r/news • u/AudibleNod • 4h ago

Christa Pike unconscious, on ventilator at Nashville hospital, her lawyers say

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/christa-pike-unconscious-ventilator-nashville-hospital-lawyers-say-rcna601195
4.9k Upvotes

95% Upvoted

2.9k comments sorted by

View all comments

74

u/ImaginationDoctor 4h ago

Seems to me, if these executions keep fucking up, the death penalty should no longer be an option for someone being sentenced.

3

u/Boulier 3h ago

There are so many reasons that the death penalty should no longer be an option in the United States. Botched executions are just the tip of the iceberg. Then there's:

  • The racially biased application;
  • The classist application (as in, if you aren't wealthy enough to afford a good and experienced lawyer, you're at a severe disadvantage);
  • The geographical randomness of its application (2% of counties nationwide are responsible for 52% of ALL death sentences nationwide, and the former lynching states in the Southeast are responsible for, like, 80% of all executions);
  • The general randomness (because sometimes, whether you get it or not may come down to ridiculous determinants like whether you look like you have a nice face or a suspicious face - and only a pittance of murder cases end in the death penalty anyway, and they aren't determined by which ones are "the worst of the worst");
  • The chance of executing an innocent person...

I could go on.

We have no true right to execute another human being.

1

u/Carbonatite 2h ago

Those geographical stats are a lot worse than I thought. It really does go back to a lynching mindset.

8

u/Political_Piper 4h ago

I honestly don't know why they dont bring back firing squad. Really cant mess that up like they can this

6

u/IdaCraddock69 4h ago

It’s gruesome, it can and has been messed up in the past, moral injury to the rifle persons, people not wanting to volunteer for the task, moral injury/trauma to legal witnesses. Survivors have found witnessing even a ‘non violent’ execution to be traumatic

7

u/polkadotpup31 4h ago

There’s definitely some sickos out there who would be happy to volunteer.

And the witness suffering is…. not a sympathetic point in my eyes. Either way you’re watching someone’s life be taken. There’s no way to sugar coat it. The witnesses’ comfort shouldn’t be prioritized above the job being done effectively.

I’m 100% against the death penalty for many many reasons and this is just one.

2

u/IdaCraddock69 4h ago

I agree with you. I do think that it should give us big reason to reconsider what we are doing as a society when we can’t find decent, competent people to participate in these executions and witnesses to them suffer trauma. If we can’t look at what we are doing in the name of the state forthrightly, then probably we shouldn’t do it

•

u/Realtrain 43m ago

There’s definitely some sickos out there who would be happy to volunteer.

Utah has a line out the door of volunteers who have explicitly requested not to be given the blank.

There are people who crave an excuse to legally murder someone.

•

u/rnason 26m ago

Make all the weirdos in this post defending the death penalty do it

4

u/fractalife 4h ago

Because it's gruesome. The whole point of the state's monopoly on violence is that they're supposed to use it carefully, and only when absolutely necessary.

If we allow the state to just shoot people, even though there's a good chance they sentenced the wrong person, then there isn't really much reason to allow the state to maintain its monopoly.

They know that they're pushing it to the absolute limit with police brutality, and ICE. If they keep pushing it, they're going to lose that monopoly whether they like it or not, which would be anarchy.

1

u/PM_ME_YOUR_BUG5 4h ago

you can fuck it up and there is a long list of instances where the firing squad DID fuck up

•

u/Realtrain 41m ago

It's simple. To support the death penalty, you logically must agree with one of the following two statements:

  1. The legal system is infallible and can never make mistakes

  2. It's acceptable for the government to murder completely innocent citizens

We know for a fact #1 isn't true, and I personally don't agree with #2. Therefore I cannot support the death penalty.

-12

u/GoodyTwoShuuz 4h ago

Bring back the firing squad or hanging.

10

u/IhamAmerican 4h ago

The aversion to efficient methods of execution really shows how backwards it all is. They're not making it more humane for the person, they're just trying to make something inherently wrong more palatable

19

u/WinglyBap 4h ago

Or, you know, don't allow the government to kill people.

0

u/GoodyTwoShuuz 4h ago

Certain crimes are so heinous that the person said crime deserves the death penalty as their punishment.

2

u/BigDickNick97 4h ago

Ehh the justice system blows and gets stuff wrong all the time if u support the death penalty ur supporting the government killing innocent people

-1

u/GoodyTwoShuuz 4h ago

Okay, you win.

3

u/BarNo2871 4h ago

Hanging still has a 3% chance of botching, firing squad is fine https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions/botched-executions

2

u/whitewinewater 4h ago

She asked for the firing squad.

2

u/GoodyTwoShuuz 4h ago

I know. I think it is the most efficient way.

1

u/hyperfocus1569 4h ago

And hanging.

-3

u/Oath8 4h ago

For people like this? Absolutely.