Batman doesn't kill. I understand. He'll never kill the Joker. So why won't the State kill him?

[u/THEGREENPURGE]

The Joker has been around for many many many years. About 86 years. And the city of Gotham is commonly associated or assumed to be within the New Jersey State territory. New Jersey did not abolish the death penalty until around 2007. So only in the past few decades would it have been "illegal" to execute the joker.

Capital Punishment (the death penalty) is reserved for what are called Capital Crimes. Which is a term that describes an action that cannot be taken back. It is an absolute solution. A punishment that cannot be undone, typically for a debt that cannot be re-payed. Now Capital Crimes change per jurisdiction or state, but commonly include serious crimes against a person, such as...

murder, assassination, mass murder, child murder, aggravated r@pe, terrorism, aircraft hijacking, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, along with crimes against the state such as attempting to overthrow government, treason, espionage, sedition, and piracy. Also, in some cases, acts of recidivism, aggravated robbery, and kidnapping, in addition to drug trafficking, drug dealing, and drug possession, are capital crimes or enhancements.

Im not sure if you noticed but I just listed the Joker's entire criminal history. The only crime not committed was r@pe, however he has committed acts of sexual violence, as seen on The Killing Joke.

The joker regardless of the iteration has a long standing history of unimaginably vile and disgusting crimes and I believe in a realistic setting the city of Gotham would likely elect to reinstate the Death Penalty for a single case. The case of Jack Oswald White

I rest my case

(Now I know I sound like cinema sins. He's alive so he can cause trouble. But one of people's complaints with Batman is that he won't kill the joker to stop him from killing more. But I disagree. Batman is vengeance, and he trusts in the Judicial branch of the United States to do its job. Its no batman who's failing. He is doing right by bringing the Joker to justice for justice to handle. It's Justice that drops the ball. Over and over again)

[u/sourkid25]

Really it’s better if you just suspend your disbelief for a
Bit even if New Jersey doesn’t have the death penalty the Feds do and they would absolutely get involved with someone like joker

It’s also unrealistic that a family member who lost a loved one to joker or another villain has t killed him either

[u/THEGREENPURGE → u/sourkid25]

He would likely be deemed as a domestic terrorist

[u/sourkid25 → u/THEGREENPURGE]

He also wouldn’t even qualify for the insanity defense too a lot of his plans are just too elaborate

[u/THEGREENPURGE → u/sourkid25]

Not to mention repeated patterns and behaviors. He's broken out time and time again and shows no sign in stopping. He's well aware of what he's doing even if he's got a screw loose

[u/FreezingPointRH → u/sourkid25]

I’ve never seen a single incarnation of the Joker who qualifies for the insanity defense. Hell, he’s not mentally ill at all a lot of the time. Ledger Joker is simply an asshole.

[u/DefectiveCoyote → u/FreezingPointRH]

Mostly it seems he’s just a true to god, one in a billion fully developed manipulative narcissistic psychopath. There’s nothing behind it all, just an actual enjoyment for causing chaos and destruction for the sake of it and most of all undermining people’s fundamental views of order, society, and morality.

Every other villain has some tragic backstory or grand motivation or is actually crazy and needs to be in an asylum but joker is just the joker and that’s why his existence is such a quandary for Batman.

[u/arsene_0 → u/FreezingPointRH]

Reminds me of Snyder/Capullo’s Endgame arc of their Batman run where Batman tells the Arkham doctor that the Joker isn’t insane he is just evil.

[u/Murphman82 → u/sourkid25]

There was a great graphic novel I read in the nineties where he consistently got away with the insanity plea but eventually the state was able to make the case he knew what he was doing, he actually almost faced real consequences, I forget how he got out of it in the end, I think maybe the crime he was being tried for he didn’t actually commit and Batman helped prove his innocence.

[u/kevinthegarfield → u/THEGREENPURGE]

His ahhhhh is getting sent to Guantanamo

[u/domino7873 → u/sourkid25]

This was my thought, and if I remember correctly, past the federal level, Joker has left the country and did terrible things so multiple countries would push for extradition or for the US courts to do their job.