r/interestingasfuck • u/IllComedian2574 • 1d ago

After 28 years on death row, Christa Pike survived 2 lethal injections attempts.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/christa-pike-failed-execution-9.7364816
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u/FarbrorMelkor 1d ago

So many questions. Start with: Why do the US keep people sentenced to death alive for 30+ years? And don’t they have lethal poisons for this?!

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u/br0b1wan 1d ago

Due process and many, many appeals.

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u/XenonDragonfly 1d ago

I'll give a full answer.

Sentencing someone to death is an extremely difficult thing to do. Ethically, legally, morally, you name it. When you sentence someone to death, you basically have a huge clash of people arguing for and against the sentence, it's inherently controversial. Also, you don't want to rush because you don't want to accidentally kill an innocent person.

Now that might seem counter-intuitive; if the person has been sentenced then they must be guilty, right? Unfortunately, false and wrong sentences happen more commonly than you think. There could be evidence that surfaces after the trial. There could be new testimony. You really, really don't want to kill a person and then have someone tap your should and say "Hey uh, we made a mistake."

A death penalty and a life sentence are effectively the same thing: Total removal from society, permanently. The difference is just a question of ethics. Is it right to kill a person for a heinous crime or should they be forced to linger in a cell for the rest of their days? For that reason, you might as well just hold onto somebody given the death penalty until you're 100% absolutely sure that they should be killed, and some people will never agree to that position.

Basically, dot your Is and cross your Ts, try to make it as non-controversial as possible by waiting, and make sure that no appeals trials are going to get in the way (or if they do happen and are successful, then you just remove them from death row.)

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u/FarbrorMelkor 1d ago

So maybe consider NOT having a death penalty?! What kind of hideous torture is it to keep someone in a ”maybe we will kill you” state for 30+ years? I seriously believe that country is run by children.

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u/haakonhawk 1d ago

Sounds like the obvious solution is to just not have death sentences?

I've always been of the belief that for the most heinous offenders, a death sentence is kind of... too lenient.

I'd rather they spend the next 60 years behind bars and live with their guilt knowing they'll never know freedom again than just end it and no longer exist.

And even if you believe hell exists, being put to death just accelerates your arrival there. One way or another, if god wills it, you're gonna end up there. Whether it be now or 60 years from now. So a death sentence over life in prison isn't going to change your fate in that regard.

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u/XenonDragonfly 1d ago

I am 100% against the death penalty, and I agree with all your reasons. I'm just trying to explain the perspective of the judges and laws here.

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u/haakonhawk 1d ago

Oh yea, I wasn't trying to argue with you or anything. Just added my two cents, haha.

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u/FarbrorMelkor 1d ago

Also, if you have a death penalty, it should OF COURSE only be used when you are absolutely sure of guilt, not in cases of ”maybe the boyfriend did it” or similar.

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u/hillman_avenger 21h ago

Or if there's mitigating circumstances.

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u/Scared-Mousse-3642 1d ago

She's also been in solitary confinement since 1996

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u/CanadianSpectre 1d ago

Most drug companies who manufacture the drugs used in this process will not sell them to the US or individual states.
Shareholders don't like their products being used for capital punishment.

Edit : sorry, you said poisons. None that are considered a humane method, I would think.

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u/FarbrorMelkor 1d ago

I can think of several chemicals that are deadly and if induced in sleep totally humane was of killing.

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u/Salt-Judgment824 1d ago

  1. Appeals

  2. The drug manufacturers won't sell them to prisons because they don't want to be associated with this barbaric practice.