Pittsburgh synagogue gunman gets death penalty

If you think people who oppose the death penalty only do so because "criminals can't possibly be evil enough" then you're a bit naïve

My opinion of the accused has absolutely nothing to do with my objection to the death penalty. Actually, the fact that you brought it up is rather telling, in that what you're advocating for simply boils down to revenge, which has no place whatsoever in the criminal justice system.

I have two major oppositions to capital punishment, and neither are rooted in the possibility of rehabilitation or not.

1. The state is not infallible. If you put someone into prison for ten years and find out you messed up, you can at least release them. You can't give them those years back, but you can try to do right by them as much as you are able. You execute the wrong person? You're just a murderer.

2. Personally, life in prison (and not a cushy wall street exec prison) seems like a way worse punishment. Even if I was only concerned with providing somebody the worst possible punishment, lifetime imprisonment would be worse.

Mostly though for me, it is number 1.

Will it cost taxpayers more to kill him, or let him sit in a cell until he dies? Hint: option 1 is more expensive.

Also, you are literally the first comment.

dont care, i dont want the government to be allowed to kill anyone, no matter how much they deserve it.

@BaroqueInMind @BrikoX I'm against the death penalty, because I don't think that the state should have the right to end a person's life.

Even in countries with a more liberal legal system (like Germany, where I live), there is the possibility that the judge decides that a person is a danger to the community even after the end of their penalty. It is called "life imprisonment followed by preventive detention".

The death penalty is not widely supported among Jewish communities — doubly so for the reform population in my old neighborhood in Pittsburgh. I agree with you that this feels right, but I can't help but feel like this is justice delivered for people other than the affected. I miss Squirrel Hill every day, and I am not sure that the wound that this asshole created will ever heal. I think about the lost every day.

If you support the death penalty then you believe either:

• The government's judgements are infallible and it would never falsely execute an innocent person, OR
• You are okay with the government executing an innocent person.

I definitely don't think they're infallible, as there are loads of cases where people are exonerated only after serving decades in prison, or after their death. And I'm definitely not okay with the government executing an innocent person.

The death penalty does not bring peace to victims or their families. You reopen old wounds every time the media talks about a new appeal or delay. With life in prison, they stay silent and forgotten.

This gets lost among all the other arguments: wrong conviction, costs, etc.

Exactly, sentence him to death by old age, but only after spending the next 30 years in a cell surrounded by assholes. Jokes aside, he does deserve it, but the state should not have the authority to take the lives of its citizens.

From a guy that is more right than left, you really missed the point. Of course he is guilty beyond doubt. You only have to look at the countries that still have a death sentence to see what group the US associates this with. That after ignoring innocent people and costs etc

Killing while necessary for self defense can be justified. The death sentence is like killing someone who is running away from you and no threat. It is barbaric. I don't think rehabilitation is in anyone's thought. Personally for life sentences I don't think the prison system has to consider that at all. I don't think it has to be particularly cruel but I don't think it has to be particular comfortable either for those who can never join society again.

Death sentences simply belong in the past.

To the people who support the death penalty, please volunteer for it yourself first before enforcing it on others through an unjust justice system.

I'm generally pro killing nazis when practical concerns prevent their rehabilitation like in this situation but given the environment I worry this will just give the nazis another martyr to rally around.