Saturday, 18 March 2017

Florida prosecutor removed from case for refusing to pursue death penalty

quote [ Ayala cited numerous problems with the death penalty as the rationale for her decision, which she said she reached after “extensive and painstaking thought and consideration.” ]

She's facing quite a political backlash for following her conscience. But good for her.
[SFW] [dystopian violence] [+6]
[by sanepride@6:02amGMT]

Comments

rhesusmonkey said @ 5:27am GMT on 19th Mar
"good for her"? So it's OK for one person to ignore state laws because of her beliefs, but those folks not granting marriage licenses for same-sex couples should get fired, told to get a new job, etc etc?

Regardless of her personal beliefs of the effectiveness or applicability of the Death Penalty, to make a blanket statement that she won't ever pursue it when the State requires it is IMO the same class of childish behaviour as the religious nutbars who want to defund PP or fight against marriage equality. Different sides of the same coin.
sanepride said @ 6:06am GMT on 19th Mar
Well, except this side of the coin involves killing people.
rhesusmonkey said @ 5:26am GMT on 20th Mar
In a lawful manner, humanely or as close as possible as we can do, yes. The same argument can be made about abortion, and as I said, folks on "the other side" routinely make this argument.

I'll be blunt:. I'm pro-choice and pro-Death Penalty. I think both are a lawful ending of life, and both should be protected. The Death Penalty is not about prevention, or deterrents, or any of the like, it is about someone making a choice to act so heinous that society agrees they should cease to exist. And the same arguments about putting limits on DP are made against Abortion for the same reasons: If you put a hard limit on when you can or cannot choose to terminate, then the argument switches to moving those goalposts further and further back towards conception. If you set hard limits on who should or should not deserve the Death Penalty, then again the argument moves towards moving those goalposts, either to include more or exclude more people from consideration.

The punishment should fit the crime, and i'd much rather see people put to death than spend life in prison, personally.
sanepride said[2] @ 2:32pm GMT on 20th Mar
From a moral, humanist viewpoint you've obviously come to your own conclusions, so I won't try to change your mind there (frankly I reject any comparison with abortion, which is an entirely different argument, based mostly on religious viewpoint on how to define human life).
But let's look at a few of the practical reasons that say, a prosecutor might resist pursuing the ultimate, irreversible punishment.

First, and most importantly, is the inability of the state to guarantee beyond any doubt that every person facing execution is in fact guilty. The execution of even a single innocent person person completely negates any perceived 'justice' from executing the provably guilty.

Second, the ongoing inability, even refusal of the state to administer the death penalty in a fair manner, especially with regard to race and class, not to mention we are still executing people suffering from clear mental health and disability issues.

And then there's the 'humanely' question. An argument can be made that there's really no way to do this. No matter how physically painless we can make execution, a condemned person still faces the unfathomable existential nightmare of knowing their doom is imminent. Mental breakdown is not uncommon among death row inmates. How is this not cruel and unusual punishment, by the standard of a modern, civilized society that at least publicly renounces torture?

Finally, I'd remind you that letting 'the punishment fit the crime' is not how we administer justice in the modern, developed world. We don't cut off hands for stealing, but on the opposite end we do still lock people up for minor drug offenses, or not paying fines. This argument serves neither as a defense or justification of the law.

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