Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for the white supremacist who killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket.

  • Nobody@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    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
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      10 months ago

      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
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        10 months ago

        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
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          10 months ago

          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.

          • GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca
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            10 months ago

            You forgot to worry about those who are raised in a society where it’s okay to kill people for any reason other than preventing another person from being harmed.

      • Nobody@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        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.

        • LanternEverywhere@kbin.social
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          10 months ago

          We’re all in agreement, but as OP said, this
          particular person isn’t the time to make your stand on. We’ve all been vocally against the death penalty for a long time, but this specific person is not the one to make an especially strong “this is the line, no further” kind of stand for. I’m against him being killed like I’m against all cases of the government killing prisoners, but I’m also not doing any extra standing up for this particular person.

          • kameecoding@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            So you only stand by your views as long as it’s convenient and easy?

            I guess the right of attorneys is important but if the state violates his rights to that in this trial then you are not gonna have an issue with that either?

            • ickplant@lemmy.world
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              10 months ago

              He is standing by his views. Just not going out of his way to defend this person. Let’s see you go to the courtroom and protest this particular guy’s death penalty if you are so dedicated.

              • starman2112@sh.itjust.works
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                10 months ago

                If I lived there, I would. Not protesting this shows that you’re actually okay with the death penalty, and your typical admonishment of it doesn’t reflect your true beliefs.

          • starman2112@sh.itjust.works
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            10 months ago

            this particular person isn’t the time to make your stand on.

            Those of us who are vehemently against the death penalty tend to be vocal about it every time it comes up, not just when it’s happening to awful people. It’s important to make it clear that even in cases like this, the death penalty should not be a thing, because otherwise we tacitly agree that sometimes, the death penalty is a good thing.

            This particular person is absolutely the time to make our stand against the death penalty, because if we don’t, then we don’t stand against it at all.

          • FlordaMan@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            ‘it’s not perfect so we can’t’ is absolutely not the ‘dumbest fucking’ argument if we are talking about actual human lives.

          • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            Something tells me you wouldn’t be espousing this “it’s fine for the state to murder innocent people from time to time” if it were you, your partner, or your child on death row.

            What a disgustingly callous attitude.

        • Moira_Mayhem@kbin.social
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          10 months ago

          The root of all of a state’s power is the right to employ violence. It is a barbaric practice but to be fair we are a barbaric species.

          Some people should not be allowed to curse the earth with their existence.

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        10 months 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.

      • Coasting0942@reddthat.com
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        10 months ago

        I’ll be glad when death penalty is abolished. But we’ve still got time till then, and this guy live streaming himself doing the murders doesn’t leave much in the way of wiggle room for innocence.

        Gonna be tragic when we learn it was secretly racist nano robots controlling his whole body by time traveling confederates.

      • eatthecake@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        I used to be against the death penalty. Read an article once about why it’s racist. Don’t remember them saying why it was racist but eventually they got to what the guy had done. He cut open a pregnant woman to steal her baby for his junkie girlfriend. I have been pro death penalty ever since.

        • nomous@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          You were manipulated to support the death penalty by a story you don’t even remember lol.

        • MagicShel@programming.dev
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          10 months ago

          I used to be pro death penalty. The thing that convinced me was that it was so much more expensive to kill someone then jail them for life. Can you tell I grew up a good little republican? Of course the usual right-wing response is just take them out back and shoot them and while I might’ve given that some lip service, I knew then justice was imperfect. Appeals and last minute clemency were getting people off of death row all the time (or at least it seemed so).

          Eventually I came to learn of people who’d been executed (no clemency, no appeal, no last minute heroics) and there was no solid evidence a crime had even been committed much less that they were guilty. And the math doesn’t lie that it’s extremely racist, and if racial bias exists then clearly justice isn’t being served. I’m firmly against the death penalty for moral reasons now, but we all have our journey, right?

        • starman2112@sh.itjust.works
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          10 months ago

          Sure, 1-5% of people executed by the state were either innocent or their guilt was under extreme doubt, but it’s worth it if it means killing violent people, right? I mean, I would gladly accept a wrongful death penalty if it means that someone who’s violent gets to be tortured to death with me

    • ArugulaZ@kbin.social
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      10 months ago

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

    • Moira_Mayhem@kbin.social
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      10 months ago

      It may be barbaric, and considering how many innocents have been railroaded into it via abuse or neglect of justice, ethically untenable on the face of it.

      That said, I feel there are certain people who’s actions are so horrific and ideologies so dangerous that should not be allowed to harm society again, and that includes having to pay for their upkeep.

      There are many worthy of execution that have been released to kill again.

      In our imperfect world it is not right to levy a judgment that cannot be reversed.

      If we magically had perfect knowledge of guilt and innocence, I would have zero issue with the death penalty being applied.

      Since that world does not, and cannot exist, I will accept life imprisonment, grudgingly. Some people simply cannot or will not be rehabilitated.

    • chitak166@lemmy.world
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      10 months ago

      The government says it’s okay to murder this person, so let’s murder him.

      By that “logic”, states also shouldn’t be allowed to imprison people.

      • Timecircleline@sh.itjust.works
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        10 months ago

        Imprisonment is theoretically less permanent than execution.

        But people definitely shouldn’t be profiting from imprisonment, and the conditions should be humane.

        • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          But people definitely shouldn’t be profiting from imprisonment, and the conditions should be humane.

          I have a friend who is a plumber and most of his work is from jails.

          • Timecircleline@sh.itjust.works
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            10 months ago

            Good point- my thought was poorly worded. I meant that if people with lots of money are making more money by putting people in prison, then they will find ways to ensure people keep being put into prison.

            Imprisoning people shouldn’t in and of itself be profitable since then imprisoning people is incentivized.

            Your friend’s work goes towards making prisons more humane, I’m in favour of him and you can tell him so :)

        • chitak166@lemmy.world
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          10 months ago

          So what’s the point of the rhetorical argument: “the state says it’s not okay to do this, and then they go and do it”?

    • tsonfeir
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      10 months ago

      I don’t want to pay a dime to keep that fucker alive. Just let the families kill him slowly.

      • Soulg@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        The death penalty is significantly more expensive then life imprisonment is.

          • Augustiner@lemmy.world
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            10 months ago

            As far as I know it’s mostly because of the appeals process and because of the drugs they use. Nobody wants to make them anymore.

          • pearable@lemmy.ml
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            10 months ago

            It’s extremely hard to get the drugs and to find a medical professional willing to administer them. Most drug companies specifically won’t sell to governments for this purpose. Most medical certification boards revoke licenses for engaging in this sort of thing.

            If we can’t abolish the death penalty I’d prefer the prosecutors and judge be the firing squad. Make it real obvious that this is a violent destructive act they’re taking from start to finish.

          • Aniki 🌱🌿
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            10 months ago

            You know how much lawyers make in endless appeals? Who do you think pays for the state side of things?

    • mastefetri@infosec.pub
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      10 months ago

      You’re implying that human beings have intrinsic worth. They don’t. Human life has no value, and humans are trash. They’re all garbage. Barbaric? You’re talking about slavers, murderers, rapists. Humans are inherently flawed and earth would be better off without them.