Republicans are pushing to expand the death penalty

jeffw@lemmy.worldmod to News@lemmy.world – 160 points –
Republicans are pushing to expand the death penalty
salon.com
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Death penalty isn't necessary at all anymore, as there isn't any risk to society in keeping them imprisoned. In the past we were sometimes forced to execute because there weren't viable long term prisons. That's the only legitimate need for the death penalty to exist in my opinion.

I can't imagine it works as a deterrent given the psychopathic nature of these crimes.

I suppose it could bring some kind of peace to a victim of aggravated rape, that their rapist had paid the ultimate price so that would be nice. I'm not sure it works that way though or if it's a healthy coping mechanism.

Overall it feels like it should be a relic of the past.

There's not enough evidence to prove that it is a deterrent.

https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/policy-issues/deterrence

However, I would suggest the fact that there are still plenty of murders in the U.S., especially when compared to many countries without capital punishment, shows that it isn't one that works all that well.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_intentional_homicide_rate

People aren't thinking about consequences when they commit murder, so it doesn't really matter how severe they are.