- cross-posted to:
- news@lemmy.world
- cross-posted to:
- news@lemmy.world
Summary
President Joe Biden commuted the sentences of 37 federal death row inmates to life without parole, sparing all but three convicted of high-profile mass killings.
Biden framed the decision as a moral stance against federal executions, citing his legal background and belief in the dignity of human life.
Donald Trump criticized the move as senseless, vowing to reinstate the death penalty.
Reactions were mixed: some victims’ families condemned Biden, while others supported his decision. Human rights groups praised it as a significant step against capital punishment.
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Good conservative Christian’s LOVE killing!
Nothing says “pro life” like whining about not being able to murder someone.
Nothing shouts “Christian” than revenge murder.
The State should not be allowed to punish someone by killing them. Capital punishment is merely revenge with the government acting as the hitman. There’s no way to prevent an innocent person from being accidentally murdered. And those 40 people are proof that it doesn’t act as an effective deterrent.
It’s a barbaric practice and we need to end it.
99% of the time yes but the Hitler fact. Assad, Putin, etc. Actual large scale crimes against humanity
There is an adage that says “Hard cases make bad law”. In the end is a case of, what is preferred, let a guilt person go unpunished or punish an innocent person? I personally believe that it is never ok to punish an innocent person. And I think it is not even that extreme when we are talking about capital punishment or be “tough on crime”, it is more like, do um prefer to under punish some guilt people or over punish others including some innocents?
Yes and No.
I agree completely in a fallible system these executions ought never exist.
However creating a framework of rules with outcomes and holding all accountable to them is the most morally / ethically benign thing we do as humans.
The state is the only ethical executor of these decisions.
BUT the system is fallible and made up of fallible people and isn’t always steered for the moral / ethical and as such your last sentence is even more truthful than even you meant it.
I don’t think one should be executed if their moral framework doesn’t align with the laws created by the state.
I understand why we can’t do this today, but I would much prefer the exile method to execution.
I don’t think the government should have the power to kill people as a punishment, with that said I’m also not upset that the sentences of these three weren’t commuted.
I don’t understand the reasoning. you can’t say you are anti death penalty and believe in dignity and sanctity of life or whatever but then turn around and say “except for these three motherfuckers”…
I don’t think the government should be able to execute them. However, I am human, they’re mass murders, and it’s a situation I have no control over, so I’m not going to feel bad about not feeling bad that they’re still on death row. I don’t get to choose how I feel, just how I act. If it were me making the decision, I’d like to think I’d have commuted their sentences as well, even though I probably would have felt bad about doing so.
Although also, thinking about your comment more, I guess I don’t really care about sanctity of life or anything like that. It’s more of a power problem for me. Some people deserve to be killed, however nobody should be making that judgement and following through, because it’s not something that can be accurately judged. No one should have that power, especially the people in charge. When someone dies who I feel deserves it, it not going to upset me. Would I have killed them? No. Would I have prevented their death if I could? Honestly, questionable, depending on the person and situation. Is that hypocritical? I don’t know, maybe. There might not be an effective difference, killing through inaction vs killing through action, but there feels like a difference to me. Life isn’t black and white, I’m driven by a malfunctioning blob of meat, and I do the best I can. I take great comfort in the fact I’m never going to have to make that choice. I hope this gives you some insight into how I view things.
i was talking about biden’s statements, not yours
Oh, my bad. Thanks for giving me cause for self reflection anyways
no worries, good talk
Yeah, it seems weird that a government of a country that one is a citizen of can choose to have you killed. But assisted suicide is illegal.
It’s odd when you think about it. Republicans don’t want abortion but whole heartedly support executions. Democrats are against executions but whole heartedly support abortion. Welcome to America.
It’s more odd to me that the ones who believe in original sin and forgiveness for everything are the ones anti-abortion and pro-execution.
Conservatives aren’t anti-murder, they are pro-suffering.
They are anti-abortion, because they don’t ever get a chance to make the fetus suffer. And golly, the mother barely gets dehumanized at all.
Just think about all the in suffering that fetus skipped by not getting a disease that is easily preventable with a vaccination, and also, it will never know the hell of getting sick from drinking raw milk.What sits particularly strange to me is democrats that are against capital execution, but for vigilante killings. Any argument to be made against capital execution is a hundredfold true for vigilante execution.
Class comrades are class comrades.
If you really don’t understand why, then I would point you to a quote from Warren Buffet.
“There’s class war alright and it’s my class, the rich, that are waging the war and winning it.”
