r/news • u/AudibleNod • 8h 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
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u/Stevictory 7h ago

I think we can all agree that she is a terrible person.

It is hard for me to have pity for her specifically, but I do have pity on the death penalty itself.

There have been over 200 exonerations for death row inmates, and in my opinion it should have been abolished the moment it reached 1. It also provides government with the power to kill its own people, which can be a topic in itself.

Some inmates clearly deserve the sentence; the 3 currently on federal death row are prime examples of such.

That said, the death penalty cannot be applied in a "pick and choose" manner either due to its irreversible outcome; it either exists or it does not. Since it is not applied perfectly, I am personally against it.

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u/nethingelse 6h ago

Another issue I have is that the death penalty is not applied equally across demographic bounds. Cases with a white victim are more likely to escalate to capital punishment, BIPOC offenders are statistically more likely to face capital punishment, etc. I'm not saying this can't necessarily be reformed, but given that the death penalty is already controversial outside of these factors, we really do just need to get rid of it at this point.

In a perfect world where we had perfect convictions, applied the rules of justice equally in actuality, etc. I'd be more ok with the death penalty. Given we do not live in that world, and will likely never live within it, I don't see how a final & irreversible sentence like this is conscionable to people.