Originally published at: Ron DeSantis wants to end unanimous jury for death penalty, thus more executions (video) | Boing Boing
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I mean, it’s only a person’s life being taken by the state, at greater financial cost than life imprisonment, while destroying our moral authority and increasing the number of innocent people irrevocably put to death.
Why don’t we just lower the bar? /s
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Here I do think one of the Founders’ oratories is appropriate, noting that he is quoting others, and reflecting a sentiment that many others held (with regard to white men, anyway) at the time. All emphasis mine…
The rules I shall produce to you3 from Lord Chief Justice Hale, whose character as a lawyer, a man of learning and philosophy, and as a Christian, will be disputed by nobody living; one of the greatest and best characters, the English nation ever produced: his words are these. 2. H.H.P.C. Tutius semper est errare, in acquietando, quam in puniendo, ex-parte misericordiae, quam ex parte justitiae, it is always safer to err in acquitting, than punishing, on the part of mercy, than the part of justice. The next is from the same authority, 305 Tutius erratur ex parte mitiori, it is always safer to err on the milder side, the side of mercy, H.H.P.C. 509, the best rule in doubtful cases, is, rather to incline to acquital than conviction: and in page 300 Quod dubitas ne feceris, Where you are doubtful never act; that is, if you doubt of the prisoners guilt, never declare him guilty; this is always the rule, especially in cases of life. Another rule from the same Author, 289, where he says, In some cases, presumptive evidence go far to prove a person guilty, though there is no express proof of the fact, to be committed by him; but then it must be very warily pressed, for it is better, five guilty persons should escape unpunished, than one innocent person should die.
The next authority shall be from another Judge, of equal character, considering the age wherein he lived; that is Chancellor Fortescue, in praise of the laws of England, page 59, this is a very ancient writer on the English law: his words are, “Indeed one would rather, much rather, that twenty guilty persons escape the punishment of death, than one innocent person be condemned, and suffer capitally.” Lord Chief Justice Hale, says, It is better five guilty persons escape, than one innocent person suffer. Lord Chancellor Fortiscue, you see, carries the matter farther, and says, Indeed one had rather, much rather, that twenty guilty persons should escape, than one innocent person suffer capitally. Indeed this rule is not peculiar to the English law, there never was a system of laws in the world, in which this rule did not prevail; it prevailed in the ancient Roman law, and which is more remarkable, it prevails in the modern Roman law, even the judges in the Courts of Inquisition, who with racks, burnings and scourges, examine criminals, even there, they preserve it as a maxim, that it is better the guilty should escape punishment, than the innocent suffer.
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Keep hyping the populist hot-button issues, Ron. Florida is exactly mid-pack when it comes to violent crime, ranked 25th. Maybe no one will notice a couple of other small issue your state might have.
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Every DeSantis policy ever, once you look beyond the fund raising talking point.
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Follow up question: so, the insurrectionists responsible for several deaths on Jan 6, how many would you want to receive the death penalty? How many in Republican leadership who encouraged violence should face the death penalty?
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Meanwhile DeSantis and his ilk are unironically spending this week associating themselves with a movement they call the “March for Life.”
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Me, personally?
Zero.
The death penalty is inhumane, unfairly administered, not a deterrent, and has no place in a civil society.
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The question is meant as a follow up for Desantis who is happily plotting the murder of his citizens.
ETA: my guess is he would similarly balk at abusive cops receiving the death penalty for committing murder.
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I understand the desire for an “ultimate punishment” for certain heinous crimes. But that ultimate punishment is not death. The ultimate punishment is life imprisonment without the possibility of parole, with excellent healthcare to make sure that life goes on for as long as possible. A life of contemplating that heinous crime, and how that crime led to being trapped in a tiny unchanging purgatory with sweet, mundane freedom laying just outside one’s grasp.
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The facilities in which this occurs must also be humane and administered in such a way that inmates are protected from the staff and each other, while providing them with opportunities for education and enrichment.
But yes, the death penalty is an atrocity and something that should be ended
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He’s not known as Ron DeathSentence for nothing.
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He’s only interested in corporate profits and the rights of guns.
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Ron DeSantis is just plain evil.
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I completely agree.
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And the solution? “Have a super majority…”
Hm. Incredibly important outcomes being decided by a super majority. Like… doing away with the Electoral College? Hell! I’m all for that!
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Relinquishing the “state monopoly on violence” means that Florida is now in competition with all the freelance vigilante executioners.
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They are.
“Hey, they must have done something wrong in the past, or else the cops wouldn’t have bothered to make up a fake case against them.”
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is it ethical to lie in order to death qualify yourself for a jury?
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