Now class apologists will claim that WB was trying to foster class solidarity, but that fails to hold water under the scrutiny of his actions. Since, quite literally, the moment that he heard that one of his granddaughters had the temerity to give an interview to one of the Johnson & Johnson kids, he disowned her and hasn’t allowed her back in the last ≈ decade and a half, which seems to have had the desired effect since he has another dozen and a half children and grandchildren, and no one in that family has appeared on camera critical of the system since then.
Source: The 1% documentary by said J&J heir
Edit: Happy Holidays everyone. Remember that the good that you do for your local communities will spread farther than you’ll ever know.
Your reply isn’t really relevant to what they said. You can feel solidarity with Luigi and still think the murder was morally wrong and shouldn’t be celebrated.
Murder is wrong. Luigi didn’t murder anyone. Luigi committed an act of self/community defense against a mass murderer.
No, he didn’t. Deluding ourselves of that will just stop the problem from being truly fixed. Just look at how many people’s take away from this is “maybe now CEOs will be nicer and more empathetic?”. I shouldn’t have to explain the problem with that, but I will expand on it by saying that the CEO is really just a scape goat; the real guilty ones are the owners, who are also the people that appoint CEOs, and who the CEOs have to please. This hasn’t solved anything, and without a systemic change things will just go back to the way they were; if only because we exist in a very fast news cycle and the average person will most likely soon forget and just go back to their daily rut.
People want simple easy answers. This is true for everything, and it’s no less true now. It’s easy to sit at home and make memes and glorify someone else who - despite the fact I disagree with his methods - actually took action and did something, even if it meant risking comforts, privileges, or in this case even a death penalty; it makes people feel like they are doing something without having to take any real risks and without really changing anything, but it feels “effective” because it makes a lot of noise and creates a lot of headlines.
If you really want change, then more needs to be done. And sure, one way would be for more to follow Luigi’s footsteps, but - and I won’t even go into the pitfalls of that path - if you have enough people on your side for that to be successful and not be prosecuted/defend yourself from prosecution, then you could achieve similar societal change peacefully by community building and through mutual aid; side step existing capitalist and government institutions. But that takes actual effort; that takes actual willpower to affect real change; that requires people to be okay with losing some comforts and privileges - this is also true for Luigi’s path, but the appealing part of Luigi’s path is that it “only takes a few” (which as previously stated I disagree with) to affect that change, and those few get to be “someone else” and never the “I” in question. The “I” in question gets to remain at home, on their device of choice, talking about how good-looking, and cool, and heroic the “some else” who took the risk is, and make memes about it.
And that’s one reason I feel so bad for Luigi. While the CEO is the scapegoat of the true (or at least more powerful) capitalists, Luigi is the scape goat of “revolutionaries” who don’t really engage in any praxis.
That’s just like your opinion, man.
Fact of the matter is that he absolutely did commit an act of community defence. He even alludes to that fact in his “manifesto”
Did you bother to read anything I said? Saying you did something doesn’t make it true. Trump has also alluded that his foreign tariffs will bring prices down. Does that make it true?
No, one is the state abusing it’s power vs an individual who may or may not be guilty.
The other is an individual risking their life against hostis humani generis – ie, a brave hero.
The vigilante in order to retain support has a much much much higher burden of proof than the state. The state has many opportunities to kill a man, but the vigilante must only attack those who are both obviously evil and obviously out of reach of the law.
Luigi is popular because he met this burden of proof. If he had killed Jay-Z, or even P Diddy, it would not have been popular. After all, the law caught up with them. Before damage was done, no, our system isn’t designed to help people, but it did catch up. In contrast, matt gaetz is obviously evil, obviously outside of the law, and therefore an enemy of all mankind. Im not gonna do it, but I would applaud anyone willing to put their life on the line to take his.
imagine running on “the deficit” and then whining that you can’t spend millions to let the state kill someone.
I kind of wonder if Biden is setting him up to execute Luigi and get on the wrong side of this current populist movement.
The fed has nothing to do with that. He’s being charged by the state of NY.TIL they added on a few federal charges.He is also being charged federally. And that is the capital case.
even if he does get convicted, any execution probably won’t happen in the next four years. death row appeals take a long time.
His incompetence killed hundreds of thousands his first term. This time he was hoping for a more direct approach. Biden spoiled his murderous fun.
I know of onlt one western country with death penalty: Belarus. And I’m pretty sure as soon as potato dictator dies, it will be abolished.
Provided that microdick Vlad doesn’t pull a Ukraine on the country for trying to have democracy, and entering the EU and NATO
Biden: Grants clemency indiscriminately for 1,500 people Public: Why did you let the Cash for Kids woman free Biden: Commutes death sentences selectively Public: Who made you judge, jury and executioner?
