Dylann Roof sentenced to death for Charleston church massacre (2 Viewers)

[FullMonte]

Actually, you know what, I would let the convict choose. You want death penalty or life in prison? Then do the opposite.

That's an interesting idea...

If someone chooses the death penalty, you agree to it....you bring them to the execution chamber, allow the families to witness it....administer an anesthetic...wait a bit, and have a 'doctor' examine them and 'pronounce them dead.' Then, you take them to a prison where they never have contact with anyone again.

 

[Galbreath34]

I'm not a unwavering supporter of the death penalty. I don't think it should be used often, if at all. I also don't think that it is in any way a deterrent to crime.

I just personally don't want to share a planet with this guy. He walked into a church, and murdered people who showed him love and compassion on a such level that he made the statement that he almost didn't go through with it. But he did, and is on record as saying that he isn't sorry that he did so. Moral reservations and joking aside, I just think he needs to be ended.

I can sympathize with this, especially when it's the families that want it (but it's far from universal that they do). Revenge is the closest word, but isn't quite right. It's pretty natural to want some sort of fitting payment.

 

[st dude]

I prosecuted a number of death penalty cases back in the day as a prosecutor in Orleans parish. Although all of my first degree murder trials resulted in convictions, none resulted in the death penalty. I think probably all if them would have gotten death sentences had they been tried in Jefferson parish. I was not then or now a proponent of the death penalty. I asked for it because I did not think it was my job to decide what laws were right or wrong, but rather to enforce them as written. I prosecuted gambling, prostitution and pot cases as well, all of which I would decriminalize.

With that background, is the death penalty a deterrent? Not in my opinion. It certainly would not have deterred Roof. People who kill, for the most part, do not plan on being caught. If life in a jail cell is not a deterrent, neither is the death penalty.

Was Roof mentally ill? Depends on your definition. Legally, clearly he was not. We apply a simple test in the US, the McNaughton rule. Did he know right from wrong? Yes he did. Most killers have some screw loose or something in their background, such as being abused as a child, which leads them to kill. It dies not equate to an insanity defense. Insane people do not run or attempt to avoid detection for what they did. They have no idea it was wrong, no reason to hide it. Roof is clearly a sociopath, he is just not insane as a matter of law.

As to Brennan's theological take, back when I prosecuted the defense would call in the death penalty phase a priest, in heavily catholic Orleans parish, to testify that the death penalty went against catholic principles. He was eventually instructed by his bishop to stop testifying because his views were not considered to be representative of the views by the church at that time.

 

[cdogg]

Well, in the end it's really just your opinion that life in prison is worse than the death sentence. Not trying to sound rude, I just think we can't really know. I think you'd find many of those convicted in these cases would prefer death.

Well if they would prefer death they could easily accomplish that, but yet there are still thousands of lifers waisting away, still alive.

 

[Devildog]

Actually, you know what, I would let the convict choose. You want death penalty or life in prison? Then do the opposite.

That's an interesting idea...

If someone chooses the death penalty, you agree to it....you bring them to the execution chamber, allow the families to witness it....administer an anesthetic...wait a bit, and have a 'doctor' examine them and 'pronounce them dead.' Then, you take them to a prison where they never have contact with anyone again.

 

[Saint_Ward]

No for the death penalty - would much rather he rot in prison with only Ta Nehisi Coates books

No remorse for killing is pretty textbook sociopathology
Assuming at least some persecution complex in there as well

We'll, how long does it take to go through the process? 10-20 years before death penalty finally applied?

He'll do some rotting.

 

[TheMike62987]

We'll, how long does it take to go through the process? 10-20 years before death penalty finally applied?

He'll do some rotting.

And the taxpayers will pay the bill to house him, and keep him clothed and feed him until it's his time to be executed. He should be shot via firing squad asap.

 

[boutrous]

The answer to what do you do with criminals in society is a tough one, and one we have yet to answer, in my opinion, to satisfaction. First of all, jails are messed up. Shoving a bunch of criminals together so we don't have to live with them doesn't solve anything. It's just as much ******** as the death penalty. Basically, at some point we decide that some people don't deserve to be part of society, so we remove them from it, yet we expect them to be all better once they get out. Whether we remove them from the planet completely or shove them in a hole for a while is inconsequential. I certainly don't have the answer, but what we are doing now isn't working. The world is no safer and crime still happens.

 

[VaeVictus]

I say give him life and force him to work in ways that benefit the people he hates so much.

 

[gboudx]

Put him in a prison with a vast majority black population and let nature take it's course.

 

[MLU]

Over the years I have come to realize that the death penalty has very little to do with punishment and more to do with making the rest of us feel better.

 

[Tater]

I know a person who is sitting in Angola now. He was 18 at the time and he and a friend were high and decided to rob a cab. The friend winded up shooting and killing the driver.
They were both caught and charged with murder.

Really don't want to go into the trial circus; but both were given death sentence. Person I know sat on death row for years and was 5 minutes away from being put to death but was granted reprieve .

Law group out of New York looked at his case and got charges changed to life. They wanted to take case back to court but most of the evidence came up missing and the person was afraid he would get same judge and receive death penalty again.

Another note his friend was changed to life and then he winded up killing another inmate. Enough about him.

Person turned 50 this year, So that is 32 years he has been in. All the wardens like him and even one takes him to his home ( on prison land) to do small jobs and just leaves him there just to hang out.

This warden even got him into the early release program and thinks he might just have a good chance to get out. I am happy about this , but from being in so long i know he will have problems adjusting.

So after all this I am not sure how I feel about the death penalty. Person was in wrong place at wrong time and could have been put to death even though he was not the one who did the murder.

 

[cpg]

Death is worse than life, even in prison. If it wasn't, why would the death penalty be a question? Prison would be the worst sentence you could give, but it isn't. Death is. If death was better than life in prison, there would be suicides by the hundreds daily.

Religion sort of muddies the water here, and I don't think it's an even-sum situation. Life in prison is certainly the strongest sentence that can be carrried out in many places. I think the thought or belief in the afterlife stymies quite a few suicides, personally.

 

[Heathen Saint]

You're danged right we should. And we should also bring back hanging, the guillotine, the firing squad and public execution.

Might start deterring some of these people from doing things like this in the future...

I'm just wondering where the rationale for that comes from. Not disagreeing with the sentiment that he is a sick individual.

What authority do we as a nation possess to end the life of another human?

I can't really come up with a viable answer for that, and I think it's a deep subject. I also don't understand the fascination with all sorts of gruesome forms of death as a means of "settling the score" and appeasing the populace for what someone did.

 

[V Chip]

I think there are cases for the death penalty, and this one certainly is one. So I am for keeping the death penalty legal.

However, I am against the capricious applications of the death penalty and think it should be used FAR less often than it is. We need to correct the inherent biases used in determining who gets the death penalty based on the race or social class of victim and assailant. It isn't a deterrent, and it isn't a punishment -- it is a judgement on the ability of the guilty to not be a threat to the lives of others in society, to show they do not value other life enough to ever come into contact with others even when incarcerated.