[ichkeria]

Regardless of the horrific nature of the crimes you survey support the death penalty or you dint and to my mind anyone, apparently rushing through people’s deaths when they banged up for life anyway feels ... well I’m not sure what it feels. The same feeling I get when I see Trump purse his lips in that hideous O perhaps ...

[barry1010]

Interesting read about the financial costs of the death penalty in America
https://www.criminaljusticedegreehub.com/how-much-does-it-cost-to-execute-a-death-row-inmate/

Another consideration is that many juries are more likely to file a 'not guilty' verdict in the case of murder where there is a death penalty, not necessarily because they are against the death penalty in itself but because they want to be even more sure that the accused is guilty - just in case they could be wrong

[Deskdiary]

By coincidence, I watched a film last night call Just Mercy about a wrongly convicted man on death row who was released when proven innocent https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4916630/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_3 (great film by the way).

It's based on a true story, and being a true story at the end of the film they give a little narrative about what happened to the people involved, and there was a statistic that I found quite shocking...

1 in 9 people on death row are subsequently proven to be innocent.

Even for those that agree with the death penalty, surely an 11% 'mistake' rate is far too high, isn't it?

[barry1010]

It is too many, deskdiary. One innocent executed in error is too high

[jno]

that was pretty much why it was abolished in Britain: innocent people like Timothy Evans were going to the gallows, as well as guilty people who should never have swung regardless, like Ruth Ellis.

[Peter Pedant]

// Interesting read about the financial costs of the death penalty in America//
awful charade
they stopped producing one anaesthetic drug here( erm thiopentone possibly ) to prevent its sale to the Land of the Free so they cd send men to heaven with it - -
and so the Rep Governors (men, bag carriers) tried to buy direct from Hospitals ( no)
so some of the prison doctors tried to buy as physicians

( what putting on a monstrous thin voice - "hello I am doctor lindy loo and I need thiopentone for my sleepless patients. In fact I will send a military aircraft to pick it up as I need it so badly ....")
yeah sort of

[Peter Pedant]

Viscount Kilmuir - not one of england's greatest jurists - said he liked the death penalty because - - - there was no appeal from it

judges really got off on their right to take a mans life by filling out a form ( er death warrant that is!). Justice Melford Stevenson ( no 2 in dead loss judges list carried his around for the rest of his life)

[TrevorThePug]

I mentioned here previously that the average time spent on death row in the US is just over 20 years. The appeals process takes decades to complete an in that time a death sentence is estimated to cost 18x that of a lifer without parole in prison. And it doesn't really appear to work as a deterrent, them that will kill will kill regardless, its just the tariff they gamble with.

[tomus42]

I think if they're going to have a death sentence they should carry it out. Spending decades on death row is ridiculous. They should just abolish it if that's what routinely happens, as it seems to.