Biden: Grants clemency indiscriminately for 1,500 people indiscriminately Media: Why did you let the Cash for Kids woman free Biden: Commutes death sentences selectively Media: Who made you judge, jury and executioner?
FIFY… Real people honestly wouldn’t care about any of this if the media wasn’t trying to inspire outrage.
I think it’s the opposite. The public opinion has turned on him and so everything he does is critiqued. It’s nudge on by the media but is also the cycle of celebrities du jour
One of the three he didn’t pardon was Dylann Roof. I thought they fried his ass already, had no idea he was still alive.
I did wonder why the three that weren’t spared were left to die… and I still kinda do.
Also I’m kinda surprised Trump didn’t pardon Dylann Roof.
It answers this question in the article – didn’t pardon mass murderers
Did no such thing, simply stated who the three that didn’t get commuted were, nothing about why they didn’t get it.
It’s because the entire party got justifiably shellacked in the press and court of public opinion for pardoning one of the kids for cash judges. This happened where I live and I remember the outrage over the absurdly light sentences they recieved to begin with, clemency on top was just too much for many of us to stomach.
Some people really don’t deserve second chance or eleventh hour stay.
Because the media now mostly mentions the three bastards who didn’t have their sentences commuted, instead of the 37 that did. Changes the focus. Now people agree with Biden not to commute these sentences, and don’t think much more about the ones that were commuted.
I guess, continued explanations of why the politics are failing in America. Average citizen, “ok he pardoned more than his son, great. Oh he believes in the dignity of human life (strange way to put it but ok). He decided to leave 3 to die? Umm ok.”
It’s the same shtick with the “build back america greater” infrastructure bill. It all sounds great for the media till you actually scrutinize it. “Oh you’re wanting to spend how much on highspeed rail? Great! Oh, it’s all going to a shady company that has the countries worse rail record and has been lining everyone’s pockets financially but running a deficit since operation? umm ok?”
Apparently I misunderstood the above
What? I’m categorically against the death penalty. I don’t think it’s controversial to think Roof is a bastard for what he did.
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We could have had colosseum executions where inmates fight to the death, hosted by Dana White and the UFC. But no, old man Biden has to ruin the fun.
Good. The more he cries the better
People forgetting Biden is Catholic, and Catholicism is pretty anti-death penalty.
Tell that to my Catholic trumper parents.
I know it won’t make a difference to them (who’re the cafeteria Catholics, now?) but it is an official part of the catechism.
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In theory, the death penalty makes some sense. It’s a right the government reserves for itself (violence) and I think in some contexts it makes sense to be on the table. In practice, it’s more expensive than a life sentence, and it’s a blunt and racist tool to maintain unjust social and state power.
I wish every governor and president commuted 95% of death penalty situations. It’s a major injustice that most executions were carried out, even for those who belief it’s something the government should be doing.
Also, you’re very hardly ever 100% sure someone deserves to die. It’s morally much better to not kill just in case - and there’s been tons of cases where new evidence, like DNA, has exonerated convicted prisoners. You might be keeping someone fed and warm who didn’t deserve it, but personally I’d rather err on the side of humanity.
Like Gandalf said,
“Many that live deserve death, and some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement.”
I don’t get it. The death penalty doesn’t seem to deter people from committing heinous crimes. The practice seems more for the families who want closure, but morally we should be above killing unnecessarily. Whether someone is jailed for life in solitary or sentenced to death does not change the fact that they will never be able to harm another member of society.
And don’t get me wrong, if someone kills a loved one I will want them dead, but my emotions should not drive taxpayer funded punishment.
Putting aside some of the practical issues for a moment…
- that legal process makes executions more expensive than a life sentenc
- it’s a tremendous power for governments to have and rife for corruption or making permanent mistakes.
Why should society be obligated to suppord, and securely house people who should never be allowed back into society?
Maybe instead we could put those resources towards restoring the lives of the victims instead of the punishment of the sentenced?
A punitive system leaves the victims out cold where the only solace they can hope for is that the person responsible is punished appropriately.
A better one might provide mental/physical healthcare, social support, and an option for a direct role in the reconciliation process for the victim and their immediate family/household.
I just don’t see how “justice” can be achieved when everyone has paid in and all we get for it is someone locked in a cell or murdered while the people they wronged haven’t seen an ounce of support.
He still has one shot! No, sorry, I mean he has 3 shots remaining!
He could do the George Carling thing… Upside down nailed to the cross and or launched from a Canon point blank on to a very thick concrete wall. And televise it.
Its just a suggesting to make the best of things.
