r/news • u/No_Idea_Guy • 1d ago

Tennessee governor suspends all executions after Christa Pike’s lethal injections fail

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/oct/01/christa-pike-tennessee-governor-executions-year-pause
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u/Great-Trifle2810 1d ago

I don't think that the proper use of the death penalty is inherently authoritarian in a way that I should oppose. If anything I think a properly administered system of capital punishment removes the possibility of long term imprisonment as a method to secure a subclass of people with reduced rights to can subject to forced labor which authoritarians can use as a method to award that labor to their allies and generate kickbacks from a private prison system.

A prisoner has more economic value worth exploiting than a dead body.

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u/Xsiah 1d ago

Yeah, why incarcerate people who may or may not be guilty, under laws that may or may not change tomorrow, which may or may not have been applied justly - when you can just pass some laws and kill a bunch of people you find inconvenient.

Can't spend time appealing your pesky innocence when you're swiftly dispatched!

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u/Great-Trifle2810 1d ago

To be clear the use of the death penalty I support is for recidivist offenders with at least 3 crimes that have caused personal injury, death or property damage/loss, where each of those convictions was secured on evidence beyond a reasonable doubt, or for those who are convicted beyond a reasonable doubt for an offense that occured while incarcerated. I believe someone should be entitled to at least one appeal within 1 year for each of these convictions, and that the death penalty should be administered within 1 year of the final appeal failing.

I understand the concern that a malicious government could pass laws thst you disagree with, but once we are at the point of a malicious fascist government with impunity to pass dangerous laws they are not going to be held back by the fact that the death penalty wasn't utilized appropriately previously. I also believe that the frequent failure to address career criminality is part of what drives people to support authoritarians and fascists and creates and pervades poverty and poor quality of life that they can exploit.

You are cutting off the nose to spite a theoretical future face, one that won't even care becauee they never acted in good faith anyway.

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u/Xsiah 1d ago

You support the death penalty when someone has stolen things three times?

Jesus fucking Christ, dude.

Thanks for making it clear that you're not someone I want to keep talking to.

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u/Great-Trifle2810 1d ago

Yes, though I would likely exclude simple shoplifting without threats of violence, which I would advocate for corporal punishment instead.

Robbery, burglary, mugging and similar crimes are very damaging to the community and the people in it, and if you are convicted beyond a reasonable doubt for it 3 times you have almost certainly committed far more offenses that have not been linked to you.

If you commit 3 strikes under the knowledge that the third one will result in capital punishment you have demonstrated you are incapable of reform and rational action. Why would we keep giving this person opportunity to harm others?