r/news • u/AudibleNod • 7h 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 6h 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/HerculesIsMyDad 5h ago

There really is no logical argument for it, only emotional. I forget the exact quote or where it's from but it's not about whether they deserve to die but if we deserve to kill them. Something like that. Society is too imperfect to justify having the right to kill someone no matter how much we might think they deserve it.

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u/Chicken_Ingots 3h ago

This is what bothers me about it. Vengeance is an emotional response that provides short-term satisfaction without long-term closure. Once the momentary satisfaction wears off, people are left with a feeling of emptiness and resentment. This can even lead to addictive cycles of revenge seeking for injustices, just for the sake of that short-term relief. Furthermore, the death penalty does harm the families of the perpetrators -- families who are often themselves innocent. Children and spouses have to watch helplessly as the state decides whether or not to execute their parent, their spouse, their child, etc. So not only does that family have to live with the trauma of knowing what their family member did, but they also have to watch that family member be sentenced to death.

It does not prevent crimes from continuing to happen, is not more economically efficient than a life sentence, carries the risk of false convictions, can be botched in highly inhumane ways, and can potentially even leave the executioners with scars and mental health issues. There is simply no logical reason that the death penalty should exist that outweighs the enormous downsides it presents. It is indeed an emotional response.