MatchboxVagabond wrote:
The practice has been dying out in the US, I think it's something like half the states have it either banned or on long term hiatus, and even the states that do have an use it are doing so less frequently than they used to. Between the costs associated with making sure that all the appeals are heard, the times when they get it wrong and just the more reliable options to just put people behind bars permanently, there's just not benefit to it. And, there's the issue that with so many appeals the family of the victims doesn't really get any real finality until decades down the line in some cases.
The whole thing made far more sense back in olden times when it was easier to get away with criminal acts and harder to keep people behind bars for long periods of time. These days, it's not applied anywhere near frequently enough to serve as any sort of deterrent. And quite honestly, I don't know how many people are deterred by it versus being sent to prison for the rest of their lives.
I agree that the threat of a death sentence has been diluted because of how long the appeals process takes, in the states that still even have a death penalty. I doubt it's much of a deterrent for most, criminals tend to think they are smarter than everyone else and/or a sociopath, and most other killings are probably unplanned.
There is a big difference in how the killer gets to spend his time in prison depending on where he goes. If they get a life sentence they are in a maximum security prison, but they are able to have varying levels of freedom and social interactions with other inmates. They are able to exercise and work out more than once a day, eat meals with others, get access to tv, and play cards and other board games with others. Depending on who, how, or why they kill some of these inmates become feared and respected by other inmates, which the criminal mind loves. Depending on how they are while they are there they can eventually be moved up or down in security levels. No killer is supposed to ever get below medium security. If they go up they end up in supermax security, which is the most severe in America. Supermax is for the most violent inmates who can't be around others for various reasons, punishment for rules infractions, and death row. 24 hours a day locked away alone with minimal or no social interactions, a huge psychological difference.
The question babybird was asking in the op wasn't about the death penalty being a deterrent, it was if a convicted killer would ever prefer to be put to death quickly if available or would they rather spend life locked up in prison. This is a question focused on the mind of the killer and how what they did might affect their thoughts. I grew up around many relatives who had to kill during different wars and got to hear their perspective on how taking the life of another affected them. The ones who believed in what they were doing handled it much better than those who didn't believe; all acknowledged just how much it changed their thoughts and lives. I had cousins who were forced to fight and kill in Viet Nam who came home physically but never mentally, they drank and did drugs nonstop trying to escape their mental hell until they eventually died.
There was a regional guy who got all messed up on some drug one day years ago and killed his wife and children. During his trial he kept pushing for the death penalty for himself because he couldn't handle living the rest of his life living with him killing his family. Of course this state ignored his desires and forced mandatory appeals on him until the eventual abolishment of the death penalty here. I always thought it was strange and sort of stupid on the states part as it would have been cheaper and made the world happier if they would have just allowed him to be executed.
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Maya Angelou
30 Mar 2025, 4:14 pm
